| Mike and I congratulate David Greenbaum, Mitchell Schear,
Sandeep Mathrani and Chris Kennedy for a superb 2003.
Generally speaking, most times we can only get rents that
the market offers, but each of these franchise players,
through aggressiveness and ability, do a marvelous job of
achieving above-market occupancy, year in and year out.
David Greenbaum reports that in New York activity is
increasing, occupancy rates are rising and rental rates
have stabilized. David, ever measured, continues to be
cautious and aggressively defensive – focusing on leasing.
Sandeep Mathrani and team give us superb skills in developing,
leasing, and managing strip shopping centers, malls
and New York street retail. After all, these retail businesses
are our heritage. We continue to seek retail investment
opportunities. |
|
In December, we acquired the Bergen Mall for $145 million,
a 900,000 square foot fixer-upper on 80
acres in Paramus, New Jersey. We plan to redevelop this
property into a lifestyle center and will invest at least an
additional $100 million. We have owned Green Acres, a
super regional mall, in Valley Stream, Long Island, New
York for six years. Sandeep is now working hard on plans
for a renovation and expansion of this productive property.
Chris Kennedy's Mart team is also a leasing machine. Chris
keeps our showroom space at a very respectable 95%
occupancy and in 2003 leased 1,157,000 square feet of
showroom space in 465 separate transactions. Also
in 2003, our trade show personnel rented thousands of
booths to exhibitors in 29 trade shows. Importantly,
Chris is also working on several large office leasing deals
for our Chicago assets. |
