We've been at ICSC in Vegas all week and met a bunch of folks from home--or near home. Just 45 miles east of Houston, the City of Liberty still has that small-town feel, says Liberty Community Development Corp prez Dennis Beasley (right, with the City of Libertys April Reiss and city manager Gary Broz). The trio was promoting a few prime retail development sites: a 39-acre site at the southeast corner of SH 146 bypass and SH 146N and almost two acres at the corner of North Main Street and SH 146 bypass.

Also at ICSC, the team from Read King was happy to be making deals and looking to fill some grocery-anchored properties. We told you about the Vintage Market Place breaking ground with Whole Foods and 32k SF of inline/pad space available at the Gensler-designed (and built by Arch-Con) property. The team: Brooks Shanklin, Cort King, Will Bradley, Blake Allen, Christie Amezquita, Tony Patronella, and Allison Houser (not pictured: Jeff Read, Ewing King, and Ryan Orr).

Boxer Retail plans to snag a few million SF of distressed shopping centers this year. Churchill Capitals Trip Neil and Jim Neil and Boxer Retail prez Michael Pariza tell us theyve developed a successful system for turning around struggling shopping centers. Example: their 2004 acquisition and rebirth of the La Gran Plaza in Fort Worth into a booming Hispanic mall. Boxer has 2.5M SF of retail already and is looking at opportunities with broken properties. Jim says much of the retail third-party management Boxer has done in the past three years has been for special servicers. Boxer is also making its first foray into hospitality with the recent acquisitions of a ski resort in Crested Butte and a golf resort in Phoenix. (The real challenge is golfing on the ski slope without losing your golf ball.)