Simon Property Group Inc: business scope and main facilities
Simon Property Group Inc. is the largest investor in the real estate market. It owns a huge number of shopping centers. The main office is located in the state of Indiana.
The company was established in 1993 after Melvin Simon & Associates completed its IPO. In 3 years Simon Property merged with DeBartolo Realty, which at that time were competitors. At that time the company changed its name to Simon DeBartolo Group. To expand its position, the corporation began to actively acquire other large firms. After a number of purchases, the company’s managers decided to return the old name.
Simon Property focused on the ownership of commercial real estate in major U.S. cities, primarily in New York. In 2007 the company took over Mills Corporation, and in 2010 the operator planned to buy an investment firm from the UK, but in the course of the deal the shareholders of the latter rejected the offer.
A year later Simon Property reached a new level of service. In 200 shopping malls the operator organized WI-FI points, which could be used for free. And they worked exclusively on Nintendo devices. In 2013, the company introduced itself outside the country and opened a shopping center in Canada. In the same year, the management created a trust fund, which invests in commercial real estate. After a while, the fund acquired a large company that owned commercial real estate. Under the terms of this deal, Simon Group moved away from shopping centers in New Jersey and Texas. At the same time the company sold its own shopping center in the same New Jersey.
The company has five thousand employees, the total area of assets is more than 200 million square meters of Simon Property belonging to facilities in 37 states. In addition, it owns real estate in Puerto Rico, nine sites are located in Japan, three in Canada, two shopping centers located in Italy. The company also has locations in the Netherlands, Korea, UK and other countries.
In total Simon Property manages 108 shopping malls, 67 premium-class outlets, 23 facilities outside the home country. 14 buildings are under the brand name The Mills.
The company also offers such variants of commercial real estate as lifestyle centers. They are shopping centers that combine the standard functions of this type of facility with leisure services for people with high income.
Last year Simon Property’s income significantly subsided, especially in the 2nd quarter. However, the company managed to optimize processes, and by the fourth quarter it had already shown good results.
