The three mall owners acquired Urban in 2002 as part of their $5.3 billion acquisition of the Rodamco North America portfolio. (General Growth gained its share through its purchase last year of the Rouse Co., which bought Rodamco along with Simon and Westfield.) Prior to that, Rodamco had owned Urban in 2000.

Before those acquisitions, the over 30-year-old Urban Retail existed under many entities, and was a major US mall owner in the 1990s. Though many of Urban's trophy malls, such as portions of Copley Place in Boston, Water Tower Place in Chicago and San Francisco (CA) Centre, were absorbed in the Rodamco deal, the company currently manages 45 million sf of retail space and is involved in the development of many development projects across the country, including the $300 million Centre Pointe at Pleasant Grove in Rogers, AR. Ross Glickman is the company's CEO.

What the split from its three former owners possibly means for Urban, according to industry observers, is more opportunity. "They were restricted from being able to get into the development business," R. Webber Hudson, EVP of Related Urban Development, and former president of Urban's retail leasing, told GSR. "They were competing with their owners."