However, the total investment in the properties it is renovatingcould eventually come in around $1 billion, management says. At the11 vacated stores, about six would be replaced by other departmentstores, three to four by entertainment or lifestyle wings and theremainder by "major densification opportunities" like mixed-useadditions, said Arthur Coppola, the company's president and chiefexecutive officer.

The first renovation will likely take place at the Oaks, inThousand Oaks, CA, a 1.1-million-sf center where Macerich is buyingback a Macy's Women store and a Robinsons-May unit. The next assetthat the company could focus on is the 560,685-sf Santa Monica (CA)Place, where the company is taking back a Robinsons-May. Thatenclosed center will be completely redeveloped and made partiallyopen air, Coppola said.

In all, the centers being redeveloped due to the recapturing ofFederated space have average sales per sf of $500. The deal alsogives the company a total of 120 to 140 acres of developable landadjacent to the department-store sites. Each of the properties willbe redeveloped in different ways, Coppola said.