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

ARLINGTON, VA-The Mills Corp.'s management reiterated in a company statement that the REIT is looking at strategic alternatives, including the sale of all or part of the firm. The declaration comes as the company is letting go 70 employees, including the president of its development division, James Dausch, on top of the 90 employees it has already announced.

Mark Ettenger, Mills' president, Goldman, Sachs & Co. and JP Morgan Securities, are heading the potential sale process. Suitors for the company include Vornado Realty Trust. Speaking at an investor conference yesterday in New York City, a Vornado executive did not specify about his firm's interest in Mills.

Dausch, who joined Mills in 1995, is leaving his position with the company on May 2. He will continue to serve as a consultant with the firm on its development of Meadowlands Xanadu, a 4.7-million-sf a retail-entertainment destination in Bergen County, NJ. Mike Bryant, a consultant for Mills and former executive at the Rouse Co., is replacing Dausch.