IRVINE, CA—The “mild, but consistent recovery” that the nationalretail sector has been experiencing will be amajor topic of discussion at ICSC RECon later thismonth, predicts Rick Chichester, president and CEO ofFaris Lee Investments. GlobeSt.com sat down withChichester recently and got his take on trends in the sector, howtoday's consumers are changing the face of retail and where thebiggest investment opportunities are for retail properties.

GlobeSt.com: What would ICSC attendees want to knowabout Faris Lee Investments?

Chichester: Faris Lee is a nationalinvestment advisory firm that focuses solely on the retail propertysegment, inclusive of single tenant, NNN, sale-leaseback,multi-tenant and mixed use. We have expanded and grownsubstantially over the past several years. To that end, weunderwrite more than 300 properties annually, and we have sold morethan 280 properties in 39 states in the past 24 months. We are afocused and collaborative firm, and we take an extremelydisciplined and thoughtful approach in our underwriting,valuations, and go-to-market strategies. We're not thelargest platform nationally, by intention, so we are not going tobring the army to the table. Instead, we bring the “special ops”—ateam of highly skilled specialists with financial and marketingintellect and creativity. We work together and support each otheron every assignment. The client benefits by having his projectexposed to some of the best and most creative minds in thebusiness.