Real Estate Group Leads Mall Transactions Valued at $2 Billion

Ropes & Gray’s real estate group recently led two transactions involving retail malls valued at approximately $2 billion. In the first transaction announced on October 4, Ropes & Gray represented Davis Street Properties, LLC in connection with the sale of The Mall at Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee and The Gardens on El Paseo and El Paseo Village in Palm Desert, California to The Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership (the UPREIT operating partnership for Taubman Centers Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust). The $560 million purchase price includes approximately $206 million in assumed debt, up to $80 million of UPREIT partnership units and approximately $274 million in installment notes. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2011. 

In a separate transaction announced on October 17, Ropes & Gray represented APG Asset Management US Inc. in connection with a joint venture with TIAA-CREF to acquire market dominant regional/super-regional malls throughout the United States. The APG-TIAA venture, which is targeting mall acquisitions through joint venture arrangements with existing mall operators, recently closed two acquisitions with an aggregate value in excess of $1.5 billion with affiliates of The Westfield Group and CBL & Associates Properties, Inc., both publicly-traded REITS. The APG-TIAA venture acquired a 50% stake in Westfield-owned Montgomery Mall located in Bethesda, Maryland. The venture also acquired a 50% interest in three CBL-owned malls – Oak Park Mall in Kansas City, KS; West County Center in St. Louis, MO; and CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville, TN, as well as a 12% interest in Pearland Town Center in Pearland, TX.