But so far, the dice have been rolling straight sevens for the 47-year-old developer and specifically for its Atlanta regional office which specializes in developing mall-peripheral power centers and neighborhood grocery-anchored properties.

North American plans to start site work in March and break ground by fall on Camp Creek MarketPlace at Interstate 285 and Camp Creek Parkway, Atlanta's newest retail hotbed. Store openings are scheduled in the second quarter of 2003.

Preleasing activity in only the last 12 months is at 70%. National tenants are committing to five-year to 20-year leases at rents of $9 per sf to $22 per sf. A total 497,000 sf has already been booked. The estimated annual rent roll for that amount is $7.7 million based on average asking rent of $15.50 per sf.

Committed anchors to date are Target, Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, BJ's Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble, Marshall's, Ross Dress for Less, Linens 'n Things, Petsmart and Staples.

Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesday and LongHorn Steakhouse have reserved three of the 10 one-acre to two-acre outparcels for stand-alone restaurant sites at the shopping center. Outparcels are priced from $800,000 to $1.5 million.

"People in the Atlanta real estate industry thought we were crazy to propose a large-scale retail development in this (south Fulton County) area," Mark Toro, partner, North American Properties, says in a prepared statement.

But "as soon as we demonstrated South Fulton's population growth trends, plans for 12,000 new residential units and double-digit increases in median home values over the last two years, retailers and industry players alike started to take us seriously and recognized the untapped opportunity in this underserved market," Toro says.

He adds, "Due to the absolute lack of competition and sister-store impact, the interest from retailers has been phenomenal, more than we've seen on any of our other projects."

Toro's partner, Stephen Lam, attributes the project's success to date to demand. "Without question, there is pent-up demand for retail in south Fulton county," Lam says in the same statement. "The 200,000 people living in our trade area have money to spend and are currently driving 20 minutes or more to Cumberland, Southlake or Arbor Place Malls to shop."

He says, "the diversity and quality of retailers and restaurants we've lined up at Camp Creek MarketPlace will enable the upper, middle-class residents living nearby to spend their money closer to home."

And that pleases Patsy Jo Hilliard, mayor of nearby East Point, GA.

"Camp Creek MarketPlace will push the Southside's renaissance a giant leap forward by delivering 1,200 new jobs to the area and $150 million in sales that are currently leaving the county, while offering shopping and close-to-home dining options to our residents," Hilliard says in the same statement.