Also expect the new owner to flip Belle Promenade Mall to a local ownership group to re-develop that property. Demand for well leased retail property in good locations will remain strong throughout the year. New free standing, in-fill retail will continue to be added to our market and the players will continue to change as the weaker companies fall out and become replaced by national retailers. That portfolio was comprised of 5 warehouse properties in Elmwood Industrial Park and three warehouses in Riverbend Business Park. Prudential sold this hotel in a portfolio purchase to Strategic Hotel Capital of Chicago, Illinois.
New hotels are also on the horizon and a number of older buildings sold for conversion to hotel use.
The Standard Supply warehouse is becoming a Marriott Courtyard. These projects are all in the area near the Convention Center, whose expansion is driving all of this activity. With the third phase of the Convention Center expected to be completed in 1999, additional hotel rooms will be built in anticipation of the increased convention business. That trend should continue through 1998 and into 1999. While hotel deals are hard to find, the abundant capital chasing those opportunities will cause some existing hotel owners to sell.