Raze the Roofs

The Simon Property Group Inc. (Indianapolis) expects to spend more than $5 billion over the next four years developing retail projects, and not one will be an enclosed mall, according to cfo Stephen Sterrett.

Instead, said an article in Sunday’s New York Times, the company – and many of its competitors – have been developing more lifestyle centers, upscale shopping complexes that mimic urban streetscapes. They’ve also been concentrating on mixed-use projects.

Last month, reported The Times, Simon opened the Domain in Austin, Texas, combining 700,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space with 75,000 square feet of office space and 390 residential apartments. Just north of Austin, the Round Rock Premium Outlets complex, developed through the Chelsea Property Group subsidiary that Simon acquired in 2004, was designed like a village with pedestrian courtyards and fountains. It opened last summer.

“We are busier today than at any other time in our company’s history at building retail projects in the United States,” Sterrett told The Times. “Some of them are new; some of them are expansions of existing projects.”