CenterPoint Sees 'Positive Sign' for Market

"That's a very positive sign for us," says chief investment officer Paul Ahern on a first-quarter earnings conference call.

The company picked up 31 new customers in all of 2001, Ahern notes.

CenterPoint reports earnings per share increased 28% in the first quarter to $0.64 per share. The $14.9 million in earnings is a 29.5% increase over the first quarter of 2001.

"The market is improving," Ahern adds. "We have a lot more activity. That activity will generate offers, and hopefully those offers will generate deals. We have an abundance of liquid investors and users, as well as new product that is generating the activity."

High on the company's most-active list are the Ford Supplier Plant on the Southeast Side of Chicago as well as the International Produce Market on the near Southwest Side. The first two of the eventual five buildings in the supplier plant project are 90% pre-leased, says president and chief operating officer Michael Mullen, with the entire project now expected to be pre-leased by the end of June. Ahead of schedule and under budget, the International Produce Market has just four of its 36 spaces remaining, and those are expected to be under contract by June, three months ahead of the scheduled opening.

Then there is the massive redevelopment of the Joliet Arsenal, where about two square miles is being converted into an intermodal facility. Crews are now moving 7,000 tons of stone per day, Mullen says, which will increase to 20,000 tons per day next month as CenterPoint zeroes in on opening the facility to train traffic in August.

While focused on a handful of massive development projects, Mullen suggests the REIT may have other redevelopment opportunities on the horizon. "We see at least two potential candidates that appear to be percolating on the surface," he says.