Ian Ritter is national online editor of GlobeSt.RETAIL.

ARLINGTON, VA-The Mills Corp. has closed on its $1-billion acquisition of regional malls from General Motors Asset Management LLC. The deal, which the company announced in August, gives Mills a 50% interest in nine properties across the country.

The centers, which total 9.6 million sf, are Briarwood Mall, in Ann Arbor, MI; Columbus (OH) City Center; the Falls, in Miami; Hilltop Mall, in Contra Costa County, CA; Lakeforest Mall, in Gaithersburg, MD; the Mall at Tuttle Crossing, in Columbus, OH; Marley Station, in Glen Burnie, MD; Meadowood Mall, in Reno, NV; and Stoneridge Mall, in Pleasanton, CA. The malls were managed for GMAM by the Bloomfield Hills, MI-based Taubman Centers, which will cease overseeing the properties on Nov. 1.

Mills officials say tenant sales at the malls were $2.1 billion last year. The locally based company is funding the purchase with the assumption of $170 million of property debt, $410 million on three of the centers the company is acquiring, and a $200-million loan from JPMorgan.