He's Having A Mall

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Kaempfer launched his career in Europe after hitting a wall in the U.S. He grew up in Connecticut, graduated from New York University and Harvard Business School, then moved to Washington in 1973 to work for home developer (and co-founder of the original McArthurGlen) Alan Glen. Kaempfer started his own home-building business four years later and then created one of Washington's top office developers, Kaempfer Co. Trouble hit in the early '90s, when the capital's property market collapsed and left Kaempfer Co. wallowing in $1 billion worth of red ink. (It avoided bankruptcy and is once again profitable.) Meanwhile, Kaempfer invested in McArthurGlen, once America's largest outlet-mall developer, which built 32 centers across the U.S. When its big-name tenants, including Liz Claiborne and Nike, urged a European expansion, Glen told Kaempfer, "I'm too tired, I'm too old, I'm too busy. So if you want to do it, you do it and give us a small piece of it." Kaempfer took him up on the offer and launched McArthurGlen Europe. He quickly joined with the British airport operator BAA in a fifty-fifty partnership. Eventually, he spent $7.25 million to buy out the retired Glen and other U.S. investors.

He moved his family--Kaempfer and his wife have a daughter and son--permanently to London two years ago, after five years of fortnightly trips to Washington. "I can't imagine leaving here. It's wonderful, and there are great business opportunities," Kaempfer says. He's itching to develop some office projects in London. And he's starting to add megasize movie complexes to his malls--complete with all the latest embellishments, such as stadium seating and digital sound, which are relatively new to European filmgoers. Kaempfer reckons that discount designer duds aren't the only staples of the American lifestyle that can take root in Europe.