The Mills Corporation
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| Industry | Real estate |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Successor | Simon Property Group |
| Founded | 1967 (as Western Development Corporation) 1985 (as Mills Corporation) |
| Defunct | April 6, 2007 |
| Headquarters | Chevy Chase, Maryland |
| Products | Shopping malls |
| Website | www.themills.com |
The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007 by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. The company developed, owned, and operated major super-regional shopping malls. The company built 18 "Landmark" centers in which the malls were named after "Mills", like "Vaughan Mills," or "St. Louis Mills"; and also over 20 "21st Century Retail" regional malls that they started operating in 2002, like Del Amo Fashion Center and Southdale Center. Most former Mills facilities have a large movie theater from 10–30 screens, and a large food court (sometimes two). Their facilities are normally built in modern/abstract architectural designs. Simon Property Group assumed management of the former Mills properties after the acquisition, and is operating the former "Landmark Mills" group as a separate operating segment within its organization.
The company started in 1967 as the Western Development Corporation, and its first mall was Potomac Mills in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in 1985. Then from 1989–1991, Franklin, Sawgrass, & Gurnee Mills opened each of those years, respectively. In 1994 the company converted to REIT status and changed its name to "The Mills Corporation.'.
In 1996, with new CEO Lawrence Siegel, The Mills built Ontario Mills near Los Angeles, which was the company's first mall built abstractly and with a full oval racetrack design which followed into the rest of the company's built malls. Since opening Ontario Mills until 2005 with Pittsburgh Mills, The Mills built and opened at least one or two landmark malls each year.
In 2002, The Mills acquired six regular retail malls including the ailing Forest Fair Mall (became Cincinnati Mills from 2004–2009) and a nine mall portfolio in 2004, including former Taubman Centers, like Columbus City Center in order to redevelop & expanded to be more affordable centers. Also, the company also expanded to Europe with the opening of Madrid Xanadú in Spain.
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