Article Excerpt:
TWST: We would like to begin with a brief historical sketch of Equity One and a picture of things as they are now.Mr. Sipzner: Equity One was founded in the early 1990s by our current Chairman and CEO, Chaim Katzman. At that time, we began buying individual shopping centers primarily in the State of Florida and to a lesser degree in Texas. For the first two or three years, we grew pretty much on a one-by-one basis but remained a relatively small company. In 1995, the company elected REIT (real estate investment trust) status under the tax laws as they then existed. To qualify as a REIT, among other things, the company began to pay a dividend to its then non-public shareholders. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange approximately three years later in May 1998. At that time, we had $125 million or so in total assets. We were still reasonably small, but continued to pursue our strategy of buying and owning shopping centers and began to a limited degree to build new shopping centers as well. The company began to add personnel following the initial public offering. I joined as the CFO in September 1999 and with some of the original people began to grow the business further. In 2001, we did two corporate transactions, buying two companies, which roughly tripled the size of the company and we also continued to buy individual properties. Two years ago, in 2003, we bought another public company by the name of IRT. When you add up all of these transactions, we are today a $2 billion asset value shopping center company, operating in 12 different states, with 189 properties and just about 20 million square feet of space.
TWST: What are the keys drivers in your success?
Mr. Sipzner: I think there have been several factors that have made this
business successful and profitable and able to grow. The first is the
product type. For the last 10-12 years and certainly for the last half
dozen years, shopping centers have been among the best performing real
estate and they have withstood ups and downs. They have benefited well
from limited supply. When you look at the shopping centers that we own,
they are characterized by top-quality supermarkets and other large
anchors. They are located in fast growing markets in the Southeast. We
also have some properties up in the Boston metropolitan area to give us
some geographic diversification. Our properties tend to be in densely
populated urban areas. And when you combine the right type of real
estate, good markets, good tenants and a good management team, it's a
winning formula.
Tickers included in this excerpt: EQY
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