The Rouse Company

The Rouse Company was a publicly traded shopping mall and community developer from 1954 until 2004, when General Growth Properties purchased the company. It was founded by Hunter Moss and James Rouse in 1939.

Beginnings: Moss-Rouse Company

The Moss-Rouse Company was founded as a FHA mortgage company with a loan from Hunter Moss's sister. Rouse leveraged his knowledge as loan guarantee specialist at the Federal Housing Administration to establish a Baltimore-based mortgage company specializing in FHA backed loans. Moss-Rouse hired a World War Two Navy friend, Churchill G. Carey from Connecticut General, who in turn provided capital for future projects. Carey would hold positions ranging from president to CEO of the mortgage company subsidiary. In 1952-1953 the company built one of the first modern architecture office buildings on Saratoga Street in Baltimore, while also dropping its commercial lending business line. Jim Rouse hired his brother, Willard Rouse II, in 1952, and partner, Hunter Moss, phased out of operations, selling his shares of the company, while remaining temporarily on the board of directors. The firm was renamed the James W. Rouse & Company, Inc., with Rouse owning 50% equity, his brother, Willard, 10%, and 40%, to company officers.

The James W. Rouse Company

The James W. Rouse Company built some of the first enclosed shopping malls, and it pioneered the development of festival marketplaces, such as Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, South Street Seaport's Pier 17 Pavilion and Fulton Market Building in New York City, Harborplace in Baltimore, and Bayside Marketplace in Miami. It also developed The Shops at National Place in downtown Washington, D.C., which opened in 1984–85.
On June 20, 1966, The James W. Rouse Company was renamed to The Rouse Company. The company has been credited with opening the first successful food court in an enclosed shopping mall: the Gourmet Fair food court at Sherway Gardens in Toronto in 1971, which was The Rouse Company's only mall built in Canada. It followed an unsuccessful attempt at the Plymouth Meeting Mall in 1968, which reportedly failed because it was "deemed too small and insufficiently varied."
The company moved its headquarters to the Cross Keys development, then to its project in Columbia, Maryland, in December 1969.
Its community projects include the Village of Cross Keys in Baltimore and the planned communities of Columbia, Bridgeland Community, Texas, and Summerlin, Nevada. To develop these projects, in 1962 Rouse brought on Bill Finley, who built a planned "company town", Ravenswood, West Virginia, was a former planner with the National Capital Planning Commission proposing planned cities, and was a proponent of public-private partnerships.
In 1956, the company founded Columbia Research & Development, a public company; Community Research & Development and Howard Research & Development, both Rouse subsidiaries, to raise capital for four mall projects and later to facilitate the Columbia Project with Connecticut General and Chase Manhattan as stakeholders with interest-deferred loans. In 1966, the company was restructured as the Rouse Company; adding HRD as a separate entity shielded The Rouse Company from the debt liability of the Columbia development. HRD lost money, with new rules affecting the parent company as well. In 1974, HRD was refinanced. Columbia Development Corporation was formed a subsidiary of HRD using subcontracted Rouse Company employees. In 1985, Cigna divested its interest in HRD and the project back to Rouse for $120 million at a net loss.
Rouse created the subsidiary company The American City Corporation to take advantage of the National Urban Policy and New Community Development Act of 1970, A HUD program which granted developers incentives and loans to build Title VII "New Towns" with mandatory percentages of low income housing projects. Rouse's former ACTION member, Leo Molinaro was selected to run the subdivision. The symposiums held by the company gathered together investors like George Mitchell, who would go on to develop Woodlands, Texas using the Columbia model. The subsidiary was based at "Two Wincopin" in the second office building in built in Columbia in 1968. It was renamed the American City Building, using the subsidiary to lease the empty space and develop the system of Public-Private partnerships that Rouse would use worldwide to minimize risk in developments using public debt. The business was given its own postal office, the American Cities Station in 1977.
The Columbia development was marketed as a progressive community for all races. In 1971, the company responded to pressure from the NAACP that the company was absent of African Americans at all management levels and its businesses in Columbia were predominantly white owned. The company responded with an affirmative action program in November 1971.
In 1973, the former assistant attorney general of Maryland, Mathias J. DeVito, left the Rouse-owned legal firm of DLA Piper to replace James W. Rouse as president of the Rouse Company, and Rouse became chairman. DeVito cut staff from 1,700 to 500 to keep the company afloat in 1975. In 1974, the Columbia development got a political boost when the population of Columbia supported a slate of at-large council candidates with Columbia interests, including Ruth U. Keeton, Lloyd Knowles, and Columbia's city manager, Richard L. Anderson.
In 1979, Simon H. Schuer acquired a 7.5% interest in the Rouse Company. He was the creator of "The Shrink", a method where an investor buys an interest in a company, then has the company buy more of its own stock to make the interest more valuable. Schuer died the day after the purchase, and Trizec Properties then acquired the shares and bought a 25% stake. In 1986, the company attempted to purchase a majority share.
In 1985, The Rouse Company absorbed all of Connecticut General's interests in the Howard Research and Development subsidiary. In 1986, former general manager of Columbia and executive vice president of development Micheal Spear became president as a successor to Rouse. In 1990, Spear died in a crash with his wife and one daughter in his Piper PA-31T Cheyenne attempting a single engine missed approach near Logan International Airport.
In 1987, The Rouse Company announced that it wouldn't build any more festival marketplaces following the failures of its festival marketplaces developed under a separate subsidiary founded by James Rouse being the Enterprise Development Company ; Water Street Pavilion in Flint, Michigan, 6th Street Marketplace in Richmond, Virginia and Portside Festival Marketplace in Toledo, Ohio. The last festival marketplace the company developed was Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Florida. Additionally, James Rouse learned from this that the "festival marketplace" concept, albeit successful for Faneuil Hall and Harborplace, is not a universal solution for urban decline, and he admitted that he was unaware that some of the cities like Flint and Toledo needed specific demographics, as Flint had severe problems by the time the Water Street Pavilion opened, and that the concept relied heavily on tourism, not general shoppers. He also learned that inefficiently designed malls, such as The Shops at National Place and 6th Street Marketplace, can cause accessibility problems and maintenance issues.
In 1997, Anthony Deering took over as CEO of the company.
On November 12, 2004, The Rouse Company was sold to General Growth Properties.
In 2012, General Growth Properties spun off 30 "Class-B" malls into Rouse Properties, a new real estate investment trust named after The Rouse Company.

Projects and investments

Freedom Shopping Center - A 308 unit combination apartment complex and shopping center funded by Moss-Rouse.
Mondawmin Center - Baltimore, Maryland Opened in October 1956 as an outdoor mall with partner Harry Bart. Enclosed and renamed to Mondawmin Mall in 1963.
Talbottown Shopping Center - A Easton shopping center adjacent to the Spring Hill Cemetery where citizens rejected early Alexander Smith Cochran modernist architecture.
Harundale Mall - Glen Burnie, Maryland Financed by Connecticut General. First enclosed mall east of the Mississippi River. Closed in 1997, demolished shortly thereafter, now Harundale Plaza, an outdoor shopping center.
Charlottetown Mall - Charlotte, North Carolina Then known as Midtown Square since 1989, it was closed and demolished in 2006.
North Star Mall - San Antonio, Texas
Cherry Hill Mall - Delaware Township, now Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
The Mall - Louisville, Kentucky Now known as Mall St. Matthews.
Pocantico Hills - A cancelled "Village" concept for John D. Rockefeller's grandchildren. David Rockefeller would later finance $10 Million of the Columbia Project.
Northway Mall - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The Rouse Company enclosed this shopping mall and renamed it to Northway Mall. It was previously known as Northway Shopping Center and is now known as The Block Northway.
The Village of Cross Keys - First "planned community" conversion of a golf course to high-rise residential and commercial.
Greengate Mall - Greensburg, Pennsylvania Closed in 2001, demolished in 2003. Redeveloped as Greengate Centre, a power center.
Planned community - Howard Research and Development formed to build planned community of Columbia, Maryland.
Plymouth Meeting Mall - Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania Failed food court completed in 1968. Currently being sold to a new owner, Lubert Adler Partners, who plans to begin demolition and redevelopment of the mall in 2027.
Salem Mall - Trotwood, Ohio Closed in 2005, demolished shortly thereafter. Sears remained as a standalone building until 2014.
Eastfield Mall - Springfield, Massachusetts Closed and demolished in 2023.
Almeda Mall - Houston, Texas
Northwest Mall - Houston, Texas Severely damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and exacerbated by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Closed permanently at the end of March 2017, with only Carolyn Thompson's Antique Center remaining open until the end of 2021.
Willowbrook - Wayne, New Jersey Expanded in 1970
Planned community - Greater Hartford Corporation formed to redevelop Hartford, Connecticut suburbs with Connecticut General funding.
Echelon Mall - Voorhees, New Jersey. Groundbreaking began in 1969 to build the Echelon Mall. The mall opened in 1970.
Planned community - Failed project to develop 10,600 acres of Staten Island as "New Richmond".
Sherway Gardens - Toronto, Ontario, Canada • Construction began in 1969. This was The Rouse Company's first and only mall built outside of the United States. It was built through subsidiary Sherway Centre Limited, and was credited as the company's first successful food court that it opened. While the original food court was demolished in 2017 to make way for Nordstrom and other tenants, it remains as a successful project for the company. Now known as CF Sherway Gardens after Cadillac Fairview Corporation purchased the mall in 2000.
The Mall in Columbia - Columbia, Maryland Construction began in June 1970. It remains as a successful mall for the company.
Perimeter Mall - Atlanta, Georgia
Highland Mall - Austin, Texas Developed under The Rouse Company's subsidiary, Austin Malls, Inc. Formerly owned by General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group, it closed on April 30, 2015, and is now a college.
Franklin Park Mall - Toledo, Ohio
Woodbridge Center - Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
Planned community - Failed project to develop Wye Island with 706 homes.
Planned community - Failed project to develop 5,000 acres in Memphis, Tennessee as Shelby Farms with First Horizon National Corporation.
Exton Square - Square-shaped enclosed mall in Exton, Pennsylvania. It was planned for permanent closure and demolition at the end of 2025, but that was delayed because the redevelopment plans were rejected by the township.
Paramus Park - Paramus, New Jersey Jointly developed with Federated Stores Realty and the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company through subsidiaries Paramus Park, Inc. and Congen Properties, Inc. While Sherway Gardens was the company's first successful food court overall, this was their first successful food court in the United States.
Granite Run Mall - Media, Pennsylvania Redeveloped into Promenade at Granite Run in 2015.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace - Boston, Massachusetts The first festival marketplace built by the company; it revitalized the marketplace and the Quincy Market into this concept. Its success is what led to subsequent, similar developments, including Harborplace, Pier 17 Pavilion, Tin Building and Fulton Market, Waterside, Portside, Water Street Pavilion, Bayside Marketplace, Sixth Street Marketplace, McCamly Place, and Jacksonville Landing.
Tampa Bay Center - Tampa, Florida Closed permanently in 2002, demolished in 2005.
Southlake Mall - Morrow, Georgia
Hulen Mall - Fort Worth, Texas
The Gallery at Market East - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Expanded with the construction of The Gallery II in the 1980s. The mall closed in August 2015, and was partially demolished and redeveloped from 2016-2019 with the new name Fashion District Philadelphia.
Beachwood Place - Cleveland, Ohio
Augusta Mall - Augusta, Georgia
Governor's Square - Tallahassee, Florida
Harborplace - Construction began in January 1979. A downtown festival marketplace in Baltimore's Inner Harbor built on the former Baltimore Steam Packet Company docks. After decades of decline, neglect, and crime, the pavilions are scheduled for permanent closure and demolition in the fall of 2026.
Inner Harbor Super Cube Lights for Harborplace - The Rouse Company installed these lights, designed by RTKL Associates, across the Harborplace promenade and adjacent areas.
Santa Monica Place - Santa Monica, California Jointly developed with The Hahn Company. Now an outdoor mall.
The Falls - Kendall, Florida Outdoor mall. Now owned and managed by Simon Property Group.
White Marsh Mall - White Marsh, Maryland First part of the White Marsh Town Center project. Opened in 1981.
Grand Avenue Mall - Milwaukee, Wisconsin Currently under redevelopment as The Avenue.
Burlington Center - Burlington Township, New Jersey Opened in August 1982. Closed permanently in January 2018 following a problem with its fire sprinkler system with only Sears remaining until September 2018. The mall was demolished in 2021.
Waterside Festival Marketplace - Construction began in August 1981. First festival marketplace developed by Rouse's Enterprise Development Company for smaller cities, though the main Rouse Company was involved with planning and construction. Festival marketplace in Norfolk, Virginia. The Waterside Annex was closed and demolished in May 2016, but the main portion of the Waterside is now an entertainment complex known as Waterside District.
South Street Seaport Festival Marketplace - A downtown festival marketplace in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fourth Fulton Market building was completed on July 28, 1983, while the Pier 17 Pavilion, which included a shopping mall and an office building, was completed on September 11, 1985. It also involved a major renovation on the Tin Building. The Pier 17 Pavilion was extensively damaged by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. The Pier 17 Pavilion closed permanently in September 2013 and was demolished in 2014 to make way for a mixed-use Pier 17 building which included a rooftop entertainment venue, while the Tin Building was relocated and rebuilt in late September 2022.
Portside Festival Marketplace - Construction began in 1982. Failed festival marketplace in Toledo, Ohio that closed permanently just six years after its grand opening. The former marketplace was repurposed into a science center called COSI Toledo, which closed in 2007 due to funding problems. Today, it is now known as the Imagination Station science center.
Chapel Square Mall – New Haven, Connecticut Acquired in 1984. 1986 renovation
The Shops at National Place - Failed festival marketplace in Washington, D.C. Expanded in April 1985. Closed permanently in 2008, with only the Eat at National Place food court remaining open until May 2020.
Water Street Pavilion - Similar to Portside, this was a failed festival marketplace in Flint, Michigan that closed in just five years in operation and was also famously featured in Roger & Me in 1989. The pavilion was converted into a multi-purpose building known as University Pavilion for University of Michigan-Flint.
St. Louis Union Station – St. Louis, Missouri Former train station that was renovated and converted into a festival marketplace which includes a hotel, a shopping mall, and various other attractions, as well as an aquarium.
6th Street Marketplace - Failed festival marketplace in Richmond, Virginia. Closed and demolished in 2003, with only the food court remaining open until 2008.
McCamly Place - Failed festival marketplace in Battle Creek, Michigan adjacent to a hotel. Closed in 2019, demolished in 2022.
Riverwalk Marketplace - Festival marketplace in New Orleans, Louisiana. Now an outlet mall, known as The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk.
Owings Mills Fashion Mall - Owings Mills, Maryland Originally planned to be called "Owings Mills Town Center", it was renamed to Owings Mills Fashion Mall when it opened. The name was shortened to Owings Mills Mall in 1998. Closed in September 2015, demolished in 2017. Now Mill Station, a lifestyle outdoor shopping center.
Bayside Marketplace - Festival marketplace in Miami, Florida.
Jacksonville Landing - The last festival marketplace developed by Rouse. A downtown festival marketplace in Jacksonville, Florida. Closed in July 2019, demolished in October 2019.
The Gallery at Harborplace - Baltimore, Maryland Construction began in 1985, along with the adjacent structures. The last project developed under James Rouse's supervision entirely. A five-story shopping mall and office complex adjacent to the Harborplace Pratt Street Pavilion, the Harborplace Office Tower which opened the same year, and the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. The mall closed permanently in 2022.
Harborplace Office Tower - 28-story office tower built adjacent to the Gallery at Harborplace which opened around the same time, and the Renaissance Hotel, which opened two months later.
Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel - 12-story hotel built adjacent to the Gallery and Harborplace office tower.
Westlake Center and Westlake Office Tower - Seattle, Washington Four story shopping center and office complex.
Darling Harbourside Festival Marketplace Renamed to Harbourside Shopping Centre. A downtown festival marketplace in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia that was inspired by the success of Harborplace. The Enterprise Development Company helped with the development of this festival marketplace in collaboration with The Hayson Group. Closed in December 2022, demolished shortly thereafter. Similar to Harborplace, it is being redeveloped into a mixed-use complex.
Underground Atlanta - Acquisition and renovation
Pioneer Place and Pioneer Office Tower - Portland, Oregon Five-story shopping center and office complex.
Arizona Center - Phoenix, Arizona Shopping center and office complex.
Owings Mills Corporate Center Office complex nearby Owings Mills Mall. Now BECO Towers Owings Mills.
Tempozan Marketplace - Festival marketplace in Osaka, Japan developed as a public-private partnership with the Osaka Waterfront Development Corporation.
Aloha Tower Marketplace - The last festival marketplace with James Rouse involved before his death in April 1996. It is in Honolulu, Hawaii. EDC joint venture to form Aloha Tower Associates for development. Now a mixed-use complex.
Collin Creek Mall - Plano, Texas Built in 1981 by Federated Stores Realty, the real-estate arm of Federated Department Stores ; Rouse acquired 30% in 1995 and the rest in 2002. Closed on July 31, 2019, and partially demolished in August 2019.
Moorestown Mall – Moorestown, New Jersey Acquisition
Oviedo Marketplace - Oviedo, Florida The last indoor mall built by Rouse. Now called Oviedo Mall.
Towson Town Center - Towson, Maryland Acquired by Rouse from TrizecHahn. The following malls in this list were also acquired in 1998 for the same reason, excluding Providence Place.
Bridgewater Commons - Bridgewater, New Jersey
Fashion Place Mall - Salt Lake City, Utah
Park Meadows - Denver, Colorado
Providence Place - Providence, Rhode Island Interest
Fashion Show Mall - Paradise, Nevada Also acquired by Rouse from Hahn. Renovated from 2000-2003.
Water Tower Place - Chicago, Illinois Acquisition from previous owner Urban Retail Properties as part of a joint venture with Simon Property Group and Westfield Group. The following malls in this list were also acquired in 2002 for the same reason, excluding Village of Merrick Park and La Cantera Center.
Oakbrook Center - Oak Brook, Illinois
The Streets at Southpoint - Durham, North Carolina Under construction by the time of the acquisition.
Lakeside Mall - Sterling Heights, Michigan
Village of Merrick Park - Coral Gables, Florida Open-air mall. The last project The Rouse Company completed entirely before being acquired by General Growth Properties. Now known as The Shops at Merrick Park.
La Cantera Center - San Antonio, Texas Also an open-air mall. Later renamed to The Shops at La Cantera. Jointly designed with the USAA Real Estate Company. Rouse developed Phase I of this mall. After General Growth Properties acquired Rouse in 2004, General Growth Properties finished the rest of the mall by completing Phase II in 2008.