Through JP Morgan Chase and Commerzbank AG, COPT attained a 10-year permanent financing package in the amount of $181 million for Concord Mills. The 200-store shopping and entertainment destination includes a 24-screen AMC Theatre; Bed, Bath & Beyond; Burlington Coat Factory and NASCAR Speedpark. Proceeds from the financing arrangement have been put toward paying down a pre-existing construction loan of $177 million.

The 1.3 million-sf Katy Mills mall, which is about 25 miles outside of downtown Houston, was substantial enough to garner a $148 million permanent financing deal from Morgan Stanley. The 10-year arrangement--the proceeds of which will be used to repay a pre-existing $145 million construction loan--was put in place just over one week ago.

In the last days of December, COPT also managed to wrap up a construction loan deal for 165 million Euros, or approximately $172 million, with Hypovereinsbank for Madrid Xanadú. "Madrid Xanadú is the culmination of a very cautious and calculated strategy for The Mills and international development," Mills chairman and CEO Laurence C. Siegel says in a 2001 statement on the new project. "Without premature fanfare or high-risk, we have zeroed in on an unmatched opportunity--with solid governmental support and entitlement, firm merchant interest, and superior market conditions. As we plant our Mills flag in one of the hemisphere's great locales, we are feeding our pipeline of growth, and the quality of our existing retail portfolio and worldwide marketing efforts, too."