Industry | Real estate |
---|---|
Founded | 1967 1985 (as Mills Corporation) | (as Western Development Corporation)
Defunct | April 6, 2007 |
Fate | Bankruptcy |
Successor | Simon Property Group |
Headquarters | Chevy Chase, Maryland |
Products | Shopping malls |
Website | www.themills.com (2003 archive) |
The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007, by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. The company developed, owned, and operated major super-regional shopping malls. The company built 18 "Landmark" centers in which the malls were named after "Mills", like "Vaughan Mills", or "St. Louis Mills"; and also over 20 "21st Century Retail" regional malls that they started operating in 2002, like Del Amo Fashion Center and Southdale Center. Most former Mills facilities have a large movie theater from 10 to 30 screens, and a large food court (sometimes two). Their facilities were normally built in colorful modern/abstract architectural designs, but in recent years have been renovated to more conventional designs with mainly neutral colors. Simon Property Group assumed management of the former Mills properties after the acquisition, and is operating the former "Landmark Mills" group as a separate operating segment within its organization.
The company started in 1967 as the Western Development Corporation, and its first mall was Potomac Mills in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in 1985. Then from 1989 to 1991, Franklin, Sawgrass, & Gurnee Mills opened each of those years, respectively. In 1994 the company converted to Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) status and changed its name to "The Mills Corporation". [1] [2]
In 1996, with new CEO Lawrence Siegel, The Mills built Ontario Mills near Los Angeles, which was the company's first mall built abstractly and with a full oval racetrack design which followed into the rest of the company's built malls. Since opening Ontario Mills until 2005 with Pittsburgh Mills, The Mills built and opened at least one or two landmark malls each year.
In 2002, The Mills acquired six regular retail malls including the ailing Forest Fair Mall (became Cincinnati Mills from 2004 to 2009) and a nine mall portfolio in 2004, including former Taubman Centers, like Columbus City Center in order to redevelop and expanded to be more affordable centers. Also, the company also expanded to Europe with the opening of Madrid Xanadú in Spain.
The success of Madrid Xanadú prompted The Mills to embark on the $1 billion+ Meadowlands Xanadu complex in 2004, which was first planned as "Meadowlands Mills", but the project has caused numerous delays and cost the company financially. It was eventually sold to another developer, who planned it as American Dream Meadowlands.
In November 2004, Vaughan Mills was the first Mills Landmark built in Canada, and continued its international success with the acquisition of the St. Enoch Centre in Scotland and was offered to build a center in Rome, Italy.
After their last built mall was opened, Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills in July 2005, the company was investigated by the Securities & Exchange Commission for its financial problems.
On January 17, 2007, the Mills Corporation agreed to a buyout from Brookfield Asset Management, based out of Toronto. The deal was valued at US$1.35 billion. The company was forced to seek help after a possible management misconduct resulted in a $350 million accounting error. Brookfield would have paid $21 for each share of Mills Corporation. [3] However, on February 13, 2007, Mills announced that their board had determined that a competing offer from Simon Property Group of Indianapolis, Indiana was superior to the Brookfield offer. Brookfield had the option to submit a counter offer, but on February 16, 2007, Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital agreed to acquire Mills for $25.25 per common share.
On April 6, 2007, Farallon and Simon completed the acquisition of Mills. All former Mills malls became Simon properties at the acquisition date and are now shown on Simon's website. The Mills became Simon's fifth retail platform, along with Regional Malls (the 21st Century malls included) and Chelsea Premium Outlets. The new platform (for Landmark Mills only) is known as The Mills: A Simon Company.
These properties were in development by Mills Corporation before the Simon acquisition:
Ontario Mills is a shopping and outlet mall located in Ontario, California, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. With 28 million annual visitors, it is one of the top shopping and tourist destinations in California. It is one of three Mills landmarks in California that are now managed by Simon Property Group since April 2007. Simon owns 50% of it. The Outlets at Orange and The Great Mall are the others. Ontario Mills was designed by the architectural firm, F+A Architects.
Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of commercial real estate company Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of alternative asset management company Brookfield Asset Management. It is responsible for the asset management of the company's real estate portfolio, including office, multi-family residential, retail, hospitality, and logistics buildings. Brookfield Properties acquired General Growth Properties, one of the largest mall operators in the U.S., and merged it into Brookfield Properties in 2018.
GGP Inc. was an American commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin, Matthew and Maurice Bucksbaum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1954, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, from 2000. It was subject to the largest real estate bankruptcy in American history at the time of its filing in 2009.
Vaughan Mills is a regional outlet mall located at the southeast quadrant of the Highway 400 and Rutherford Road interchange in Vaughan, Ontario, just south of Canada's Wonderland. It is one of the largest enclosed shopping centres in Canada, and the largest shopping mall in York Region with almost 1.3 million square feet (120,000 m2) of retail space. The complex has over 200 retail stores, restaurants, and entertainment outlets.
Del Amo Fashion Center is a three-level regional shopping mall in Torrance, California, United States. It is currently managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group.
Southdale Center is a shopping mall located in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It opened in 1956 and is the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall in the United States. Southdale Center has 1,297,608 square feet of leasable retail space, and contains 106 retail tenants. The mall is owned by Simon Property Group and the anchor stores are Macy's, Dave & Buster's, AMC Theatres, Hennepin Service Center, and Life Time Athletic.
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Worldwide, it owns interests in 232 properties as of 2021.
A dead mall, also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall or abandoned mall, is a shopping mall with low consumer traffic level or is deteriorating in some manner.
Columbus City Center was a 1,250,000 sq ft (116,000 m2), three-level shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. It was located in the city's downtown, near the Ohio Statehouse, next to the Ohio Theatre, and connected to the Hyatt on Capitol Square hotel. The mall closed and was demolished in 2009. The mall had a large adjacent parking structure attached that remains in use. The parking structure has been joined, directly or via bridge respectively, to two 12 story structures, 250 S. High Street and 80 on the Commons, both of which feature lower level office spaces with residential spaces on the upper floors.
American Dream Meadowlands is a large retail and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As of 2024, it is the second-largest shopping mall in the United States with more than 450 stores.
Stoneridge Shopping Center is an upscale major shopping mall in Pleasanton, California. The mall is managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group, and is adjacent to Interstate 680. The mall features JCPenney and Macy's and Macy's Women's Store.
Grapevine Mills is a shopping mall in Grapevine, Texas, United States, in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. Grapevine Mills currently totals over 1,781,628 square feet in size.
CrossIron Mills is a fully enclosed shopping centre development just outside the northern city limits of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and immediately east of the hamlet of Balzac in Rocky View County. It was developed by Ivanhoé Cambridge, a major Canadian real estate company. Completed in August 2009, the mall is the largest single-level shopping centre in Alberta, containing approximately 109,440 m2 (1,178,000 sq ft) of retail and entertainment space. Century Downs Racetrack and Casino is nearby to the east.
Gurnee Mills is a shopping mall and outlet mall in Gurnee, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. Like the nearby Six Flags Great America and Great Wolf Lodge, the mall's placement in Gurnee is intended to bring customers from both Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With 1,936,699 square feet (179,925 m2) of gross leasable area and ten major anchor stores in its Z-shaped single-story building, it is the third largest mall in Illinois, and the largest of the four enclosed shopping centers in Lake County. Owned and operated by the Simon Property Group, it was an early part of the "Landmark Mills" chain of shopping malls built by the Mills Corporation. The mall features Hobby Lobby, Macy's, Kohl's, Marshalls/HomeGoods, Value City Furniture, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, Forever 21, H&M, Dick's Sporting Goods, Marcus Theatres, Rainforest Cafe, Top Shelf Ice Arena, The RoomPlace, Lee Wrangler Clearance Center, Burlington Coat Factory, and Floor & Decor as its anchor tenants.
Ridgedale Center, colloquially known as Ridgedale, is an enclosed shopping mall in Minnetonka, Minnesota, a western suburb of the Twin Cities. It is directly located off I-394/US 12 between Ridgedale Drive and Plymouth Road. Ridgedale Center comprises 1,105,337 square feet (100,000 m2) of leaseable retail space, and contains approximately 140 retail tenants. It is currently jointly owned by Brookfield Properties and CBRE Group, and managed by Brookfield. The anchor stores are JCPenney, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Dick's House of Sport.
Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc. is a Canadian real estate company based in Montreal, Quebec. With assets around the globe, its areas of activity are investment, development, asset management, operations and leasing. The company's real estate portfolio consists primarily of multi-residential properties, industrial/logistics real estate, shopping centres and office properties. It also has ownership interests in real estate investment funds and hotels. Ivanhoé Cambridge is a subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Triple Five Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Edmonton, Alberta, which specializes in shopping centres, entertainment complexes, hotels, and banks, along with running three indoor amusement parks. The company owns and operates the three largest malls in North America: the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, the Mall of America in Minnesota, and American Dream Meadowlands in New Jersey, all three of which contain a wide variety of entertainment attractions alongside traditional retail.
Madrid Xanadú is a large shopping mall and entertainment center in Arroyomolinos, Madrid, Spain. Constructed next to the Autovía de Extremadura highway, the mall is one of Europe's largest, with over 222 shops, eateries, and a 15-screen Cinesa Movie Theater. The most distinctive attraction is Madrid SnowZone, an indoor ski slope. The slope is from a Canadian company, Intrawest. The mall was named after the 1981 film Xanadu, starring Oliva Newton-John.
... the first-ever naming rights deal in the shopping center industry