History
Simon Property Group was formed in 1992 when the majority of the shopping center interests of Melvin Simon & Associates became a publicly traded company. Melvin Simon & Associates, owned by brothers Melvin Simon and Herbert Simon, was founded in 1960 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and had long been one of the top shopping center developers in the United States.
In 1996, Simon DeBartolo Group was created when Simon Property merged with former rival DeBartolo Realty Corp. This was shortly after DeBartolo Realty became a publicly traded company encompassing the shopping mall interests of the Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. family, another leading developer. Simon DeBartolo rapidly acquired assets in the then-fragmented industry. Notable acquisitions included The Retail Property Trust and a group of properties held by IBM's pension plan in 1997 and Corporate Property Investors (CPI) in 1998. Following the CPI acquisition in 1998, the company announced it was reverting to its original name, Simon Property Group, as the DeBartolo family was resuming its private real-estate development operation, while retaining their interest in Simon.
Simon continued to be a prolific acquirer of shopping centers, including a portfolio from New England Development in 1999; several prime properties from Rodamco North America in 2002 (including Houston Galleria in Houston, Texas and SouthPark Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina); several high-profile properties such as Dadeland Mall, Fashion Valley Mall, Copley Place, Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, and Stanford Shopping Center; and in 2004, Chelsea Premium Outlets (now simply named "Premium Outlets"). In 2003, Simon became a co-owner of The Kravco Company, which became Kravco Simon. On April 3, 2007, a partnership including Simon agreed to acquire the Mills Corporation.
In June 2011, Simon Property Group entered into a partnership with Nintendo to provide complimentary 3DS Wi-Fi hotspots at nearly 200 of its malls.
In October 2012, Simon announced to construct a 400,000 sq. ft. outlet mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, just days after NC based Tanger Outlet Centers announced it would also built an outlet mall in Charlotte. Simon currently has two Charlotte properties (SouthPark Mall and Concord Mills), SouthPark is one of the highest performing within the company. The center is expected to open in 2013. However, in late November 2012 Simon and Tanger announced it would join ventures to construct one outlet mall in Charlotte to lessen the competition between the planned two malls, less than 22 miles apart from each other. The new mall will be called Charlotte Premium Outlets, and will contain around 90 upscale stores, 350,000 sq ft with possible expansion to 400,000 sq ft. Another, smaller outlet mall will be built in Columbus, Ohio.
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