Jim McLean, MD of Liberty Properties, has retired from full-time employment with the Liberty Group.

McLean, who left the group yesterday, said he turned 55 in Novemberlast year and that he had set this age as a target for retirement yearsago. McLean has spent 22 years with Liberty Properties.

"It's not a retirement out of the property industry, it's just a retirement out of full-time employment at Liberty Properties," he said.

McLean said he hoped to use the experience he had gained in property over the years by consulting to the industry. He said he could get involvedin his own commercial property development projects.

"I am still relatively young and I want to stay active within the industry."

He was MD of Liberty Properties for five years and prior to that worked with Rapp & Maister, which was part of Liberty Properties. When Rapp& Maister closed in 1995 he moved over to Liberty Properties.

Rapp & Maister developed Sandton City and Eastgate shopping centre for the Liberty Group.

Liberty Properties leases, manages and administers more than 100 buildings, including Sandton City and Eastgate.

Myles Ruck, CEO of Liberty Life, said Roger Corlett, director of property management, would replace McLean as MD.

Caswell Rampheri, of Pareto, the property arm of Eskom, will replace Corlett.

Business Day