The two enclosed mall centers are the 445,000-sf Shawnee Mall in Shawnee, OK and the 700,000-sf Brazos Mall in Lake Jackson, TX. The seller was the Irving, TX-based Archon Group, and the sale price translates into about $42 per sf for the combined properties. Shawnee Mall is anchored by Sears, Wal-Mart, Dillard's and JC Penney department stores, while the Brozos Mall anchor complement includes Dillard's, JC Penney and Sears.

The transaction follows by about six months the company's acquisition of five shopping centers from PREIT, and its acquisition just over a year ago of the Baltimore-based Prime Retail. The latter deal brought 36 outlet shopping centers into the Lightstone fold. Prime Retail will manage and lease the two latest acquisitions for Lightstone.

"This isn't rocket science," says David Lichtenstein, chairman and principal of the locally based Lightstone Group. "Find a good mall that has upside potential, located in a good area, bring some excitement to the center and you've got something that works.

"We're certainly not doing anything to win a Nobel or Pulitzer Prize," Lichtenstein says of the latest acquisition. "We're just happy to have acquired some nice shopping malls in two good locations."

"We're excited about the phenomenal growth opportunities that exist in both of these markets," says Bob Brvenik, president of Prime Retail, who joined the company after its acquisition by Lightstone in late 2003. "We're planning on investing in significant renovations and upgrades to these malls to breathe some new life into them.

"They have great teams of professionals in place," Brvenik continues. "Coming into the new year, we are ready to hit the ground running at these properties. We know that our committed tenant base will look at these malls as yet another option for them within our portfolio."