David Simon: new development is dead

Assuming anyone is still there, if you work in the development group at Simon Properties, you may want to polish your resumes.

While David Simon tried to assure analysts about the dividend, he also said the company doesn’t plan to begin construction on new projects or major redevelopments in 2009 and there will be little new U.S. retail construction for years to come.

“The new development business is dead for a decade,” Simon said on today’s call. “Maybe it’s eight years. Maybe it’s not completely dead. Maybe I’m over-dramatizing it for effect.”

That's probably overdramatic and hopefully limited to regional malls. But for big deals in the exurbs? It may be a while. In spite of rosy predictions in this article where I live, I doubt we'll see much dirt pushed this year.

H/T Traffic Court.

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