OAK BROOK, IL-Brian Conlon, currently president and director of Inland Securities Corp., has been named to also serve as president of Inland Real Estate Investment Corp. Both companies are subsidiaries of the Inland Real Estate Group of Cos. Inc., based here.

The Investment Corp.’s various REITs include the former Inland Retail (which was sold to Developers Diversified), Inland American (with $12 billion in assets), Inland Diversified and Inland Western Retail. “In the past 10 years we’ve raised about $20 billion in equity, a majority, about $15 billion, through the REITs,” Conlon says.

Conlon tells GlobeSt.com that the Investment Corp. arm of the group should raise up to $1 billion of capital this year through its dealings with its various REITs, credited investors and institutions. “I’ve been talking with our investors who have been reluctant to get back into the stock and bond market, they are ready to put their feet in the water. A hard asset like real estate is a predictable dividend,” he says.

The executive says he would like to increase the number of offerings through the Investment Corp., and also increase the quality of investor safeguards. “We have never had to pay a dividend out of investor capital, we don’t take any acquisition fees and we have a performance-based asset management fee, where we have to hit certain hurdles to get paid,” Conlon says.

This year will also bring the expected listing of existing common stock for Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust Inc., currently a non-traded REIT. The trust settled a lawsuit last year that had blocked the listing. Shareholders are now being asked to approve the listing, with a phased-in liquidity program, at a special meeting of stockholders on Feb. 24.