The Cafaro Company

Introduction

Cafaro Company is an American company which owns several retail shopping centers throughout the United States. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, it is the largest privately owned shopping center development and management company in the United States.

Cafaro Company began in the 1940s. William M. Cafaro and his brother John began developing grocery stores for Kroger, and later moved on to developing shopping centers. The two brothers managed the non-grocery tenants in the centers they developed. In 1965, they opened their first regional mall property.

In the 1980s, Target Corporation asked Cafaro to develop centers for them in the Pacific Northwest.

Discussion

The company manages more than 34,000,000 square feet (3,200,000 m2) of commercial real estate throughout the United States. Anthony Cafaro, Sr., is president and CEO of the Cafaro Company, and his sons Anthony Jr. and William A. are vice presidents, as is his brother John J. Cafaro who serves as the Executive Vice President of Real Estate.( Shearin, 127)

The Cafaro Company hits the long ball with its small town malls and shopping centers. Cafaro owns and operates more than 50 retail properties in about a dozen states in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Northwest US. The facilities have a total of some 34 million sq. ft. of commercial space. Some malls feature adjacent entertainment facilities, such as the 6,400-seat baseball stadium for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers behind a Cafaro Company mall in Niles, Ohio. Founded in the 1940s by William M. Cafaro, the company is still owned and operated by the family, which is involved in local and state politics.

According to a statement issued by the company, officials with the Cafaro Co. and its legal department only recently became aware of the loan, made in July 2006. Flora Cafaro made the loan in her “personal capacity” and not as a representative of the company, and that she has no “significant involvement” in its day-to-day operations, the company said. Further requests for information were referred to her personal legal counsel.

Prosecutors said Cronin gave false information on annual financial disclosure forms regarding the loan from Cafaro. She pleaded guilty to mail fraud back in December and admitted to taking an $18,000 loan from a local business executive.

The executive was disclosed today in court as Flora Cafaro, sister of Anthony and John J. Cafaro, who recently retired from the real estate development company founded by their father.

At the time Cafaro accepted the loan, the Cafaro co. had more than 50 civil cases pending before her court.

On Monday, John J. Cafaro was accused of violating federal campaign finance law related to contributions to his daughter, Capri Cafaro, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2004. She now serves as Minority Leader in the Ohio Senate.

111 an industry still heavily dominated by its founding families-the Taubmans, liucksbaums, Simons, etc.-succession planning can be a ticklish issue. Firms, especially private cotnpanies, have to transition to new leadership without alienating a layer of senior executives (aiul clients) who may have more experience than the new bosses.

To avoid unnecessary hardships, a ...