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Shopping Centers Today -> November 2001
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NO SURPRISE: SIMON, GGP HEAD TOP 50
But lower-profile private firms make list, too
By Michael Baker
ICSC’s Research Department has for the first time compiled a list of the top 50 companies in the industry, ranked by the gross leasable area (GLA) they own. The figures in the table (see facing page) pertaining to some companies — particularly some of the privately owned ones — should be regarded as approximations only.
There are few surprises in the top ranks. Simon Property Group is still the industry behemoth, with an owned portfolio of 253 retail properties, representing more than 150 million square feet of GLA. Next comes General Growth Properties, another regional mall REIT, with 66 million square feet of owned retail GLA.
Six of the top 10 slots are held by mall companies, all of them public REITs. Of the remaining four, three are occupied by strip center REITs (Kimco Realty at No. 3, Developers Diversified Realty Corp. at No. 6 and New Plan Excel Realty Trust at No. 7). Only one private firm, Benderson Development Co., of Buffalo, N.Y., is among the top 10.
Total owned GLA for the top 50 players amounts to about 1.15 billion square feet, or roughly 20% of all shopping center GLA in the nation. More than 800 million square feet, or 70% of these industry heavyweights’ total GLA, is accounted for by public companies, most of which are REITs.
However, although REITs dominate the upper echelons, 21 private companies still make it into the top 50. A number of these firms are not household names, despite their impressive size. Some, like Garden Homes of Short Hills, N.J., (No. 18 in the rankings) have unlikely names for shopping center development companies. Garden Homes had its roots as an apartment building development company in the 1950s and began developing shopping centers (neighborhood, community and power centers) only relatively recently. It now has close to 100 retail properties in its portfolio.
THF Realty of St. Louis, an owner of predominantly community and power centers, ranked No. 27 with more than 14 million square feet of GLA, also has an interesting name: “THF” is an acronym for “To Have Fun,” the company’s admirable philosophy for how its employees should approach their work. Fletcher Bright Co., Chattanooga, Tenn., ranked No. 36, is an owner and manager of neighborhood and power centers that, like Garden Homes, had its roots in residential property development. Its portfolio now not only includes residential and retail, but office properties as well. Chattanooga, incidentally, is the headquarters of the list’s No. 4 company, CBL & Associates Properties.
The ICSC survey to determine the top 50 retail property owners will be conducted annually.
Michael Baker is director of research for ICSC.
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