Passco estimates the $175 million in equity will translate to real estate investment with a value of approximately $450 million, based on typical ratios of equity and debt in today's deals.Passco has already assembled a portfolio of six million sf of commercial properties valued at $675 million. Winn says the company's prospective new investments will include regional malls, power centers and grocery anchored centers throughout the western and southwestern US, and Hawaii; multi-tenant industrial properties with five or more tenants; and multifamily properties consisting of 100 or more units in the Western and southwestern US.

Passco last year sponsored one of the largest tenant in common transactions ever executed, the $148-million purchase of the Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry, part of $275 million in 2003 acquisitions for the firm. Although most of the investors in the property were 1031 Exchange buyers seeking replacement properties, as is the case with many if not most TIC deals, the transaction also included a substantial sum from investors who were not seeking a 1031 replacement property.

Passco was established nearly six years ago. Its existing portfolio includes regional malls, grocery-anchored neighborhood centers, power centers and multi-tenant industrial properties.

Among the investment opportunities the firm foresees are mature retail centers in areas that are undergoing demographic change, according to Winn, who says such centers "present the opportunity for a well-capitalized investor to reposition and modernize these properties for a new generation of retailers and customers.