News
RETAIL'S RECORD YEAR
November 14, 2011
| It’s time to start your holiday shopping, and Simon Properties’ David Simon thinks there’s a good chance you’ll be spending your dough at an outlet mall. (How can he read our minds?) The discount centers have accounted for much of the retail giant’s growth over the last year, we learned Thursday. | |
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| David says Simon, which owns 360M SF of malls, outlet malls, and other retail nationwide, had a record year for earnings, making it one of just a handful of companies to do so. Stock prices are up 17% a share after Q3, he told attendees during his keynote at a University of Chicago Booth Alumni Real Estate Forum. Honing the portfolio by disposing of non-performing properties and improving Class-B space has kept Simon in the game despite the fall-off of competitors. | |
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| Also on hand: Park Madison Partner’s Nancy LaShine and Allstate’s Edgar Alvarado. Nancy says that there are actually too many people looking for capital, but it’s hard to raise a fund right now, as private funds are less liquid than they once were. Thankfully, foreign investors are starting to show interest in US real estate again, she says. Edgar says Allstate is looking to diversify its investments, placing capital in European real estate from '12 to '14. |
