Columbia-based The Rouse Co. is shaping where Marylanders shop,

James W. (Jim) Rouse has been gone a quarter-century from the firm he founded in 1939, and some may question if The Rouse Co. still has the magic touch of its legendary founder.

When Rouse retired in 1979, it seemed as if the company was at its peak. The festival market concept pioneered in Boston at Faneuil Hall had hit its stride with South Street Seaport in New York, Bayside Marketplace in Miami, Westlake Center in Seattle and, of course, Harborplace in Baltimore. Another Rouse experiment, Columbia - America's first planned community - also was going strong.

Fast forward: The Columbia-based Rouse is now one of the nation's largest real estate development companies with assets valued at $6.4 billion. Last year, the company posted $357.3 million in funds from operations - the real estate community's measure of profitability. In 2001, the FFO was $283.8 million.

After swapping malls in the Philadelphia-Wilmington area this past spring, Rouse views its collection of super-regional malls as the highest-quality portfolio in the country. The company spent the last decade pruning old, mature-market malls - some were Jim Rouse's original developments - and buying upscale, high-earning-potential malls nationwide.

The company now owns or manages 28 malls in the nation's most dynamic, upscale markets. With 63 percent of the company's revenue generated from its retail holdings, it continues to hold its famous festival marketplace developments and other mixed-used developments.

In Maryland, Rouse owns The Gallery at Harborplace, Harborplace, Mondawmin Mall/Metro Plaza, Village of Cross Keys, Owings Mills Mall, Towson Town Center, White Marsh Mall and The Mall in Columbia.

Based on its success in Columbia, the company, in 1996, bet its future when it purchased Howard Hughes Properties in Las Vegas. The deal included prime class-A space and the Fashion Show retail complex. It also included Summerlin, a 36-square-mile area that Hughes began developing as a planned community of 30 villages housing 160,000 residents.

Community development is now the company's second-largest income stream. In the first quarter, Rouse reported $70.4 million in sales in this sector.

This June, Rouse paid $82.9 million for more than 8,000 acres in suburban Houston to be developed into a master-planned community. This will be Rouse's first community development venture outside of Maryland or Nevada. It is envisioned that the new Texas town, about 60 percent the size of Columbia, will house 17,000 single-family homes and 900 multifamily units.

As the last homes are being built in Columbia, Rouse is developing Emerson, on 575 acres also in Howard County, and Fairwood, on 350 acres in Prince George's County.

The third income stream at Rouse - office and industrial properties - generated $49.8 million in revenue in the first quarter.

In Maryland, Rouse's office and industrial holdings include 12 office buildings and eight industrial buildings in Columbia, four buildings in Owings Mills Town Center, 24 office buildings in Hunt Valley Business Center, 24 buildings in Rutherford Business Center, and seven office buildings in Inglewood Business Center in Prince George's County.

Copyright 2003 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.