Echion USA Inc., is a member of the Canadian-based Hotte family which has been actively involved in commercial real estate development for over 45 years in Canada and Florida.  Echion is the family's development arm in Florida.

Echion was founded in 1978 by J. Rene Hotte.  Prior to this, during the period of 1960 to 1977, he was President of J. Rene Hotte, Inc. and Ste-Therese-En-Haut Realties, involved in the following projects.

• - 600 acre residential community master plan development called Ste-Therese-En-Haut (located north of Montreal at the entrance of the Laurentians)
• - Plaza Ste-Therese "shopping mall"
• - Edmundston Shopping Mall. Edmunston, N.B.
• - Loch Lomond Saint John, N.B. Shopping Center
• - Bathurst Shopping Mall, Bathurst, N.B.
• - Newcastle Shopping Mall, Newcastle. N.B.
• - Les Galeries Val d'Or, Quebec
• - Les Galeries Lac St. Jean, Alma, Quebec
• - Fredicton Shopping Mall, Fredicton, N.B.
• - Les Grandes Places Rimouski, Quebec
• - Grey County Mall Shopping Center, Owen Sound, Ontario
• - Carrefour Frontenac Thetford Mines, Quebec Shopping Center
• - County Fair Mall, New Minas, Nova Scotia Shopping Center

Daniel Hotte became President of Echion USA, Inc. in 1985, overseeing and directing all operations of the company, joined in 1998 by John Hotte as Vice-President and Legal Counsel. 

During the time period of 1978 to present, the following projects have been successfully completed by Ettoh Ltd. as the Limited Partner and Echion USA, Inc. as the General Partner.

• - Winn Dixie Shopping Center (100,000. sf) Coral Springs
• - Winn Dixie (100,000 sf) West Palm Beach
• - First Nationwide Savings, (12,000. sf) West Palm Beach
• - Professional & Medical (30,000 sf) Sunrise
• - Florida National Bank, State Farm and Southland Corporation, (30,000 sf) Professional & Medical Coral Springs
• - Sun Bank Centre, anchored by Sun Bank (30,000. sf) Coral Springs
• - Great Western Bank Professional Building (30,000. sf)  Weston Community
• - Bank of America Building, (3-story) Hollywood
• - Walgreens Retail Center, (34,000. sf) Hollywood
• - Barnett Bank Building, (30,000. sf)  Tishman-Speyer Park of Commerce in the Community of Weston
• - Port Royale Financial Center, anchored by NationsBank and Prudential Securities, (52,000. sf) Ft. Lauderdale
• - Eckerd Drug Store and McDonald’s Plaza, (25,000. sf) Boca Raton
• - Blockbuster Video and Boston Chicken, (16,350. sf) Weston
• - Silver Lakes Community, Professional/medical/retail campus(60,000 sf) Pembroke Pines
• - Eckerd Drug Store retail center, (20,000. sf) Sunrise
• - Medical/Banking/Restaurant campus, anchored by Citibank (30,000 sf) Plantation
• - Blockbuster Plaza, (10,000 sf) Coral Springs
• - Eckerd and Blockbuster Plaza, (23,000. sf) Port St. Lucie West
• - A 27 acre parcel for the development of 15 acre tract for Wal-Mart together with 2 outparcels for the development of a free standing Walgreen’s store and a Mobil Oil full service station in the City of Silver Lakes in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
• - A four-acre parcel with a 20,000 sq. ft. office building and a free-standing Walgreens located in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
• - A 15,000 sq. ft.  free-standing Walgreens in Sebring, Florida.
• - A 15,000 sq. ft.  free-standing Walgreens together with a thirty four thousand square foot retail center anchored by Save A Lot located in Avon Park, Florda.  
• - A 15,000 sq. ft. free-standing Walgreens together with a 5000 sq. ft. First Union Bank facility located in Satellite Beach, Florida.
• - A 15,000 sq. ft. Bank/Retail facility with Washington Mutual in Delray Beach, Florida
• - 10,000 sf Retail facility in Doral, Florida next to Wal-Mart
• - Free-standing Walgreens in Tallahassee, Florida
• - Free-standing Walgreens in Daytona Beach, Florida
• - Free-standing Walgreens in Sebring Florida
• - 45,000 sf Retail together with free-standing Walgreens and Applebees in Kissimmee, Florida
• - Free-standing Walgreens in Quincy, Florida