PRINT THIS STORY:

CHANGE TEXT SIZE:

NEW TAUBMAN UNIT TARGETS ASIA

BY BRANNON BOSWELL

Taubman Centers is taking on Asia with a new division and a new executive for the region. Morgan Parker, former head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund’s retail management and operations business in Asia, will lead Hong Kong-based Taubman Asia.

The division will help Taubman Centers develop strategies outside its traditional U.S. business. “We’re trying to establish a platform to implement our planning, design and operations skills on Asian projects, because they are highly valued over there,” President and CEO Robert S. Taubman told SCT.

Triple Five Corp., the Canadian developer that controls the Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minn., is seeking an executive to head its own nascent Asian division. But most other North American developers are avoiding the region because of the unstable economies and financial markets of many Asian countries.

Westfield Group Managing Director Peter Lowy, for example, told investors at a REIT conference in March that Westfield would wait at least 20 years before making a move in China because the risks in that evolving economy are just too great.

But Taubman has a security network that includes Morgan Stanley and several other developers and banks with extensive backgrounds in the Asian markets. “By joining with these partners, we’re able to limit our financial risk,” Taubman said.

Taubman Asia’s first order of business is the $20 billion New Songdo City, a 1,500-acre, mixed-use property in a free-enterprise zone outside Seoul, South Korea. The firm is negotiating to develop the project’s 10 million-square-foot retail component. Development will take 10 to 20-years, Taubman says.

Meanwhile, Parker, a native Australian whose résumé includes stints at Promena Retail Properties, Lend Lease and Macquarie Bank, will search for new opportunities in Asia. Taubman says he foresees a wealth of developments, both pure retail and mixed-use, that would benefit from his firm’s ability to craft successful upscale shopping environments.