NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, began in 1967 and has retained through all these years its core group of developer members. The association began as a small group of owners and developers of industrial parks in the eastern U.S. who formed the National Association of Industrial Parks (NAIP) to facilitate a forum for the open exchange of information on development. They also had a need for standardized covenants and restrictions, building requirements, and beneficial legislation and taxation. Nine individuals first met on September 12, 1967, in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.