Urban Retail lands Hollywood partnership with MGM

Shopping center developer Urban Retail Properties Co. and movie studio MGM have joined to develop a unique brand of lifestyle and theme attractions all over the world - reports CP Online.

“Here is the first time a major Hollywood studio with a global brand has come together with a shopping center firm for the purpose of putting in place a lifestyle experience that has sustainability and that can cater to the demographics at hand,” Urban Retail’s chairman & CEO Ross Glickman told CPN. “With our brand and theirs, this is a very good fit for projects on a global basis.”

Glickman said that Urban Retail’s role will be to bring expertise in development, financing, construction management, leasing and financing, while MGM’s role will be to position itself so that Urban Retail can utilize the movie studio’s intellectual property, brand recognition and consumer product--specifically its 4,200-title film library, which includes the James Bond and Rocky movies.

The first project will take place in Busan, South Korea, creating a theme attraction park with a large lifestyle component, both of which will be spread among 700 acres, although Glickman said the details have not yet been worked out. Development is expected to begin in 2007, with the park opening by 2010.

The two companies will likely soon announce plans for a similar project in China and another four projects in the U.S., two of which might be announced at ICSC next month. Glickman said that development on these projects will probably start before the South Korea project, as they are smaller in scale and closer to home.

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