Rouse Buys 650-Acre Wyeth Site For $35M

When the Wyeth Corp. bought the 650-acre former American Cynamid agricultural research campus here two years ago, the pharmaceutical giant immediately hired the Columbia, MD-based Rouse Co. as a real estate consultant to determine what to do with it. Now, Rouse itself has turned around and acquired the site from Wyeth for $35 million. The deal has a number of interesting aspects, not the least of which is the fact that Rouse itself, known primarily for its shopping centers and master planned communities, is in the process of being acquired by the Chicago-based General Growth Properties for a reported $12.6 billion. According to a published report, Rouse actually closed on the tract at the end of June, about six weeks before the Rouse-General Growth deal was announced.