Taubman Maps Out $300M Investment Target

Many results pointed up for the company in Q2. Taubman said average rents were up almost 2% to $43.64, and tenant sales per sf was up 3.6% for the quarter and 6.1% year-to-date.

This fall, the company plans to open the $155 million, 640,000-sf Mall at Partridge Creek in Clinton Township, MI; a $63 million renovated Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, MI; and a new open-air wing of the Stamford Town Center in Stamford, CT. The company is also working on casino-orientated retail markets. During the second quarter, Taubman acquired a majority interest in the Pier Shops at Caesars in Atlantic City, NJ, and is developing Macau Stuido City in Macao and New Songdo City in Incheon, South Korea. The company also grudgingly acknowledged that it is looking at new centers in Port St. Lucie, FL and in the northern Atlanta area. "We're working on around 20 deals right now, some announced and some not, and these are ones we haven't announced. We feel positive about them, but we can't comment beyond that," Taubman said in the call.

He also said the company is hopeful toward a resolution, either through the local government or the courts, of the proposal to build the Mall at Oyster Bay in Syosset, NY, a planned 860,000-sf development with Barneys, Niemen Marcus and Nordstrom. Taubman said the project should start in about 15 months, whether the town settles with the company or the courts will allow the development to proceed in the face of opposition groups. "There's no reason that the town can deny approval, we fully conform to the town planning code," Taubman said. "Absent a settlement, the cost for this project will still not exceed $50 million, producing a 7% return."

Taubman said that he's happy about another outstanding showing. "This is the best second quarter we've ever recorded," he said. The company owns and/or manages 23 centers in 11 states.