Although Saul paid top dollar for the asset, the Maryland REITconsidered the area's demographics in making the acquisition. In aprepared statement from Saul principal Scott V. Schneider, thecompany estimates over 12,800 homes with annual household incomesaveraging more than $83,000 are located within a three-mile radiusof Cruse MarketPlace. A 44,000-sf Public Supermarket anchors theshopping center at GA 20 and Samples Road.

Saul Centers operates and manages a portfolio of 39 communityand neighborhood shopping centers and office properties totalingseven million sf of leasable area. "Over 80% of the company's cashflow is generated from properties in the metropolitan Washington,DC/Baltimore area," Schneider says.

For North American, the sale generates additional revenue for acompany that has several Georgia projects on its development plate.Last year the Ohio company opened the first 750,000-sf phase at100% occupancy of Camp Creek Marketplace, an estimated$100-million, 1.1-million-sf venture on 145 acres at Interstate 285and Camp Creek Parkway in southwest Fulton County.