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GGP, PENSION FUND FORM VENTURE

Chicago’s General Growth Properties has purchased four regional malls through a joint venture it has formed with Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois. The unit, called GGP-TRS, bought the Galleria at Tyler, Riverside, Calif.; Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincinnati; and Silver City Galleria, Taunton, Mass., from State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. The fourth property is Clackamas Town Center, Portland, Ore., which was previously owned by the Illinois pension fund. The four malls are valued at a total of about $634 million and carry some $412 million of nonrecourse mortgage loans. General Growth officials said they expect the joint venture to generate about $55 million of net operating income over the next 12 months. Sales at the malls average $408 per square foot, and their average occupancy is about 86 percent.

FEDERAL REALTY RESCHEDULES SANTANA ROW OPENING AFTER BLAZE

Most of the retail component of Santana Row, the San Jose, Calif., mixed-use development that was ravaged by a fire on Aug. 19, will now open Nov. 7, according to its developer, Federal Realty Investment Trust. The nine-building, multiphase project was originally scheduled to open in September. Crate & Barrel and other retailers will be open on the new date in seven of the buildings. Rockville, Md.-based Federal Realty said it also hopes to open at least some of the retail in the most heavily damaged building, which accounts for 16 percent of the project’s total 538,000 square feet of retail space. The first phase of the project, which also includes a hotel and 250 apartment units, could be completed by early next year, the company said. The cause of the fire, under investigation by police and fire officials, had not been determined at press time.

HOME DEPOT GETS INTO GARDENING

The Home Depot opened its first Home Depot Landscape Supply in Duluth, Ga., on Aug. 29, followed by similar stores in Woodstock and Kennesaw, Ga., on Sept. 12. (A store is also in the planning stages for Arlington, Texas.) The stores, which sit on five- to seven-acre sites, sell plants, chemicals and tools. Home Depot currently has 1,437 home improvement stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico.

SHORT PUMP SECURES FINANCING

Short Pump Town Center, the open-air shopping center under development in Richmond, Va., got $132 million in financing from five banks, led by the Chicago branch of the Bank of Montréal. Forest City Enterprises had originally planned to open the center this month, but a lawsuit backed by Taubman Centers challenging $22 million in taxpayer-funded bonds to pay for infrastructure has delayed the project. Its opening is now scheduled for September 2003.

KOHL’S EXPANDING WEST

Kohl’s has announced details of its Western U.S. expansion, saying it will open in Los Angeles in the spring and in Phoenix and Las Vegas in the fall of 2003. The Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based discount department store chain will open a total of 80 new stores in 2003 but has not decided their locations.