Luxury mall owner Taubman Centers Inc. agreed to buy The Gardens on El Paseo and the adjacent El Paseo Village, as well as another shopping center in Nashville, Tenn., in a deal valued at $560 million, company officials announced Tuesday.

Privately owned Davis Street Properties Co., based in Illinois, sold the shopping centers, which included the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville. The deal is expected to close this year.

Michigan-based Taubman Centers is a real estate investment trust that was founded in 1950 and owns, leases or manages more than two dozen regional shopping centers.

Taubman Centers' purchase includes The Gardens on El Paseo, a 13-year-old open-air specialty center anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, and El Paseo Village, which was completed last year. Together they comprise about 236,000 square feet of space.

“We think the Gardens fit well with our existing portfolio as it's highly productive, has an upscale focus much like the rest of our portfolio, has strong demographics, a strong tourism market and is the dominant center in its respective market,” said Karen MacDonald, Taubman Centers' director of communications.

The 41,000-square-foot El Paseo Village opened in fall 2010, featuring trendy upscale stores such as Banana Republic, Between the Sheets, Bebe, Janie and Jack, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, and Lucky Brand Jeans.

Taubman Centers officials project both shopping centers' sales will exceed $700 per square foot, on average, next year, with average vacancy below 10 percent.

It's too early to say whether Taubman Centers will make any changes or improvements at the Palm Desert shopping center.

“We're always looking for ways to enhance our assets, but we think it's a beautiful (center) and we're happy with the way it is,” MacDonald said.

Robert Perlmutter, a spokesman for Davis Street Properties, said “we did not intend to sell the (Palm Desert) shopping center, but were approached by Taubman on an unsolicited basis.”

“Based on the pricing for the property and our ability to exchange into interests in their company, we pursued the transaction,” Perlmutter said.