General Growth Properties, Inc. Partners with German Developer to Build a Shopping Center Platform In Turkey
March 02 2006 - 4:12PM
Business Wire
General Growth Properties, Inc. (NYSE:GGP), the country's second
largest owner and developer of regional shopping centers, announced
today an agreement to enter into a joint venture with Hamburg-based
ECE Projektmanagement G.m.b.H. & Co. KG, Europe's leading
developer of urban shopping centers. Under the terms of the joint
venture, the two developers have formed CURA GGP Gayrimenkul
Gelistrime A.S. to invest in shopping center development and
acquisitions of existing shopping centers in Turkey on a 50/50
basis, and will begin construction of their first joint project in
March 2006. General Growth also has acquired from ECE 48 percent of
ECE Turkiye Proje Yonetimi A.S., the leading manager of shopping
centers in Turkey with currently six properties under management.
Closing of the joint venture is expected shortly. "Turkey's
geographic location at the junction of Europe and Asia, its size
and population growth, as well as recent economic development have
created tremendous opportunities for investment," said John
Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth Properties.
"This is a great opportunity to collaborate and invest with such an
experienced development and management company as ECE." The
developers' first joint project is in Eskisehir, Turkey, one of the
most prosperous cities in Turkey with more than 700,000 residents.
Construction on the 430,000 square foot (40,000 square meters)
ESPARK retail and entertainment center will begin in March of 2006
and will open in the fall of 2007. ESPARK will feature more than
150 shops and a multiplex cinema. "With our five years of
experience in Turkey, we are extremely confident with the retail
and shopping center prospects in the country," said Alexander Otto,
chief executive officer of ECE Projektmanagement G.m.b.H & Co.
KG. "We see great potential for attractive developments and
acquisitions of shopping centers in a number of Turkish cities.
GGP's reputation as one of the most successful REITs in the U.S. is
a considerable contribution to the success of our Turkish shopping
center venture." General Growth Properties announced in 2004 two
separate international joint ventures. In a 50/50 joint venture
with Nacional Iguatemi Group in Brazil, General Growth maintains an
ownership interest in three existing shopping centers and one
shopping center under development. It also holds an ownership
interest in a management company that manages its properties as
well as six shopping centers not owned by the venture. In a joint
venture with Grupo Sambil of Venezuela and Genesis Fund of Costa
Rica, General Growth is pursuing development of a 500,000 square
foot shopping mall in San Jose, Costa Rica. ABOUT ECE
PROJEKTMANAGEMENT ECE Projektmanagement is the European market
leader for inner city shopping centers. Altogether, the ECE group
manages 83 shopping centers in Germany, Turkey, Poland, Hungary,
Czech Republic, Greece and Qatar on a total sales surface of 2.4
million square meters (25 million square feet). More than 8,100
tenants generate yearly turnover of approximately 10 billion euros.
Furthermore, ECE has realized 40 office and special real estate
projects. Another 15 shopping galleries and 10 special real estate
projects are currently being constructed or planned. ABOUT GENERAL
GROWTH PROPERTIES General Growth Properties, Inc. is the second
largest U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust
(REIT). General Growth currently has an ownership interest in or
management responsibility for a portfolio of more than 200 shopping
malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in planned community
developments and commercial office buildings. The portfolio totals
approximately 200 million square feet of retail space and includes
more than 24,000 retail stores nationwide. General Growth
Properties, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol GGP. For more information, please visit the Company Web site
at http://www.generalgrowth.com.
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