Hahn Co. to Buy Shopping Malls From Eastern Firm : SAN DIEGO COUNTY
In a deal that would make it the third-largest shopping mall manager in the nation, Hahn Co. has agreed to acquire most of the assets of an East Coast real estate firm.
The acquisition from Kravco Co. of King of Prussia, Pa., is part of an effort by San Diego-based Hahn to greatly expand its presence in the East in coming years, Hahn President John Gilchrist said in a prepared statement. Although Hahn owns and manages shopping malls in New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Florida, most of its retail centers are in the West, with half in California.
The proposed deal reflects a trend toward greater consolidation among shopping center developers. In recent years, alliances have been forged between mall owners JMB Realty and Cadillac Fairview, Campeau Corp. and Edward J. DeBartolo, and May Centers with a joint venture of Melvin Simon Associates and Prudential.
Hahn owns or manages 50 shopping centers in 18 states, totaling 33.9 million square feet, the fifth-highest among U.S. mall managers, according to Monitor, a trade publication tracking the shopping center industry. Hahn is owned by Trizec Corp. Ltd. of Canada.
Kravco, the successor company to a development firm founded 35 years ago by the late Morris Kravitz, manages 30 malls in 12 states totaling 29.9 million square feet and has ownership interests in 10 malls. Under the deal, Hahn would take over all of Kravco’s real estate management operations while acquiring six of the 10 malls that Kravco either fully or partly owns. Those six malls are in Bangor, Me.; Lawrenceville, N.J.; Ft. Worth; Montgomeryville, Pa., and Whitehall, Pa., where it has two malls.
Although most of Kravco’s malls are located in the Northeast, the company also manages retail centers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, general counsel Lewis Gantman said Wednesday. “If you want to make a commitment to an area of the country, it’s difficult to do that without a local base of operations, “ Gantman said of Hahn’s expansion plans in the east.
Not included in the malls Hahn is buying from Kravco is the Court & Plaza at King of Prussia, which with 2.5 million square feet of retail space is one of the largest shopping centers in the nation.
The combination of the Hahn and Kravco mall management operations will leave the company ranked third behind Melvin Simon & Associates (72.3 million square feet) and Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. (67.8 million square feet) in terms of mall square footage managed, according to Monitor.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Kravco principals Arthur Powell, Harold Schaeffer and Robert Girling are expected to leave Kravco once the acquisition is complete, but Kravco President F. Carl Dieterle said in an interview that he expects to stay on with the new company.
Times staff writer Mary Ann Galante contributed to this story.
