The property is one of the 10 largest shopping centers in Central Florida. Chelsea paid a premium $177.44 per sf for the 120-tenant property at 8200 Vineland Road in Orlando's main tourist corridor off Interstate 4 between Walt Disney World and Sea World in south Orlando.

In a prepared statement, Chelsea chairman/CEO David C. Bloom calls the Orlando Premium Outlets "one of the most successful retail properties in the United States." Tenants averaged over $550 per-sf sales in 2001, Bloom says, placing the mall among the top tier of regional shopping center producers.

Chelsea paid Simon $46.6 million in cash and assumed Simon's $29.7 million pro-rata share of existing mortgage debt. The purchase price equates to a capitalization rate of about 9.5%, Bloom says.

In a second, non-related acquisition, Chelsea bought the 305,000-sf, 13-year-old Prime Outlets in Edinburgh, IN from Baltimore, MD-based Prime Retail Inc. for $27 million or $88.52 per sf. The 98%-leased property, 40 miles south of Downtown Indianapolis, was built in 1989 at Interstate 65 and U.S. 31. National tenants are Eddie Bauer, Gap, Natuca, Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.

Bloom calls both acquisitions an example of investment opportunities now occurring in the consolidation of the outlet industry. "The Orlando purchase, in particular, exemplifies the tremendous value that can be created and built upon in our core Premium Outlet business," Bloom says in the statement.

Chelsea partially or wholly owns 58 trademarked Premium Outlets and other retail properties comprising 13 million sf of gross leasable space in 28 states and Japan.