The Laurel Mall deal represents the first third-party management contract in which Crown has been involved. "We had formed Crown America Ventures earlier this year [specifically] to go after third party contracts," Menna explains.

The company is not deterred by the effects of the September terrorist attacks on the retail industry. In a recent statement on Crown's third-quarter accomplishments, CEO and President Mark E. Pasquerilla notes that after September 11, consumer traffic in Crown's malls declined almost 4%. But he points out that "by the end of September traffic had returned to the pre-attack trends we had seen earlier in the year, which were very marginal declines compared to year ago levels." In regard to future mall traffic, Pasquerilla adds that "to the degree that families defer travel and vacation plans and stay closer to home, we believe there is more opportunity for our malls to capture a greater portion of consumers' disposable income that may have been spent on travel."