Taubman's Steve Kieras

The economy has kept a lot of developers from starting up major projects, but Taubman Centers is not shying away from these types of developments. Just this year, the Bloomfield Hills, MI-based owner of 24 upscale malls has joined a team building the 276-acre mixed-use University Town Center in Sarasota, FL; been tapped to head up the mall component of developer Anthony Marnell III’s M Resort, Spa and Casino in South Las Vegas; and received a long-awaited permit to build a $500-million mall on Long Island, NY. These prospects leave Steve Kieras, the company’s senior vice president of development, optimistic about Taubman’s long term. Just back from the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon show in Las Vegas, he spoke to GlobeSt.com about what his firm is up to and the market in general.

GlobeSt.com: You’ve just announced a major project in Sarasota, FL. So you’re not concerned about the Florida market right now?

Kieras: We think it’s a great and growing market. We’re already in Orlando with the Mall at Millennia, which is the dominant center there. We’re already in Tampa with International Plaza. We have Dolphin Mall down in Miami, a very successful property, a well as Wellington Green in West Palm Beach, which is doing very well. We also have Waterside Shoppes in Naples. Following along with that type of strategy, we’ve focused on the Sarasota market, which, between Naples and Tampa on the west coast, is a sophisticated, growing, affluent market that is really not served by any critical mass of better retail right now. There is a void in that market for the type of project that we’ve created throughout the state of Florida.