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

INDIANAPOLIS-Simon Property Group has formed a joint-venture partnership with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds and SZITIC Commercial Property, a China-based developer, to build centers in that country. The firms have targeted 12 potential projects in China, totaling eight million sf.

Simon and MSREF will each own a 32.5% stake in the venture, while SZITIC will have a 35% holding. The developments will be urban, multi-level centers between 430,000 sf and 750,000 sf, anchored by Wal-Mart. Among the cities they are considering for the projects include Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai, all in the Yangzte River delta.

The first planned center is a 500,000-sf development in Hangzhou, a city of six million people located two hours from Shanghai. The venture expects to start construction on that center in October and complete the project in the spring of 2007. The project will cost from $65 million to $70 million to construct, Stephen Sterret, Simon's CFO, tells GSR.