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

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI-Taubman Centers is gearing up its international expansion. The locally based upscale shopping center owner has started a new division, Taubman Asia, and hired Morgan Parker, a former executive with Morgan Stanley, as president of the entity.

The move comes after Taubman preliminarily agreed, in November, to develop the retail portion of New Songdon City, a 1,500-acre site, that is planned to include 10 million sf of retail, 50 million sf of offices and 30 million sf of residential space. The master developer of the project is the Florham Park, NJ-based Gale Co.

Taubman's expansion into Asia comes at a time when many US retail REITs are expanding overseas. Last month Simon Property Group's Chelsea Property Group division opened its fifth center in Japan, 178,000-sf Toki Premium Outlets, near the city of Nagoya. Simon executives have expressed interest in opening more centers in Japan and other Asian countries. The Mills Corp., which has centers in Italy and Scotland, is looking to expand in that continent, as well as other regions.