Taubman Centers is spending $105 million to acquire an additional 23.6 percent interest in Tampa's International Plaza, bringing the REIT's total stake in the mall to 50.1 percent.
The center's Lord & Taylor anchor space will be vacated later this month, but Taubman has already arranged for upscale home furnishing retailer Robb & Stucky to take over 120,000 square feet of the 160,000-square-foot space. Taubman expects to re-lease the extra 40,000 square feet by 2005.
The deal represents a 6.4 percent unlevered return on International Plaza's projected net operating income for 2005, says UBS analyst Ian Weissman.