SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug 17, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --
Macerich(R) (NYSE: MAC) and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC) today announced the addition of American Girl to Tysons Corner Center, one of the largest and most productive shopping centers in the country located minutes from the nation's capital in Northern Virginia.
American Girl is planning to open its first Washington, D.C.-area store, a two-level, 23,000-square-foot experiential retail store, at Tysons Corner Center in summer 2011. The new American Girl store will offer the complete assortment of the company's popular historical and contemporary dolls, along with doll outfits, accessories, girl-sized clothing, and a variety of best-selling American Girl books. In addition, American Girl fans will be able to enjoy a meal and a delicious dessert or celebrate a birthday in the store's fun and casual 110-seat Bistro, treat their dolls to a new hairdo in the Doll Hair Salon, or design a cute doll-sized T-shirt in the "Creativi-Tees" boutique. A variety of girl-and-mom-friendly events and programs will also be offered throughout the year.
"American Girl is one of the industry's most admired brands and a leader in experiential retailing," said Doug Healey, senior vice president of leasing for Macerich. "Tysons Corner Center is also an industry leader - as a starting point for some of the industry's leading brands or brand extensions, as one of the nation's largest and most productive shopping centers, and in the evolution of the retail experience over the past four decades. We are proud to be the new home of American Girl and look forward to welcoming it to Tysons Corner Center."
The addition of American Girl to Tysons Corner Center comes on the heels of Macerich's highly successful re-opening of Santa Monica Place, one of the few major retail projects to open in 2010 that saw crowds of more than 200,000 over the grand opening weekend that began Aug. 6. Like Santa Monica Place, which features numerous retail "firsts," Tysons Corner Center is notable for its exceptional location and its history of new concepts and market exclusives.
"Given our unparalleled success in experiential retailing over the past decade, we are eager to bring our next American Girl store to such a premier retail destination as Tysons Corner Center," said Wade Opland, American Girl's vice president of retail. "The premium location, coupled with the shopping center's world-class mix of retailers, provides us with even greater opportunities to celebrate girls in an unforgettable environment."
Tysons Corner Center is a 2.2-million-square-foot super-regional shopping center located in the heart of Northern Virginia's powerful commercial corridor, a trade area where the average household income is $130,268. The center anchors the largest concentration of retail on the East Coast outside of Manhattan and among its many retail firsts are Nordstrom's first East Coast location, the first Apple store and the first location for Cusp from Neiman Marcus.
American Girl Brands, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. (Nasdaq: MAT) (www.mattel.com), the world's leading toy company. Since American Girl's inception in 1986, the company has devoted its entire business to celebrating the potential of girls ages 3 to 12. American Girl encourages girls to dream, to grow, to aspire, to create, and to imagine through a wide range of engaging and insightful books, age-appropriate and educational dolls and accessories, and unforgettable experiences. In meeting its mission with a vigilant eye toward quality and service, American Girl has earned the loyal following of millions of girls and the praise and trust of parents and educators. To learn more about American Girl or to request a free catalogue, call 1-800-845-0005 or visit http://www.americangirl.com/.
Located at the intersection of Routes 7 and 123 just off the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Northern Virginia, Tysons Corner Center is among the largest retail centers in the country. In addition to anchors Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor and L.L. Bean, Tysons Corner Center offers a 16-screen AMC megaplex with stadium seating, family and fine-dining restaurants, two food courts, a two-story Barnes & Noble and more than 300 specialty retailers. For more information, visit http://www.shoptysons.com/ or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at facebook.com/tysonscornercenter and twitter.com/shoptysons.
Macerich(R) (NYSE: MAC) aligns exceptional retail properties in attractive U.S. markets with the business goals of the world's retailers and the shopping preferences of local consumers. The company is one of the country's leading owners, operators and developers of highly productive retail properties.
Macerich is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Macerich now owns approximately 73 million square feet of gross leaseable area consisting primarily of interests in 71 regional malls. Additional information about Macerich can be obtained from the Company's website at http://www.macerich.com/.
The Alaska Permanent Fund was created by referendum in 1976 to save a portion of the state's oil revenue for the future. The Fund is currently worth about $35 billion. In 1980, the Alaska State Legislature created the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to manage the investments of the Permanent Fund outside of the State Treasury. The Fund is invested in a diverse portfolio of assets, including U.S. and non-US. fixed income securities, equities and real estate, as well as infrastructure, absolute return and private equity investments. A portion of the Permanent Fund earnings are distributed to eligible Alaskans, and these dividends have ranged from $331 in 1984 to $1964 in 2000. In the fall of 2009 dividends of $1,305 were paid to more than 600,000 Alaskans.
Note: This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Stockholders are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to vary materially from those anticipated, expected or projected. Such factors include, among others, general industry, economic and business conditions, which will, among other things, affect demand for retail space or retail goods, availability and creditworthiness of current and prospective tenants, anchor or tenant bankruptcies, closures, mergers or consolidations, lease rates and terms, interest rate fluctuations, availability and cost of financing and operating expenses; adverse changes in the real estate markets including, among other things, competition from other companies, retail formats and technology, risks of real estate development and redevelopment, acquisitions and dispositions; the liquidity of real estate investments, governmental actions and initiatives (including legislative and regulatory changes); environmental and safety requirements; and terrorist activities which could adversely affect all of the above factors. The reader is directed to the Company's various filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, for a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference. The Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking information to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events unless required by law to do so.