Charles Grossman Elected Chairman of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

NEW YORK -- The International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc. (ICSC) announced today that Charles Grossman, managing director at ING Clarion Partners, New York, N.Y., has been elected by the ICSC board of trustees and its members to serve as the association's chairman for the 2005-2006 term. Mr. Grossman officially assumed his role as chairman yesterday during ICSC's annual Meeting of Members during the association's 2005 Spring Convention. Succeeding James Maurin, CSM, chairman of Stirling Properties, Covington, La., Mr. Grossman will be the association's 46th chairman.

For more than 30 years, Mr. Grossman has been a volunteer of ICSC, serving as a trustee of the ICSC Educational Foundation, ICSC's executive committee and as a member of ICSC's board of trustees. Most recently, he served as ICSC's Treasurer.

"Charles' nomination to serve as ICSC's worldwide chairman comes at a remarkable time in the history of the association," said Michael P. Kercheval, ICSC's president and CEO. "As the shopping center industry expands throughout the world, ICSC products and services are in great demand. As a trustee of ICSC's Educational Foundation, Charles knows that professional development through ICSC educational opportunities is often a key to success. Thus, Charles is uniquely qualified to articulate the value of membership in ICSC and guide our association's expansion throughout the world. I, along with our board of trustees, look forward to working with him during his chairmanship," added Mr. Kercheval.

Besides overseeing some of his company's client accounts, Mr. Grossman heads up the Lion Industrial Trust; is a member of the firm's executive committee and serves on the Investment Policy Committee of ING Clarion Real Estate Securities. He is a graduate of Harvard College, where he majored in government (B.A., magna cum laude, 1965), Columbia University School of Law (J.D., 1968) and Columbia University School of Business (MBA, 1969). Before joining ING, Mr. Grossman worked at the international investment firm James D. Wolfensohn Inc., and was the founding partner and CEO of Schroder Real Estate Associates, an institutional investment management firm. Mr. Grossman resides in New York City with his wife and has two daughters.

"Being elected chairman of ICSC is truly an honor," said Mr. Grossman. "The shopping center industry is rapidly becoming a global phenomenon as developers and retailers expand their businesses beyond their traditional borders. This expansion presents the ICSC with a great deal of challenges but many more opportunities. It is a privilege to be given the opportunity to help steer the organization's growth over the next year," Mr. Grossman added.

ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management services to private, corporate and institutional clients. With operations in 50 countries, ING bills itself as the biggest real estate management firm in the world. The firm manages some $600 billion in assets of all types, of which about 35 percent represents retail. ING Clarion, with $19 billion in public and private real estate assets, is a member of ING Real Estate, the global real estate investment arm of ING.

Founded in 1957, ICSC is the worldwide global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its more than 50,000 members in over 80 countries include owners, developers, retailers, lenders, and trade professionals, as well as academics and public officials involved in the retail real estate industry. Headquartered in New York City, ICSC has over 150 staff members and offices in Washington, D.C., Toronto, London and Singapore and can be found on the web at www.icsc.org.