Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) The first question we have comes from Paul Adornato of BMO Capital Markets.
Paul Adornato – BMO Capital Markets
Hi. Phil, I was wondering if you could update us on the big picture strategy. I remember last year you were talking about perhaps trying to decrease exposure to non-port areas of the country, primarily the midsection of the country while increasing exposure to the coasts. I was wondering if that strategy is still viable or even desirable in this environment.
Phil Hawkins
Well, short term, it's hard to do a lot obviously to move the needle either in terms of disposing of assets or in terms of acquiring new assets. The strategy actually remains very much the same and I'll describe it as follows; first is to increase our exposure to the coastal markets and then over time decrease the exposure at least on a relative basis to the interior markets. We’ve made some progress if you’ll notice dispositions that we made this year have been in those non-coastal markets. We’ve also been growing through development in some of the coastal markets. Obviously, SLCA is a key contributor to that but then also Washington, Dallas, Florida, et cetera. Markets in some cases maybe softening but over time we’d like to increase our presence. The other aspect to our strategy which remains very much the same is to grow our presence in Mexico and build a platform in Mexico.
As Jim mentioned, and we probably said on the call several times, that has taken us longer than we would have liked. In hindsight, I think we’ll probably be pleased with our patience although at times that patience can be frustrating at least internally, but we very much remained committed to Mexico and are excited about the potential there, particularly with a pullback in capital where there was definitely a flood of capital competing for assets and land over the last year or two.
Lastly, looking to joint venture relationships to leverage our expertise as well as to co-invest our capital also remains important in moderate levels. We are not anticipating becoming a fund manager, but I believe that it is appropriate to utilize third party capital that has objectives in a view point consistent with our own, which I think we have been fortunate to find in our two current partners and over time we would love to have both extend those relationships if possible but also to expand them to fill in gaps that we believe may be out there.
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