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SWERDLOW GROUP SELLS GREAT MALL OF BAY AREA TO MILLS CORPORATION
Released August 6, 2003
Miami, Fla.-- Swerdlow Group today announced that it has sold
the Great Mall of the Bay Area in Milpitas, Calif., to The Mills Corporation
(NYSE:MLS), one of the nation's leading developers and operators of innovative
retail and entertainment destinations. Great Mall of the Bay Area is
the largest value-oriented retail and entertainment property in Northern
California, with 1.3 million square feet of gross leaseable area (GLA).
The sale price was $265.5 million.
"We're extremely pleased that our efforts to cultivate and reposition
the Great Mall of the Bay Area over the last few years have now allowed
us to recognize a considerable profit on its sale," said Michael
J. Swerdlow, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Swerdlow Group.
Opened as a retail center in 1994, the Great Mall of the Bay Area
features a signature racetrack layout, themed neighborhoods, value-retail
tenants and family entertainment venues. Last renovated in fall 2002,
the center has 11 anchors, including Off 5th - Saks Fifth Avenue Outlet,
Old Navy, Burlington Coat Factory, Dave & Buster's and a 20-screen
Century Theatres. Great Mall also features more than 200 specialty stores,
including designer name outlets like BCBG Max Azria Outlet, Polo Jeans
Factory Store, and St. John Knits Outlet.
Added Laurence C. Siegel, Chairman and CEO of The Mills Corporation,
"Adding the Great Mall to our portfolio fits with our strategy
of acquiring properties that we can enhance with a unique mix of retail
and entertainment venues, and turn into market-dominant consumer destinations."
The center had average specialty tenant sales of $319 per square foot
in 2002. The mall holds an additional 60,000 square feet of expansion
space, which currently is built out to a rough shell and will be leaseable
subject to the completion of certain infrastructure improvements which
Mills Corporation expects to complete by early 2004.
Great Mall is located at the convergence of Interstates 660 and 880
and Highway 237 and U.S. 101 in Silicon Valley. The center is situated
in an affluent, growing population sector near major markets where developable
land is scarce. More than seven million people live within the extended
trade area, which includes the San Francisco Bay Area CMSA. More than
one million people, with a median household income of more than $70,000,
live within 10 miles of the property. Approximately 18 million shoppers
visit the center each year.
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