Feldman Equities and Loews Team-Up for Success

Tucson, AZ (May 19, 2003) – Feldman Equities has just concluded a very creative real estate deal with the theater tenant at the Foothills Mall in Tucson, Arizona - a 15-screen Loews Cinema. The agreement will allow Loews to immediately upgrade their theatres at the Foothills Mall to stadium seating, while creating a new lobby and grand entrance in the mall.

During any given week, the Loews cinema at Foothills Mall is attended by thousands of patrons. However, the bulk of these patrons enter and leave directly through the theater’s existing parking lot entrance and most theater patrons never enter the mall. The conversion to modern stadium seating and the redirecting of all of Loews patrons into the interior of the mall is expected to have a dramatic effect on overall mall pedestrian traffic, and as a result, sales in the mall are expected to increase sharply.

"This is a classic ‘win-win’ business deal for both parties," said Larry Feldman, president and CEO of Feldman Equities. "With modern stadium seating, Loews is expected to generate substantially more ticket sales. And a healthier mall will encourage more shoppers to visit the mall, which in turn will likely result in more ticket sales."

Mike Norris, president of Loews Cineplex Entertainment United States, added, "We are thrilled about expanding our Foothills lobby and enhancing our entrance. Not only will our new lobby offer the latest in comfort and concessions, the renovations will make access to and from the theatre more convenient for our patrons, as well as for the mall patrons. The conversion to stadium seating of the Foothills cinema is also consistent with our plans to upgrade and expand our U.S. facilities".

Moviegoing has enjoyed steady growth for many years, and in 2002 the box office increased by more than 12% - pushing the American movie going budget to $9.37 billion according to National Association of Theater Owners.

In April of 2002, Feldman Equities of Arizona acquired the Foothills Mall in Tucson, a successful entertainment and discount oriented enclosed mall anchored by well known national tenants, including Barnes & Noble, Linens & Things, Saks Off 5th Ave, Ross Dress for Less and Nike Factory Store. In just over a year, Feldman Equities, along with their partners Paul Ash Management, have arranged for the development of 5 of 6 available pad sites at the 508,000-square-foot entertainment and retail center, creating over 50,000 square feet of new retail space for tenants such as Thomasville Furniture, Fox & Hound Smokehouse & Tavern, Compass Bank, Starbucks and the Arizona Central Credit Union. Occupancy at the Foothills Mall has climbed up over 97 percent, with predominantly national credit tenants.

The successful multi-million-dollar repositioning of the Foothills Mall is the latest example of Feldman Equities’ hands-on approach to turning around under-performing assets, which has earned the company a national reputation for being ahead of the market and for producing returns well above the norm.

In addition to the Loews Cineplex theater renovation, a new mall expansion of 10,000 SF is under construction to accommodate Famous Footwear, a discount shoe retailer. The mall is also undergoing a major renovation of its food court and the food court entrance, and its northwest entrance. Selected mall corridors and ceilings are also being upgraded for greater customer visibility. A new entrance is being built at the mall’s south end, and an all new signage package is being installed at the mall’s entrances, including a 28 foot entrance sign with an LED reader board.

The Mall benefits from its Northwest Tucson location at the corner of Ina Road and La Cholla Blvd. The Northwest market is one of the fastest growing areas of Tucson. Including pending expansions, the Mall consists of 508,351 square feet of retail space with future expansion capability for an additional 80,000 square feet.

A few of the key highlights regarding Foothills Mall are as follows:
1) The mall is located in the rapidly growing, high-income Northwest Tucson.
2) It is adjacent to a 210,000 square foot super Wal-Mart with annual sales of $100 Million
3) The Pima Community College is nearing completion and is located less than a quarter of a mile from the Mall. The campus will initially accommodate 5,500 students and is ultimately sized for 7,000 students.
4) La Cholla Boulevard has just undergone a major widening; highly beneficial to the mall access.
5) Tourism is a $2 Billion a year industry in Tucson and the mall’s location is ideal for capturing a significant portion of Tucson’s tourist trade.
6) A 2.5% unemployment rate in Tucson is due to the highly affordable housing and a well educated and relatively younger worker force.
7) Population in a 5-mile radius grew 33% from 1990 to 2000.
Feldman Equities is the modern business entity that encompasses a century of success in commercial real estate development, management and ownership throughout the United States. In the last 20 years, Larry Feldman, together with his father Edward Feldman and his partners Scott Jensen and James Bourg have developed or acquired over 10 million square feet of office and retail properties with an aggregate value in excess of $2 billion. Feldman Equities is a standout, recognized for its trademark adept hands-on approach to turning around distressed assets. Finding success, while remaining on the cutting edge of investment and development trends, Feldman Equities is led by its CEO, Larry Feldman and his partners Jim Bourg and Scott Jensen. Today, Feldman Equities owns and manages a 1.4 million square foot portfolio of office and retail properties and land for development in Arizona and Florida -- and is keenly poised for a period of strong asset growth.

Loews Cineplex operates or has partnerships in 312 theatres and 3,025 screens under the Loews, Cineplex Odeon, Star, Magic Johnson, Cinemex, Yelmo Cineplex, Megabox Cineplex and UFA names. The company’s partnerships include: Magic Johnson Theatres, Yelmo Cineplex of Spain and Megabox Cineplex of Korea, and now Neue Filmpalast of Germany. Loews Cineplex is privately owned by Onex Corporation, one of Canada's largest companies with global operations in service, manufacturing and technology industries, and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC, a Los Angeles based private investment management firm specializing in inefficient markets and alternative investments with approximately US$25 billion of assets committed for management primarily from institutional investors.