ABSTRACT
W e have been the unsuccessful bidder for any number of shopping center packages recently.
To put lenders in perspective it must be realized that we are followers and not leaders-we don’t instigate projects, we don’t innovate, and we rarely even have architectural input. Our vote is a negative one and all we can say is we won’t finance unless certain changes are made. I wanted to set that as a tone and also to go back a little bit in history. I think that TIAA is a very good example of a lender’s history in the shopping center business. It is a fast-growing insurance company (we grow at the rate of about 15 or 16 percent a year). We have a very dependable cash flow. It is essentially a retirement fund for college teachers and because of our size (we are the eleventh largest insurance company in the United States), we can get involved in major projects.
