PORT WASHINGTON, NY-A Long Island-based REIT yesterday closed on three shopping centers--two in Philadelphia and one in New Jersey--picking up 450,000 sf of retail space and furthering its long-term goal of shifting its focus to the acquisition of Mid Atlantic retail properties.

RICHMOND, VA-The high-end retailer plans an 80,000-sf store as part of Stony Point Fashion Park, a 680,000-sf open-air retail center being developed Taubman Centers. Saks Fifth Avenue expects to open the store when the center debuts in the fall of 2003.

BLOOMINGTON, MN-Trammell Crow Co. represents Bank of America in lease negotiations, which results in the tenant reducing its total space at Normandale Lake Office Park from about 70,000 sf to 35,966 sf.

DEERFIELD BEACH, FL-Andre Apicella, a former leasing consultant for Summit Properties Inc. of Charlotte and Olawale "Wally" Okegbola, a real estate analyst with Miami-based Pyramid Realty Group, will beef up the 14-year-old firm's investment brokerage division. Deerfield Beach is 42 miles north of Miami.