With $925M LA Mall Refi, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Signals Staying In U.S. After Planning To Sell
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is on the verge of refinancing a $925M loan associated with the 1.4M SF Westfield Century City mall in Southern California, which may mean that the French mall giant will retain some of its investments in U.S. retail, CoStar reports.
Morgan Stanley will provide the two-year, floating-rate CMBS loan, which is slated to close before the end of August, according to The Real Deal, citing information from Fitch Ratings, KBRA and Trepp.
The refi values the Century City shopping center at about $1.35B, according to KBRA. Fitch reported $200M in sales at the mall for the year ending March 31. The property is anchored by Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.
URW had announced plans to divest its U.S. mall holdings and concentrate on its European portfolio.
To that end, the company has sold a handful of assets. Last year, URW sold its Promenade mall site in the San Fernando Valley and the Westfield Santa Anita Mall in Arcadia, California. This year, the company sold the 1.5M SF Westfield Mission Valley shopping center in San Diego for $290M.
Beyond Century City, the company hasn't said which other properties it might retain an interest in, CoStar reported. It owns 18 U.S. malls, plus retail at a number of American airports.
URW reported its first-half 2023 net rental income for its U.S. retail properties was $276.1M, down from $292.6M for the same period in 2022. It also reported a decline in valuation of $432.1M for its U.S. properties for the first half of the year.
