America’s Top Redevelopers

Fresh from the biggest shopping center show on Earth—the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon in Las Vegas, May 18-21—the real estate buzzwords are still buzzing: smart growth, new urbanism, green building. All of the much-discussed trends apply as truly to redevelopment as to new build—as the country’s most prolific developers will attest.

Named Chain Store Age’s No. 1 fastest-growing developer in May 2008, Simon Property Group’s president and COO Richard Sokolov is emphatic that redevelopment will continue to be a major thrust for the Indianapolis-based mega developer. “Our goal is always to make our malls the best they can be, and do everything we can to add impact retailers, keep the malls well-maintained, renovate them, and manage them in a way that they are constantly growing market share,” he told Chain Store Age for the May real estate cover story.

Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty, named Chain Store Age’s No. 5 fastest-growing developer in May, also indicated its redevelopment division would continue to grow and flourish. “… Redevelopments and expansion will continue to be key components to our business model,” said Daniel Hurwitz, president and COO.

Developers Diversified also appears on this year’s top 10 redevelopers list—the fourth annual—underscoring the group’s commitment to renovate, refresh and reposition. And they are not alone. Nine other companies, listed in alphabetical order on these pages, have demonstrated the same commitment to redevelopment. We have based our information on 2007 redeveloped square footage (including renovation and expansion space), investment figures as available, and total number of redeveloped projects completed by yearend.

There’s a reason for the alphabetical company listing. As in previous years, not enough information is available to formulate a totally objective ranking system. Not all developers report financial details, and many tally redevelopment square footage in differing ways. Hence, we list the top 10 in alphabetical order with the understanding that all are demonstrating huge commitments to redevelopment.