Question-and-Answer Session
Thank you. Thank you. At this time we would like to begin the question-and-answer session of this conference. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Christi McElroy, Banc of America. Please proceed.
Christine McElroy - Bank of America
Hi, good morning guys. Given all that’s happened in just the last few months in terms of the [inaudible], the economy, the softer consumer spending, changing attitudes of some retailers, and the continuing turmoil in the credit market, how has your view of the world changed and would you say that you are in more of a defensive mode today given the environment or you out there looking to put capital to work in a market that could potentially see some mispricing and deal structuring opportunities as you put it?
Donald Wood - President and Chief Executive Officer
Well Christi lets break it down. There is no question that in tougher economic times we are looking at two things on the leasing side, right. I mean tenant sales will be lower. They won't grow as fast as we thought they would, that leads us to looking at percentage rent projections in our numbers that are lower than they would otherwise be, number one. Number two, it takes longer to lease things up, and so our downtime projections are longer. And so when we operate from a leasing perspective, we are on more of a defensive mode, there's no question about it. And this is very similar to markets that we've been in before and it never... there was nobody that was going to think it was going to stay the way it was in '03, '04 and '05 forever and so we're very prepared for that. So, I would say, yes, defensive on the operation side of the business. In terms of the growth side of the business, acquisitions, development opportunities etcetera, this is where I think we do get a little bit more aggressive and as we look out and see what's going on in the world, we are keeping a real close eye on opportunistic ways to grow the portfolio. You know we have been looking at getting into the floors over the past couple of years and prices have kept us out, the type of products have kept us out. I'm hopeful that over the next 12 months or so we will finally make some progress there as things break a little bit. So, you will see more on the opportunistic side in terms of the growth side but more defensive in terms of operations.
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