20th century Simon Property Group dates to 1960, when brothers
Melvin Simon and
Herbert Simon began developing strip malls in Indianapolis, Indiana. In December 1993, they took their interests public as Simon Property Group in the largest
initial public offering of a
real estate investment trust to date. Simon Property merged with the newly public DeBartolo Realty Corporation, owner of the real estate assets of
Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., in 1996 to form Simon DeBartolo Group. In the following year, the company acquired The Retail Property Trust for $1.2 billion in a
hostile takeover. Also in 1997, in partnership with
Macerich, the company acquired 12 malls from
IBM's
pension plan for $974.5 million. One year after these acquisitions, the company acquired
Corporate Property Investors and was reverted to the Simon Property Group name. The company also acquired an ownership interest in Groupe BEG, S.A., operator of shopping centers in Europe. In 1999, the company acquired 14 shopping centers from New England Development for $725 million.
21st century In 2002, in partnership with
Westfield Group and
The Rouse Company, the company acquired 13 properties from
Rodamco North America including
Copley Place,
Houston Galleria, and
SouthPark Mall. In the following year, Simon acquired a majority interest
The Kravco Company, owner of the
King of Prussia, for $300 million. The company entered the
outlet mall business in June 2004 with the acquisition of Chelsea Property Group, Inc. for $3.5 billion, making their fourth platform Chelsea Premium Outlets (later renamed
Simon Premium Outlets, or simply
Premium Outlets). In April 2007, Simon Property Group and
Farallon Capital Management acquired the
Chevy Chase, Maryland-based
Mills Corporation for $1.64 billion. The acquisition led to the creation of Simon's fifth platform, known as
The Mills, and ownership and management of
Sawgrass Mills in
South Florida, the largest outlet mall in the world. Two years later, Simon attempted to acquire malls owned by
General Growth Properties. The Premium Outlets portfolio was expanded with the acquisition of
Prime Retail for $2.24 billion in December 2009. In February 2010, Simon placed a bid acquire General Growth Properties, which was in
bankruptcy protection. However, the bid was rejected by GGP. A GGP shareholder filed suit
(Young v. Bucksbaum) against the company's
board of directors for rejecting Simon's bid, alleging breach of fiduciary duty. In April 2010, Simon offered to make a $2.5 billion equity investment in GGP including a $1 billion investment by
Paulson & Co. In May 2010, Simon withdrew from the bidding for GGP after GGP favored transactions with
Brookfield Asset Management. In May 2010, Simon acquired Prime Retail's Prime Outlets-Puerto Rico in
Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, which it immediately renamed to Puerto Rico Premium Outlets. In August 2010, Simon acquired an additional 21 outlet malls, including locations in
Williamsburg, Virginia (
Williamsburg Premium Outlets),
San Marcos, Texas (San Marcos Premium Outlets) and
Hagerstown, Maryland (
Prime Outlets-Hagerstown, now
Hagerstown Premium Outlets) for a total of $2.3 billion. Several months later, Simon made a $4.5 billion bid for Capital Shopping Centres Group plc in December. However, the offer was rejected and withdrawn in January 2011. In September 2011, Simon acquired
Southdale Center in
Edina, Minnesota. In March 2012, Simon acquired Farallon's stake in 26 Landmark Mills malls for $1.5 billion. In August 2013,
Toronto Premium Outlets opened in
Halton Hills,
Ontario, Canada. In October 2014,
Premium Outlets Montreal, the second in Canada, opened. In May 2014, the company completed the
corporate spin-off of
Washington Prime Group, headed by Mark Ordan, the final CEO of The Mills Corporation. In January 2015, Washington Prime Group acquired
Glimcher Realty Trust and was renamed
WP Glimcher. As part of the deal, Simon acquired
The Outlet Collection Jersey Gardens (which it renamed to
The Mills at Jersey Gardens to integrate it into its The Mills platform) in
Elizabeth, New Jersey and University Park Village in
Fort Worth, Texas, while WP Glimcher acquired
Brunswick Square in
East Brunswick, New Jersey from Simon. Two months later, the company offered $23.3 billion for
Macerich; however the offer was rejected and withdrawn in April 2015. In September 2016, in partnership with
Authentic Brands Group and
GGP Inc., the company acquired
Aéropostale. In October 2016, Simon opened
Clarksburg Premium Outlets in
Montgomery County, Maryland. It was their first shopping center in the Premium Outlets portfolio to have two floors, as well as the first open-air outlet mall in North America developed from scratch to feature two floors. In May 2018,
Premium Outlet Collection YEG opened at
Edmonton International Airport. In February 2020, in partnership with Authentic Brands Group, the company acquired
Forever 21. In August 2020, in partnership with Authentic Brands, the company acquired
Brooks Brothers and
Lucky Brand Jeans. In December 2020, the company acquired
Taubman Centers for $3.4 billion. It also acquired
JCPenney in partnership with
Brookfield Asset Management. In April 2022, Simon and Brookfield offered to buy
Kohl's but were rejected. Simon purchased a 50% stake in
Jamestown L.P., a real estate developer, in October 2022. In February 2025, Herb Simon retired as Chairman and Board of Directors. In August 2025, Simon Property Group named Executive Vice President, Eli Simon, as their new
Chief Operating Officer (COO). On March 22, 2026, CEO David Simon died of cancer at age 64. Eli Simon took over as CEO and will remain COO. ==Litigation==