Most real estate investment trusts (REITs) own and operate collections of income-producing properties. Among the 225 or so publicly traded REITs are some great options for folks looking for growth and income -- emphasis on income -- from an investment they can buy and hold forever.

Twenty-eight years isn't actually forever, of course, but it's how long Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC) has been a public company and in that time it has truly outperformed. Since 1994, this retail REIT has provided a total return of 630%, besting two key benchmarks, the S&P 500 and Vanguard Real Estate ETF, by about 200 and 350 percentage points respectively.

Meanwhile, check out what $1,000 of those first 2.5 million shares bought then would be worth now, compared with the aforementioned benchmarks:

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Source Fool.com