Simon Proposes All-Cash Offer To Acquire Taubman for $17.50 Per Share.

Price Is Higher Than Taubman Shares Have Ever Traded

Simon Property Group, Inc. today made a written offer to acquire Taubman Centers, Inc. for $17.50 per share in cash, a substantial current premium and a price higher than Taubman Centers shares have ever traded. The letter sent today to the Board of Directors of Taubman Centers by David Simon, Chief Executive Officer of Simon Property Group, follows:

Dear Members of the Board of Directors:

As you may know, we recently made a written offer to Robert S. Taubman to pay $17.50 in cash for each share of Taubman Centers, Inc. (the "Company") common stock. Our all-cash offer would deliver to all Taubman shareholders a substantial premium -- approximately 18% above yesterday's closing price and 30% above the price on the day we initially made our offer -- and it exceeds the highest price at which Taubman shares have ever traded. Our offer represents a compelling strategic and financial transaction that would produce substantial and immediate value for all of your shareholders. We can move quickly since our offer is not subject to the receipt of financing or any due diligence investigation of the Company.

On several occasions, we have communicated our offer to Mr. Taubman and suggested that we have an opportunity to discuss it with the members of Taubman's board of directors. We wrote Mr. Taubman on October 16, 2002, to request a meeting to present our offer. He refused to meet. On October 22, 2002, we again wrote Mr. Taubman, this time setting forth the basic terms of our offer. Once again, he refused even to have a discussion, writing to us on October 28, 2002, that "the Company has no interest whatsoever in pursuing a sale transaction..."

We are dismayed that Mr. Taubman continues in his refusal even to discuss our offer -- or indeed any sale transaction, particularly in light of the fact that we have expressed a willingness to be very flexible with respect to the structure of the proposed transaction. The offer is not conditioned upon any participation by the Taubman family. Instead we have agreed to accommodate any desire by the Taubman family to retain its economic interest in the Taubman Realty Group Limited Partnership, or, at their option, to participate in the transaction, and receive either cash or equivalent value for their existing partnership interests by exchanging them on a tax efficient basis for partnership interests in the Simon operating partnership.

Since the Taubman family can choose to (1) retain its current Taubman partnership units, (2) convert into Simon partnership units, or (3) sell for cash, we can only conclude that Mr. Taubman's refusal even to discuss our offer reflects the Taubman family's desire not to permit the Company to be sold under any circumstances. While it is entirely appropriate for the Taubman family to retain the right to choose between various options with respect to the treatment of its own partnership units, it is improper for these insiders to prevent public shareholders from choosing to receive a premium for their shares.