Melvin Simon
| Melvin Simon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 21, 1926 Glen Cove, New York |
| Died | September 16, 2009 (aged 82) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Other names | Mel |
| Alma mater | City College of New York (B.A., 1949) |
| Occupation | Real estate developer |
| Spouse(s) | Bess Meshulam (divorced) Bren Burns |
| Children |
with Meshulam: --Deborah Simon --Cynthia A. Simon Skjodt --David E. Simon with Burns: --Joshua Max Simon (deceased) --Tamme McCauley (adopted daughter) |
| Parent(s) | Max and Mae Simon |
| Family | Herbert Simon (brother) |
Melvin "Mel" Simon (October 21, 1926 – September 16, 2009) was an American businessman and film producer, who co-founded the largest shopping mall company in the United States, the Simon Property Group, with his younger brother, Herb Simon. The pair jointly purchased the Indiana Pacers in 1983.
Simon was born to a Jewish family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and grew up in the Bronx, the son of Max and Mae Simon. His father was a tailor who had emigrated from Central Europe. Simon graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and earned a degree in accounting from the City College of New York in 1949. He then served in the US Army where he was stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis in 1953. He supplemented his army pay working as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. After leaving the military, he decided to stay in Indianapolis and took a job as a leasing agent where he saw the potential in real estate.
After a few years as a leasing agent and having handled leasing at several shopping centers, he formed his own leasing company in 1959 with his younger brother Herb, Melvin Simon & Associates. Melvin owned 2/3rd of the business and Herb the remainder. They started out by developing strip centers anchored by groceries and drugstores; they soon graduated to developing fully enclosed malls. By 1967, they owned and operated more than 3 million square feet of retail property and expanded nationally.
The Simons followed a very successful strategy. They would entice a large anchor tenant, typically a department store, to their planned mall by charging them less rent and then would use the contract to obtain bank financing for the construction usually with minimal investment from the Simons. Once the project was completed, the Simons would charge smaller stores a higher rate and also required that stores pay a premium over their rent if their sales exceeded pre-negotiated levels.
In 1993, Melvin Simon & Associates went public as the Simon Property Group raising $1 billion for the Simon brothers. At the time, this was the largest real estate stock offering ever made. In 1996, the company merged with the DeBartolo Realty Corporation in a $3.0 billion merger becoming the Simon DeBartolo Group. In 1998, the company reverted to the Simon Property Group name and maintains its title as the largest mall operator in the United States, owning 386 properties in North America, Europe and Asia; clocking 2.8 billion shopper visits each year, and having annual sales in excess of $60 billion. The company, although publicly held, remained controlled by the Simon brothers.
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