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TAUBMAN, MAY TEAM TO RE-LEASE DALLAS ANCHOR

Taubman Centers and May Department Stores Co. pledged to work together to find a replacement for the Lord & Taylor anchor at the Shops at Willow Bend, a mall outside Dallas. May owns the 140,000-square-foot space. The two had a lengthy legal battle over a similar instance at Cherry Creek Mall, in Denver, where May closed a Lord & Taylor anchor (story, Nordstrom helps end Taubman, May spat). Last month May agreed to sell that space back to Taubman, which in turn will lease it to Nordstrom.

“It is an excellent idea,” Stuart Kessler, president of Clear Thinking Group, a consulting firm in Hillsborough, N.J., told SCT. “It is a marriage of necessity.” Taubman and May declined to give details. As retailer mergers and landlord consolidations continue, firms will find that such situations can be approached as a conflict or as an opportunity, says Kessler. “If the possibility to work together exists, all parties will probably choose that route,” he said. It is unclear how the May merger with Federated Department Stores will affect the tenant search. Taubman said in a press release that sales are improving at the 4-year-old Willow Bend, following reports that the mall has performed below expectations. Its existing anchors include Foley’s (a May brand), Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Ann Taylor Loft, Anthropologie, Benetton, Babystyle and Brooks Brothers are among the list of new or soon-to-open tenants.

— DM