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 comprising approximately of gross leasable area in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and Asia.

History

Simon Property Group dates to 1960, when brothers

Melvin Simon Melvin Simon (October 21, 1926 – September 16, 2009)
September 18, 2009 was an American businessman and ...

and Herbert Simon began developing strip malls in Indianapolis, Indiana. In December 1993, they took their interests public as Simon Property Group in the largest initial public offering of a real estate investment trust to date. Simon Property merged with the newly public DeBartolo Realty Corporation, owner of the real estate assets of

Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Edward John DeBartolo Sr. (May 17, 1909 – December 19, 1994) was an American businessman. In 1971, his Ohio-based corporation was ranked as 47th among the nation's top 400 construction contractors. In 1983, DeBartolo was included on ''For ...

, in 1996 to form Simon DeBartolo Group. In 1997, the company acquired The Retail Property Trust for $1.2 billion in a hostile takeover. Also in 1997, in partnership with Macerich, the company acquired 12 malls from IBM's

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

plan for $974.5 million. One year after these acquisitions, the company acquired

Corporate Property Investors Corporate Property Investors was a real estate investment trust that built several notable shopping centers, including Lenox Square in Atlanta, the Burlington Mall in Massachusetts, and Roosevelt Field Mall in New York. History CPI was founded in ...

and was renamed Simon Property Group. The company also acquired an ownership interest in Groupe BEG, S.A., operator of shopping centers in Europe. In 1999, the company acquired 14 shopping centers from New England Development for $725 million. In 2002, in partnership with Westfield Group and The Rouse Company, the company acquired 13 properties from

Rodamco North America Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE (previously Unibail-Rodamco SE) is a French commercial real estate company headquartered in Paris, France. Its history originates with the formation of two separate shopping centre operators, Unibail (founded in Fran ...

including

Copley Place Copley Place is an enclosed shopping mall within the mixed-use Copley Square in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It features direct indoor connections to several nearby destinations including four office towers, and the Bosto ...

Houston Galleria The Galleria, stylized theGalleria and also known as the Houston Galleria, is an upscale mixed-use urban development and shopping mall located in the Uptown Houston, Uptown District of Houston, Texas, United States.SouthPark Mall. In 2003, Simon acquired a majority interest The Kravco Company, owner of the King of Prussia, for $300 million. In 2004, the company entered the outlet mall business with the acquisition of Chelsea Property Group Inc. for $3.5 billion. In April 2007, Simon and Farallon Capital acquired the Mills Corporation. In 2009, Simon tried to buy malls owned by General Growth Properties. In February 2010, Simon placed a bid acquire General Growth, which was in

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection. However, the bid was rejected by GGP. A GGP shareholder filed suit ''(Young v. Bucksbaum)'' against the company's

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

for rejecting Simon's bid, alleging breach of fiduciary duty. In April 2010, Simon offered to make a $2.5 billion equity investment in GGP including a $1 billion investment by Paulson & Co. In May 2010, Simon withdrew from the bidding for GGP after GGP favored transactions with Brookfield Asset Management. In May 2010, Simon acquired Prime Retail's Prime Outlets-Puerto Rico in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico In August 2010, Simon acquired an additional 21 outlet malls, including locations in Williamsburg, Virginia,

San Marcos, Texas San Marcos ( ) is a city and the county seat of Hays County, Texas, United States. The city's limits extend into Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties, as well. San Marcos is within the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area and on the Interstate 35 ...

and

Hagerstown, Maryland Hagerstown is a city in Washington County, Maryland, United States and the county seat of Washington County. The population of Hagerstown city proper at the 2020 census was 43,527, and the population of the Hagerstown metropolitan area (exten ...

for a total of $2.3 billion. In December 2010, Simon made a $4.5 billion bid for Capital Shopping Centres Group plc; however, the offer was rejected and withdrawn in January 2011. In September 2011, Simon acquired Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota. In August 2013, Toronto Premium Outlets opened in Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. In October 2014,

Premium Outlets Montreal Premium Outlets Montreal is an outlet mall in Mirabel, Quebec, Canada. Being the second Premium Outlet Centre in Canada, and the second conglomeration of stores of its type in that country (after Toronto Premium Outlets Toronto Premium Out ...

, the second in Canada, opened. In May 2018,

Premium Outlet Collection YEG Premium Outlet Collection EIA is a fully-enclosed Outlet store, outlet shopping mall in Leduc County just east of Edmonton International Airport. It opened on May 2, 2018, after being delayed from fall 2017. It was developed by Ivanhoé Cambridge ...

opened at Edmonton International Airport. In May 2014, the company completed the corporate spin-off of Washington Prime Group, headed by Mark Ordan, the final CEO of Mills Corporation. In January 2015, Washington Prime Group acquired

Glimcher Realty Trust Glimcher Realty Trust was a real estate investment trust based in Columbus, Ohio that invested in shopping malls. In 2015, the company was acquired by Washington Prime Group. Investments As of December 31, 2013, the company owned interests in 2 ...

and was renamed

WP Glimcher Washington Prime Group Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. The company is organized in Indiana with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From January 2015 to September 2016, the company had the name ...

. As part of the deal, Simon acquired

Jersey Gardens The Mills at Jersey Gardens, originally and also still colloquially called Jersey Gardens, is a two-level indoor outlet mall in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The mall opened on October 21, 1999, and is the largest outlet mall in New Jersey, and much clos ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

and University Park Village in Fort Worth, Texas, while WP Glimcher acquired

Brunswick Square Brunswick Square is a public garden and ancillary streets along two of its sides in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden. It is overlooked by the School of Pharmacy and the Foundling Museum to the north; the Brunswick Centre to the w ...

in East Brunswick, New Jersey from Simon. In March 2015, the company offered $23.3 billion for Macerich; however the offer was rejected and withdrawn in April 2015. In September 2016, in partnership with Authentic Brands Group and

GGP Inc. GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American Commercial property, commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin Bucksbaum, Martin, Ma ...

, the company acquired Aéropostale. In February 2020, in partnership with Authentic Brands Group, the company acquired

Forever 21 Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...

. On March 18, 2020, the company announced the closure of its U.S. shopping malls until March 29, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, it was the largest mall owner in the U.S. In August 2020, the company discussed repurposing large stores into warehouses and fulfillment centers for Amazon. Also in August 2020, in partnership with Authentic Brands, the company acquired Brooks Brothers and

Lucky Brand Jeans Lucky Brand Jeans is an American denim company founded in Vernon, California in 1990 by Gene Montesano and Barry Perlman.Vanessa McGradA Lucky Pair ''Catalyst'' Spring/Summer 2008 Lucky also produces other apparel, including activewear, outerwear, ...

. In December 2020, the company acquired Taubman Centers for $3.4 billion. It also acquired

J.C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

in partnership with Brookfield Asset Management. In April 2022, it was announced that Simon and Brookfield are set to offer to buy Kohl's. Simon purchased a 50% stake in Jamestown, a real estate developer, in October 2022.

Legal record

In 2007, the company was sued for banning the use of Segways, which the plaintiff claimed was in violation of the

Americans With Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

. In 2009, the company was sued by a nightclub for racial discrimination for allegedly blocking its main entrance since the majority of its clientele were black. In 2011, the company was sued for allegedly firing a woman because she was pregnant. In 2011, the company agreed to pay $125,000 to settle allegations by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Latino janitors working for the company were subjected to daily verbal attacks because of their national origin.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Financial services companies established in 1993 Real estate companies established in 1993 Companies based in Indianapolis Shopping center management firms Real estate investment trusts of the United States 1993 establishments in Indiana

History

Legal record

See also

References

External links