Regency Place history

Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice (1813).

Austen, Jane, Emma (1815)

Austen, Jane, Northanger Abbey (1817)

Martin E. Stein, Sr., and Joan Wellhouse were married in 1950.

REITs had been established by the United States Congress in 1960 as a way for small investors to become involved in real estate in a manner similar to mutual funds.

He returned to Jacksonville in 1976 to join the family business, but at first was put to work in an energy plant that Regency owned at the time.

In 1981 the company doubled the size of the mall and also began to expand its operations throughout Florida.

1988: Martin Stein dies and is succeeded as CEO by his son, Martin E. Stein, Jr.

By 1993 Regency's real estate holdings totaled 24 properties, including 21 shopping centers and three office complexes, half of them owned with investment partners.

As she explained to the Business Journal-Jacksonville in a 1994 profile, "In my family women were always involved, interested and knew about investments.

The REIT padded its war chest in the fall of 1995 with the private placement of $50 million in stock, of which $44 million was used to acquire four shopping centers in St Petersburg, Tampa, West Palm Beach, and Atlanta.

Finally, in the autumn of 1997, Regency acquired two additional Miami shopping centers and a third in Columbus, Ohio, at a cost of nearly $40.6 million.

Nevertheless, the price of Regency shares continued to be undervalued by Wall Street, prompting a buyback effort by the REIT during 1999.

Despite an economy that began to slump in 2000, Regency continued to prosper in 2000, supporting the contention that grocery-anchored shopping centers were indeed recession-proof.

In 2002 General Electric Capital Corporation acquired Security Capital Group Inc., in the process gaining majority ownership of Regency.

2004: Regency acquires 17 shopping centers from Atlanta-based Branch Capital Partners.