SouthPark Meadows will not only offer shopping, dining, residential, and office space, but will also provide the ideal built-in amenity for future tenants, 4.67 miles of trails and numerous acres of open space and parks for the residents of South Austin & Southpark Meadows to enjoy.

Eventually, parts of the pedestrian and bike friendly pathways will be considered part of the City of Austin’s park system and will offer trails throughout the development, with access from multiple points in the project.

The trails, a composite of decomposed granite and also concrete, will be accessible from Slaughter Lane, South First Street, the to-be-named outer road that rings the development, and from the east/west residential boulevard that connects South First Street to the IH-35 frontage road. The parks and trail system will feature access to all product types in the development, as well as create multiple community gathering locales and places for residents of South Austin to enjoy. In addition to places designed to foster community interaction, the parkland will accomodate two wet ponds, other standard park amenities, and possibly ball fields.

The wet ponds will be designed to enhance the overall aesthetics of the project, and will naturally lend themselves to becoming a built-in amenity for residents, and tenants, of Southpark Meadows and South Austin. The trail and open space system will make Southpark the ideal location for a health club or future tenant of the like.

The "East" pond will be approximately 5.75 aces, and will be located close to S. First Street, while the larger pond, sized at 12.39 acres will be located on the western side of the development, and will service the shopping center.

As another component of Southpark’s amenities, "The Grove" at Southpark Meadows will be a highlight and attraction for the development, as well as one more place that will foster community interaction. "The Grove" will be approximately 5 acres in size, and feature the previously reported 100+-year-old Oaks trees that were transplanted in late August of 2005. The trees were rescued and transplanted on-site, in order to conserve the natural environment, and keep trees with such a long-standing heritage as part of the development. Some long-time residents of Austin will recall the very same trees providing shade during summer concerts at the former music venue.

"The Grove" will house multiple restaurants, including: Waterloo Icehouse, Mama Fu’s, Jason’s Deli, and Keva Juice, a smoothie shop new to Austin. Once completed, approximately 90% of "The Grove" square footage will be 10-15 restaurants. The Grove will have three multi-tenant buildings, ranging in size from 11, 900 sq. ft to 15,600 sq. ft.

Along with abundant Live Oaks providing shade and aesthetics to "The Grove", there will be open patio and plaza seating, 3 water features, one of which will be interactive, and a children's playscape. The proposed playscape for "The Grove" will be larger than Market’s Lamar location playscape. "The Grove’s" playscape will feature multiple levels, three different types of slides, playhouse-styled areas, and interactive games which require kids to intermingle in order to utilize all the playscape’s amenities. The design principle behind the playscape was intended to promote interaction among the children and encourage group-play.

In addition to being South Austin’s newest shopping destination, Southpark Meadows is pleased to offer multiple locations within the project for the surrounding community to congregate and enjoy!

Phase I, currently open for business, will have 3 new tenants open very soon! Accident and Family Chiropractor and EZ Money will open their doors in December 2005, with La Salsa close behind, opening its doors in January 2006.

We are pleased to offer these great service and dining options amongst the many other available stores currently open in Phase I of Southpark Meadows!

Southpark Meadows is pleased to offer South Austinites the 3rd Rack Room Shoes location in Austin. Rack Room Shoes offers, shoes handbags and accessories, all reflecting the latest fashions for dress, casual, trends, and athletic wear at the best prices for the whole family. Their selection includes Skechers, Nine West, Steve Madden, Dockers, Rockport, Columbia, Nike, Reebok, New Balance and many others.

Rack Room offers customers savings by selling the top brands at a significantly reduced percentage off manufacturers’ retail prices. Their own private brands, commissioned from the best manufacturers in the business, deliver top quality and style at great savings.

The combination of style, selection, value, service and convenient locations has made Rack Room Shoes one of the fastest-growing shoe retailers in the nation.

Hibernia Bank is scheduled to open in Augsut of 2006, on a Phase II pad site. Southpark Meadows welcomes Hibernia, and is pleased to offer South Austinites more options and conveniences.

Hibernia is the banking segment of Capital One Financial Corporation. Hibernia provides a broad range of financial products and services, including deposit products; consumer, commercial, small-business, international, mortgage and private banking; leasing; treasury management; trust and investment management; brokerage; investment banking; and insurance.

Phase II Progresses Quickly

Phase II of Southpark Meadows is finishing the shell construction on 3 of the anchor tenants’ buildings: Office Max, Circuit City and Ross Dress For Less. In addition, Hobby Lobby and Rooms To Go have begun construction of their buildings.

Phase II is expected to begin opening for business in April of 2006, with continual tenant openings through July of 2006.

Final Tree Relocation Complete

The fifth 30”+ Caliper Live Oak tree is being moved the week of November 28th, 2005. This tree will be placed on- site, just as the rest of the preserved trees have been placed in "The Grove" at Southpark, and various locations throughout the development. Relocation efforts were made for all the transplanted trees in order to keep them from being destroyed from new development.

Retail Sales Rise a Comparatively Flat 0.4 Percent as Spending Increases Late in the Weekend

ShopperTrak RCT Corporation’s National Retail Sales Estimate today reported that the while the first full weekend of the holiday shopping season finished relatively flat, rising just 0.4 percent over the same period in 2004, there was slight improvement in consumer spending late in the annually strong retail sales weekend.

Although initially this major shopping weekend didn’t appear to fare well compared to 2004, across-the- board discounting may have held back the pace of sales early in the weekend which then strengthened as door buster deals expired late Saturday and early Sunday. Total sales during the three-day holiday weekend totaled a fairly impressive $16.8 billion.

"Thanksgiving week in 2004 was very strong so most comparisons versus this time period will naturally seem weaker," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. "When the pace of discounting slowed late in the weekend, the industry began to see a slight upturn and looking at the posted dollar figures, it appears the consumer is still very willing to spend early in this shopping season." Martin continued: "However, as we’ve previously mentioned, Black Friday weekend is traditionally not an accurate predictor of consumer spending patterns during the rest of the season, so retailers should withhold judgment until we move closer Christmas."

Additionally, ShopperTrak reported that sales for the week ending November 26 as compared to the same period in 2004 were up a solid 9.2 percent. On a week-over-week comparison, sales rose 5.6 percent as compared to the previous week ending November 19. To-date, average weekly sales for November versus last year are up 1.2 percent.

Developed by ShopperTrak, the NRSE provides a nationwide benchmark of retail sales. It is derived from the U.S. Commerce Department's GAFO (general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby, books and other related store sales) statistic, as well as ShopperTrak's proprietary industry intelligence on shopper movement and sales statistics. This gives retailers, investors and policy makers the most accurate and timely information on consumer trends available today.

A privately held entity, ShopperTrak leverages 20 years of retail expertise to be the industry's authority for information and analysis of the movement of shoppers in retail environments. ShopperTrak's cutting-edge shopper tracking products and indices offer retail intelligence solutions that enable companies to better understand retail trends and the impact of store and staff performance on company revenues. With more than 45,000 units installed in the world's best known retail outlets and malls, the company's solutions also provide a proven means for retailers to gauge labor efficiencies, advertising and marketing efforts, store design and remodeling programs, merchandise changes, associate training programs, and other budget-intensive strategic initiatives.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The data contained within this news release is the property of ShopperTrak RCT Corporation and may be reprinted, published or broadcast, provided proper credit is given to the National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE) and ShopperTrak RCT Corporation as the supplier of the information. Please contact Aaron Martin at 773.505.4325 if you have any questions concerning the use of this data.