"2008 will continue to be an interesting year as capital marketscontinue to clamp down," H. Kerr Taylor, AmREIT's chairman, CEO andpresident, told shareholders and analysts during yesterday'searnings call. He added "this year will be a launching pad for us"although many competitors are boxed in with current capital marketconditions.

Taylor says one reason for the optimism is sellers are startingto loosen up on putting their assets on the market. "At this timelast year, we couldn't see much quality. People were selling B andC projects, but not letting go of A," Taylor said. "They'restarting to let go."

The company's team is in negotiation for several class Aprojects, Taylor continued, adding AmREIT is seeing littlecompetition in the field. "There is not a robust pipeline," heacknowledged. "But I think we'll be successful with at least one ortwo of the transactions. As we continue, we'll see more and morecoming into the pipeline."