A few days after Developers Diversified Realty announced it was buying into the shopping center market in Brazil it announced it's expanding its share of the American market. The Beachwood-based company is acquiring Inland Retail Real Estate Trust Incorporated for $6.2 billion. They'll get over 300 shopping centers in the southeast part of the U.S. where DDR officials expect population growth but little growth in retail space. The company's COO, David Jacobstein.
David Jacobstein: It goes without saying that we are going to need a considerable number of people added to our various departments both in Cleveland and in the field close the acquired assets. We are not prepared yet either internally or externally to disclose yet exactly what that number will be.
But Jacobstein says DDR already has offices in some of those cities so they may not have to hire an enormous number of Inland's employees. The company isn't doing it alone. Half of the properties will go to a partner in a joint venture but DDR officials say they won't announce who that institutional investor is for another three weeks. Mark Urycki, 90.3.