For more retail coverage, clickGlobeSt.com/RETAIL.

DALLAS-The locally based HSM Equity Partners Inc. has spentslightly more than $11.2 million for a pair of shopping centers inBiloxi, MS, to mark its easternmost acquisition in its history.With the off-market purchase, HSM Equity gets a 67,891-sf footholdat a key location and the promise of buying another 135,000 sf,plus or minus, in the same spot.

"We are going outside the Dallas/Fort Worth area because thingsare so overheated here," Stephen A. Scott, executive director forHSM Equity, tells GlobeSt.com. The deal with Encore Enterprises ofGulfport, MS, includes an option to take down more class A spaceafter it's built, leased and stabilized. And the sweet spot, Scottsays, is "it's at the same cap rate that we bought these." Theinitial takedown has a 16.5% IRR for a five-year hold although theplan is to keep the holdings in the portfolio for the longhaul.