Terms of the deal, which was a direct transaction between buyerand seller, were undisclosed. Based on going rates for the variousproperty types, the portfolio could easily have sold for $100million or more.

Michael Barker, managing director for Barker Pacific Group, saysthat Union Development will operate as a separate unit of BarkerPacific. One of the goals of the new ownership will be to increasevalue of some of the portfolio's older properties and redevelopothers, he says.

Barker says the deal combines his company's institutionalexperience and entrepreneurial approach with Union Development'slong history of land development and property management throughoutthe Southland. Founded in 1895 by R.E. Ibbetson, Union Developmenthas been owned and operated by the Ibbetson and Fitzgerald familiesever since, with Gregory Ibbetson, grandson of the founder, as itscurrent chairman.