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Arundel gives The Mills Corp. 'bookend' on Baltimore/DC market The Mills Corp. opened its second major mall in the Baltimore/Washington area in November. The Arundel Mills value megamall in Arundel County, Md., contains 1.3 million square feet of shopping and entertainment venues and cost $230 million. It was built as a joint venture with Simon Property Group. It's the first time Arlington, Va.-based Mills has opened two projects in one major market. Potomac Mills, the company's first megamall, is also in the Baltimore/Washington market.

Nordstrom pulls out of downtown Pittsburgh, Cincinnati projects Seattle-based Nordstrom has postponed building proposed stores in downtown Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for at least a year, although officials from both cities have expressed little confidence that the stores will ever be built. Nordstrom, which in August appointed a new chief executive and top management staff, said in a statement that it would prefer to focus on improving its existing stores and that the two projects don't make sense for now. Nordstrom had been part of a plan by Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and Urban Retail Properties of Chicago to revitalize the city's downtown. In Cincinnati, Nordstrom backed out of a $48.7 million deal with the city to build a store on prime city-owned downtown property.

CityPlace opens in West Palm Beach
One of West Palm Beach's largest commercial developments to date has opened, marking another step in the city's turnaround. CityPlace, a $550 million 600,000-square-foot mixed-use project of stores, restaurants and homes, opened in late October on a 72-acre site in the west end of the downtown. The developer of the project is Palladium, a New York City-based firm. The city issued $54 million in tax-exempt bonds for infrastructure and four parking decks.

Simon, Pepsi renew marketing pact
Simon Property Group, through its subsidiary Simon Brand Ventures, has entered into an early renewal of its marketing alliance with Pepsi-Cola Co., which it has had since 1998. The soft drink will remain the preferred provider at 175 of Simon's centers for the next two years. Under the agreement, Pepsi retains the sponsor title rights to venues at some Simon properties. The entertainment venue at The Shops of Sunset Place, Miami, for example, is called Pepsi Plaza.