However, in at least one case, the process has gotten a little sticky, with May now involved in a legal dispute with Michigan-based mall owner Taubman Centers Inc. over the fate of a Lord & Taylor in metro Denver. May filed suit in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against Taubman last fall, after the REIT declined to let May replace its Lord & Taylor in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center with a Foley's Men's and Home store.
Neither party, including their Denver-based attorneys, is commenting for publication about the dispute, but the essence of the dust-up isn't too difficult to discern. Taubman feels that any replacement for Lord & Taylor needs to be another department store, preferably another upscale store. May counters that a Foley's Men's and Home store is a perfectly acceptable choice for the spot, and that it is a department store, as defined by its reciprocal easement agreement with Taubman.
There the matter stands. The most recent motions in this case were filed in December, and it remains to be seen how long it will take to settle.
On the other hand, of the handful of Lord & Taylor stores remaining to be divested, May expects to finish active negotiations in the next 30 days on some of them. The company has also struck deals to sell two previously closed Lord & Taylor stores to the respective mall developers. The Aventura Mall store in Miami will be sold to Turnberry Associates, and the Willowbrook Mall store in Houston will be sold to General Growth Properties. Both stores closed in Jan. 2004.
There are six Lord & Taylors closing by the end of this month: at Houston Galleria; North Point Mall in the Atlanta market; Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach; FlatIron Crossing in the Denver market; Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY; and Holyoke Mall in Springfield, MA. The stores at North Point Mall and Lynnhaven Mall are being purchased by the developer, General Growth Properties. The Lord & Taylor at Crossgates Mall is being purchased by Pyramid, while the FlatIron Crossing store is being purchased by Macerich. At the Houston Galleria and Holyoke Mall stores, leases are being terminated.
The May Department Stores Company currently operates 501 department stores in 46 states under the names of Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, Kaufmann's, Lord & Taylor, L.S. Ayres, Marshall Field's, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, Strawbridge's, and the Jones Store, as well as 240 David's Bridal stores, 456 After Hours Formalwear stores, and 11 Priscilla of Boston stores in its Bridal Group.
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