New Venture for Company : Koll to Start Developing, Buying Shopping Centers

The Koll Co., a large Newport Beach developer, said Thursday it will soon begin developing and buying shopping centers for the first time.

Until now, Koll has developed only offices, factories and warehouses.

David Mudgett, who had headed the Irvine Co.’s shopping center business, was named to run Koll’s new venture.

Mudgett, now a corporate senior vice president at Koll, won’t be heading a large staff. Koll said it will use its existing personnel to start the retail business.

Koll said it will start small by developing small complexes of stores around its office and industrial projects.

“Retail is becoming an important element in the mixed-use commercial complexes, business parks and industrial parks we are developing throughout the western United States,” J. Harold Street, president of the company’s Development Services Group, said in a statement.

“Until now, we have been selling or leasing the retail components of the sites to retail developers--but now we will develop the retail ourselves.”

The company will also look for land on which to develop neighborhood and community shopping centers, and said it eventually plans to develop larger retailing centers such as malls.

Koll, with a real estate portfolio of $4 billion, is one of the nation’s largest developers. Although it operates mostly in the West, it is also opening a Texas office.