"Doesn't Homart make plumbing fixtures?" asked a longtime acquaintance, uncertain about the job that Gregoire (pronounced Gregory) had taken at Homart after several years as executive vice president of a national commercial real estate company.

Such was the respect shown Homart Development Co., which then was virtually unknown. It was mistaken for Homart Plumbing Supply Co.

Since 1990 it has built more than 15 million square feet of regional malls and community shopping centers, more than any other company in the nation. It owns 37 regional shopping malls, 15 community shopping centers, dozens of office buildings and hundreds of acres of land awaiting development.