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NEW YORK CITY-"Equity One is starting on a new road," said ChaimKatzman, chairman and chief executive officer of Equity One duringan investor conference call discussing the firm's joint venture transactionwith Investcorp, valued at $402 million. The pair entered into an80/20 partnership for 30 Equity One-owned properties, totalingapproximately 2.9 million sf in Texas. Equity One will maintain theminority interest and a subsidiary will handle management andleasing activities under a separate 15-year deal.

"We expect this will the first in this line of deals," Katzmansaid. "This was the right way to do it--sell a stable portfolio ofproperties and redeploy in other markets." Those other marketsinclude the Northeast and the Southeast. The firm has already made$100 million of investments to date this year, and anticipates atleast $100 million more of acquisitions.