Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.

SANTA MONICA, CA-The Macerich Co. is in a deal to buy private mall owner Wilmorite Properties for about $2.3 billion, in a move that will increase its East Coast presence. The purchase will give Macerich a portfolio of 11 regional malls and two open-air centers to add to its 63 regional centers.

Included in the deal is a 50% stake in the two-million-sf Tysons Corner Center in McLean, VA, the highest-profile property owned by Rochester, NY-based Wilmorite. Bloomingdales, Hecht's, LLBean, Lord &Taylor and Nordstrom anchor that center. The other super-regional centers on the East Coast that Macerich will acquire are the 1.5-million-sf Freehold (NJ) Raceway Mall and the 1.3-million-sf Danbury (CT) Fair Mall. The average sales per-sf of Tysons, Freehold and Danbury are $525. Arthur Coppola, Macerich's president and CEO, says there are expansion opportunities at Tysons and Freehold.

Currently Macerich, based here, owns one East Coast gem, the Queens (NY) Mall, a center that it recently expanded at a cost of $275 million, but the majority of its centers are on the West Coast and in the Southwest. The remainder of the Wilmorite deal is made up of centers in upstate New York and Kentucky, and the total portfolio's sales per-sf are $403.