Taubman Asia Announces Samsung Tesco Homeplus as Second Anchor for Korea's Songdo IBD Shopping Center

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Taubman Asia, a subsidiary of U.S. mall REIT, Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE:TCO), today officially announced that hypermarket giant, Tesco Homeplus, has signed to be the second anchor at the shopping center (top right photo) at Songdo International Business District (Songdo IBD), a 1,500-acre city being constructed in Incheon, Korea.

Songdo IBD is being developed by New York headquartered Gale International and Korea's POSCO E&C in a 70/30 joint venture

"This is the second anchor deal to be completed for Songdo Shopping Center, following the Lotte Department Store announcement in April.

"We are very excited to have secured another leading retailer for the project, further adding to the momentum as we move closer to creating a world class retail and lifestyle destination that will be an international landmark for Korea," said Morgan Parker, (middle left photo) president of Taubman Asia, the manager and developer of Songdo Shopping Center.

"The two story hypermarket, which is to be built on block A1, will cover approximately 21,276sqm (230,000 sq. ft.) of gross leasable space and will add another crucial dimension to what will be a truly remarkable international shopping center," he added.

The two-level enclosed shopping center, designed by globally renowned architect Daniel Libeskind with interior design by Benoy, will be the first of its kind in Korea, created as an integrated space that includes Lotte Department Store. (middle right photo)

The shopping hub of Songdo IBD will also feature Tesco Homeplus hypermarket, a multiplex cinema, a food emporium, an ice rink, and approximately 150 specialty stores.

CONTACTS: Barbara Baker, Vice President, Investor Relations,+1-248-258-7367, bbaker@taubman.com,

Karen Mac Donald, Director,Communications, +1-248-258-7469, kmacdonald@taubman.com,

both of TaubmanCenters, Inc.;

Pamela So, Weber Shandwick, Hong Kong, +852-2533-9916, pso@webershandwick.com;

Phillip Anderson, News Communications, Korea,+82-2-6323-5050, phillip.anderson@newscom.co.kr;

Hyewon Chang, GaleInternational - Domestic-ROK, +82-2-6260-3353, hwchang@galeintlkorea.com,

MaryLou DiNardo, Gale International-U.S. and International, +1-212-909-0340,tkpr1@aol.comWeb site: http://www.taubman.com/http://www.songdo.com/

SPECIAL REPORT: Continued Record Home Price Declines, According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

NEW YORK, Sept. 30, 2008 – Data through July 2008, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller[1] Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, shows continued record declines and a continuation in the trend of double digit declines across many cities in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States.

[1] Case-ShillerÒ and Case-Shiller IndexesÒ are registered trademarks of Fiserv, Inc.

(Top right photo, David M. Blitzer, chairman, Index Committee, Standard & Poor's.)

The chart above depicts the annual returns of the 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composite Home Price Indices. The indices reached new record annual declines of 17.5% and 16.3%, respectively.

The 10-City level marked its 10th consecutive monthly report of a record decline, beginning with data reported for October 2007. As depicted on the chart above, during the 1990-92 cycle the record low was -6.3%.

While the annual returns of the two indices continue to reach record lows, the pace of the decline has slowed, particularly over the last three months. For the three months of May thru July, home prices cumulatively fell about 2.2%; whereas for the three months of February thru April, and November 2007 thru January, the cumulative rates of decline were closer to 6.0-6.5%.

“There are signs of a slow down in the rate of decline across the metro areas, but no evidence of a bottom,” says David M. Blitzer, (top right photo) Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.

“Little positive news can be found when cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix report annual declines as large as -29.9% and -29.3%, respectively, and all 20 cities are still in negative territory on a year-over-year basis.

"The Sunbelt continues to be the story, with the seven cities that basically represent that area reporting annual declines roughly between 20 and 30%.

"While some cities did show some marginal improvement over last month’s data, there is still very little evidence of any particular region experiencing an absolute turnaround.”

(Rialto Bridge at Venetian Resort, Las Vegas, middle left photo)

While there are differences across regions, at the national level the housing market peaked around June/July of 2006. As of July 2008, two years later, the 10-City Composite has fallen by a total of 21.1% and the 20-City Composite is down 19.5%.

Las Vegas remains the weakest market, reporting an annual decline of 29.9%, followed by Phoenix and Miami at -29.3% and -28.2%, respectively.

Atlanta, (Atlanta skyline, middle right photo) Dallas, Minneapolis and Tampa showed improvements in their annual and monthly returns, but all four are still too close to their recent lows to determine if the markets have stabilized.

While their annual returns are negative, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver and Minneapolis all reported positive returns for the three months or more.

The table below summarizes the results for July 2008. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are revised for the 24 prior months, based on the receipt of additional source data. More than 20 years of history for these data series is available, and can be accessed in full by going to http://www.homeprice.standardandpoors.com/

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are published on the last Tuesday of each month at 9:00 am ET. They are constructed to accurately track the price path of typical single-family homes located in each metropolitan area provided.

Each index combines matched price pairs for thousands of individual houses from the available universe of arms-length sales data. The S&P/Case-Shiller National U.S. Home Price Index tracks the value of single-family housing within the United States.

The index is a composite of single-family home price indices for the nine U.S. Census divisions and is calculated quarterly. The S&P/Case-Shiller Composite of 10 Home Price Index is a value-weighted average of the 10 original metro area indices.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Composite of 20 Home Price Index is a value-weighted average of the 20 metro area indices. The indices have a base value of 100 in January 2000; thus, for example, a current index value of 150 translates to a 50% appreciation rate since January 2000 for a typical home located within the subject market.

(Dallas skyline, bottom right photo)

These indices are generated and published under agreements between Standard & Poor’s and Fiserv, Inc.The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices are produced by Fiserv, Inc.

In addition to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, Fiserv also offers home price index sets covering thousands of zip codes, counties, metro areas, and state markets. The indices, published by Standard & Poor's, represent just a small subset of the broader data available through Fiserv.

(Tampa, FL skyline, bottom left photo)

For more information, please contact: David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee,
Standard & Poor’s, 212 438 3907,
david_blitzer@standardandpoors.com

David Guarino, Communications, Standard & Poor’s, 1 212 438 1471
dave_guarino@standardandpoors.com

Ramada Brand Opens First Property in Lebanon

PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Sept. 30, 2008) – Ramada Worldwide today announced the opening of the brand’s first property in Lebanon.

The 99-room Ramada Beirut Downtown (top right photo) is located in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon, and is a ten minute drive from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport. Features include a signature restaurant and lounge and meeting space capable of accommodating up to 70 guests.

Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), encompasses nearly 7,000 hotels representing more than 581,000 rooms in 65 countries on six continents under the Wyndham®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate® by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Microtel Inns and Suites®, Hawthorn Suites®, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge®, Knights Inn® and AmeriHost Inn® brands.

All hotels are owned individually and operated independently or by Wyndham Hotel Management. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J. Additional information is available at http://www.wyndhamworldwide.com/.

CONTACT: Christine Da Silva, Director, Media Relations, Wyndham Hotel Group, 1 Sylvan Way, Parsippany, NJ 07054. PH (973) 753-6590 christine.dasilva@wyndhamworldwide.com

Arbor Closes Loans Totaling $19M in Kansas, Boston Area and California

Arbor Closes $12.1M Fannie Mae DUS® Loan on Cypress Gates in Marina, CA

UNIONDALE, NY – Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC (“Arbor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, announced the recent funding of a $12,100,000 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS® product line to refinance the 134-unit complex known as Cypress Gates (top right photo) in Marina, CA.

The 10-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a note rate of 6.40 percent.

. The loan was originated by Patrick McGovern, (top left photo) Director, in Arbor’s full-service New York, NY lending office. “Arbor was pleased to provide cash-out refinancing in excess of $3 million to a first-time borrower with extensive experience in the market, allowing them to invest in future opportunities,” said McGovern.

Arbor Closes $1,929,100 Fannie Mae DUS® Small Loan on Tiffany Terrace Apartments in Boston/Dorchester, MA

UNIONDALE, NY – Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC (“Arbor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, announced the recent funding of a $1,929,100 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS® Small Loans product line to refinance the 39-unit complex known as Tiffany Terrace Apartments in Boston/Dorchester, MA.

The 10-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a note rate of 6.32 percent.

The loan was originated by John Kelly, (middle left photo) Director, in Arbor’s full-service Boston, MA lending office. “Arbor was pleased to refinance this transaction on behalf of the long-term owner,” said Kelly. “The property has an excellent track record of being well managed and maintained. We look forward to growing our financial partnership with this first time Arbor client.”

Arbor Closes $4.6M Fannie Mae DUS® Loan on Carriage House in Topeka, KS

UNIONDALE, NY, Sept. 30, 2008 – Arbor Commercial Funding, LLC (“Arbor”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Commercial Mortgage, LLC, announced the recent funding of a $4,600,000 loan under the Fannie Mae DUS® product line to refinance the 282-unit complex known as Carriage House (middle right photo) in Topeka, KS.

The 7-year loan amortizes on a 30-year schedule and carries a note rate of 6.23 percent.

The loan was originated by Ronen Abergel, Director, (bottom left photo) in Arbor’s full-service New York, NY lending office. “This deal was turned down by a local bank in Kansas,” said Abergel. “However, we were able to work through the issues and close the loan within 30 days.”

Contact: Ingrid Principe, iprincipe@arbor.com, Tel: (516) 506-4298