November/December 2011 PIONEER MILTON COOPER LED THE WAY. THE MODERN REIT AT Robert Taubman Chairman, President & CEO 20TAUBMAN CENTers’ IPO INTRODUCED THE UPREIT AND HELPED CHANGE THE INDUSTRY. www.REIT.com T aubman’s IPO brought the UPREIT into practice and more real estate players into the public market. Robert S. Taubman Chairman, President & CEO REIT.com • 2 Lifts UP REITs By: Anna Robaton y the early 1990s, Taubman Centers Inc. (NYSE: company access to a more permanent source of capital at a time TCO) had amassed one of the best-performing port- when financing was scarce and the scope of its projects was growing. folios in its sector and established itself as a pioneer of “The UPREIT really unlocked the public capital markets to pri- the American mall business. vate ownership of real estate,” says Robert Taubman, the company’s B Yet, in November 1992, the company, which had chairman, president and CEO. He estimates that more than 90 been the managing partner of a limited partnership, became a percent of the equity capital that has been raised by listed REITs pioneer of a different sort when it went public in the form of since his company’s IPO has been raised through the UPREIT the first-ever umbrella partnership real estate investment trust structure and the total REIT float has increased from about $10 (UPREIT)—an approach that allowed Taubman and eventu- billion in 1992 to nearly $400 billion today. ally many other privately held real estate companies to go public “All of these (private) companies rolled up their assets and created without exposing existing partners to large capital gains tax bills, a consolidated entity in the UPREIT structure because it solved the explains REIT historian Ralph L. Block. tax problem,” he explains. “Taubman’s UPREIT structure solved the problem of existing partners being hit with heavy capital gains taxes if all the part- D eveloping a Reputation nership’s properties were simply sold or contributed to the new While many of its competitors have been aggressive acquirers of Taubman REIT,” says Block, author and owner of Westlake Village, properties and other companies since their IPOs, Taubman Centers Calif.-based Essential REIT Publications. has largely remained true to its roots as a developer. An UPREIT is typically the general partner and majority owner Taubman Centers was founded in 1950 by A. Alfred Taubman, of an operating partnership. It contributes cash proceeds from its father of current CEO Robert Taubman. who started out his career initial public offering to the operating partnership. Individuals or in real estate as a general contractor and later became a developer. partnerships owning real estate contribute their holdings to the He broke ground on his first large-scale mall, Arborland in Ann operating partnership in exchange for limited partnership units. Arbor, Mich., in 1961. After a certain period, the units can be tendered for cash or REIT Alfred Taubman went on to develop malls throughout the coun- shares, which may result in the partners incurring the liability try, including Southland Mall in Hayward, Calif., the first enclosed deferred at the UPREIT’s formation. mall in Northern California and the region’s largest shopping center The Taubman IPO raised about $300 million, a considerable when it opened in 1964. Three years later, he opened Sunvalley amount at the time, and gave the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based REIT.com • 3 mall, billed then as the world’s largest air-conditioned shopping stock market gains over the past couple years and the effect those center, in the San Francisco suburb of Concord. have had on the spending habits of wealthy Americans. Many of his early projects were built on inexpensive farmland in “Luxury took it hard (during the recession) but has come back,” areas that he correctly assumed would undergo huge transforma- says Steve Sakwa, a senior managing director and head of real estate tions thanks to the passage of the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. research at International Strategy & Investment Group Inc. “Taub- “My father recognized that around those roads would be man,” he adds, “clearly caters more to the Tiffany customer than opportunities for new growth. He would look at where significant they do to the Wal-Mart customer.” interchanges were being built and knew that they would create hot spots for commercial and residential development,” says Robert T aking the Regional Mall Global Taubman, who joined the firm in 1976. Taubman Centers is poised to capture its fair share of the limited Alfred Taubman, who served as chairman until 2001, drew on pool of regional mall development opportunities in the United his background in architecture and store planning to come up with States, but it is also establishing a presence in China and South ideas that are now common features of the American mall, from Korea, countries with a burgeoning middle class. In 2005 it formed ring roads to escalator placement designed to circulate shoppers. a subsidiary based in Hong Kong that serves as a platform for its “The hallmark of our company is really the expansion in the region. In August, its subsid- quality of our assets and the ability to program iary, Taubman Asia, announced an agreement assets and plan them better than anyone else,” to acquire a controlling interest in a leading, Robert Taubman says. Beijing-based retail real estate consulting firm, T AUBMAN a move that will give it greater access to invest- Managing Growth ment opportunities in China. When the company went public in 1992, it CENTERS While it scouts for development projects and had a portfolio of 19 regional and superre- NYSE: TCO acquisitions, Taubman Asia has been providing gional malls located throughout the country. 200 E. Long Lake Road, Suite 300 leasing, management and fee development Since then, it has built 12 malls and acquired Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-2324 services for major retail real estate projects. eight. It has also sold 16 properties, shedding www.taubman.com In Seoul, South Korea, it is providing leasing assets that no longer meet its return hurdles. 248-258-6800 and management services for the planned “Taubman has always been conscious of the International Financial Center Mall, part of Key Executives: necessary returns to achieve on its invest- a 5.4 million-square foot mixed-use project Robert Taubman ments,” says Cedrik Lachance, a managing Chairman, President & CEO that aims to position the Yeouido area as the director at Green Street Advisors. “It figured financial center for Northeast Asia. out a while ago that it could realize good Lisa Payne returns without dramatically increasing the Vice Chairman & CFO D eveloping New size of the company.” William Taubman Opportunities Taubman now owns 23 malls that are COO Back home, Taubman is seeking to become a among the best-performing in the country, larger player in the outlet center sector, a silver from Beverly Center in Los Angeles to North- lining in retail real estate over the last several ern New Jersey’s The Mall at Short Hills, years. Through a joint venture, it expects to which recently underwent its fifth renovation and expansion in 30 develop five to 10 outlet centers over the next decade and is targeting years. In January, Taubman Centers was added to the Standard & markets that can support outlet centers capable of achieving tenant Poor’s MidCap 400 index. sales of at least $400 per square foot, according to the company. “We only have about two dozen assets,” says Robert Taubman, Taubman already has three successful outlet centers—Arizona “but we have been able to grow our total enterprise value by more Mills in Tempe, Ariz.; Dolphin Mall in Miami and Great Lakes than three times since the IPO (from $2.5 billion to $8 billion) and Crossing in Auburn Hills, Mich. The company decided to enter our equity market capitalization by nearly four times (from $1.3 the sector, whose biggest players include Simon Property Group billion to about $5 billion).” (NYSE: SPG) and Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: In the third quarter, Taubman Centers’ tenant sales per square SKT), at the request of many of its existing tenants, according to foot hit a record $615 on a trailing, 12-month basis, according to Robert Taubman. the company. The tenant mix in many of its malls skews toward “They are looking for new supply and asked us to consider com- high-end retailers, which were hit hard early in the recession but ing into the business,” he says. have since bounced back. Many luxury brands have benefitted from Taubman is also moving forward with several regional mall proj- ects. In downtown Salt Lake City, it is currently building the only 4 • NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2011 The Mall at Millenia (Orlando, Fla.) regional mall under construction in the country, according to the company. Measuring about 700,000 square feet, City Creek Center, slated to open next March, is part of a large mixed-use project. The mall will be anchored by Nordstrom and Macy’s and has a retract- able glass roof over its central corridor. Taubman Centers estimates that 15 to 20 malls will be built in the United States over the next decade, and it hopes to develop four to five of those, along with making some acquisitions. More than six decades after its founding, the company is intent on remaining nimble and has set its sights on doubling its enterprise value over the next decade. “Maintaining a prudent balance sheet, we believe we can take the company from $8 billion in total enterprise value to double that over the next 10 years,” Robert Taubman says.