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Organization of the Company (Notes)
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12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2011
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Organization of the Company
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. and subsidiaries is one of the largest owners and operators of outlet centers in the United States. We are a fully-integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") which, through our controlling interest in the Operating Partnership, focuses exclusively on developing, acquiring, owning, operating and managing outlet shopping centers. As of December 31, 2011, we owned and operated 36 outlet centers, with a total gross leasable area of approximately 10.7 million square feet. All references to gross leasable area, square feet, occupancy, stores and store brands contained in the notes to the consolidated financial statements are unaudited. These outlet centers were 99% occupied and contained over 2,300 stores, representing approximately 400 store brands. We also had partial ownership interests in three outlet centers totaling approximately 1.1 million square feet, including one outlet center in Ontario, Canada.
Our outlet centers and other assets are held by, and all of our operations are conducted by, Tanger Properties Limited Partnership and subsidiaries. Accordingly, the descriptions of our business, employees and properties are also descriptions of the business, employees and properties of the Operating Partnership. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the term “Company” refers to Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, Inc. and subsidiaries and the term “Operating Partnership” refers to Tanger Properties Limited Partnership and subsidiaries. The terms “we”, “our” and “us” refer to the Company or the Company and the Operating Partnership together, as the text requires.
We own the majority of the units of partnership interest issued by the Operating Partnership through our two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Tanger GP Trust and Tanger LP Trust. Tanger GP Trust controls the Operating Partnership as its sole general partner. Tanger LP Trust holds a limited partnership interest. Through May 31, 2011, the Tanger family, through its ownership of the Tanger Family Limited Partnership held the remaining units as a limited partner. On June 1, 2011, the Tanger Family Limited Partnership was dissolved, and the units of the Operating Partnership owned by the Tanger Family Limited Partnership were distributed to the individual Family Limited Partners. Each such Family Limited Partner is now an individual limited partner of the Operating Partnership (collectively the "Family Limited Partners").
As of December 31, 2011, our wholly-owned subsidiaries owned 21,681,914 units of the Operating Partnership and the Family Limited Partners collectively owned the remaining 2,872,973 units. Each unit held by the Family Limited Partners is exchangeable for four of our common shares, subject to certain limitations to preserve our status as a REIT.
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