Eli Simon

Eli Simon runs Simon Property Group, Southern California’s most prominent mall owner and the largest owner of shopping malls in the U.S.

It’s having quite the year. The Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust (REIT) reported $1.79 billion in revenue in the second quarter, up nearly 20 percent from a year ago and nearly 2 percent from the first three months of 2026. Funds from operations — a REIT proxy for cashflow — totaled $1.18 billion, up from the start of the year and similar to the second quarter of 2025. 

Leasing was muscular, too, as Simon rides the general resurgence in brick-and-mortar retail. Indeed, as recently as 2025 Simon was itself struggling with a double-digit percentage decline in cash flow and had to sue Gap, one of its tenants, for back rent.  

Such troubles are in the rearview. The company in the second quarter of 2026 signed more than 1,200 leases totaling over 4.8 million square feet. The number of new deals increased more than 20 percent annually in that three-month period. Plus, initial base rents on new deals were up 17 percent from second-quarter 2025 — while tenant allowances for buildouts dropped 12 percent. 

Simon’s occupancy was at 96 percent as of Aug. 1. 

“Clearly, malls, retail centers at large are having a cultural moment,” Eli Simon said on the second-quarter call. “People realize that they’re not going away.”

Yes, there’s a lot of demand for prime space, which Simon Property Group has in spades in Southern California. Its nine holdings with 1,243 stores include L.A.’s Beverly Center, the Outlets at Orange in Orange and Ontario Mills in Ontario, Calif. 

What’s more, the company is pouring money into capital improvements and new development. It had more than $1 billion in projects underway at mid-year, with another $600 million-plus planned for the last half of 2026.

The press-shy Eli Simon, a Wharton graduate, was the firm’s chief investment officer from 2024 until he took over from his father, David Simon, in late March after the elder Simon died of pancreatic cancer.