Lynnhaven Mall Moves to New Portfolio in $256M Deal

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA-Having committed a whopping $256.5 million, General Growth Properties has landed itself a big fish–the 1.3 million-sf Lynnhaven Mall, one of the largest shopping centers to grace the East Coast. The Chicago-headquartered shopping mall REIT took the lucrative property–it is currently grossing sales at $410 per-sf at 91% occupancy–off the hands of the previous owner, an unnamed institutional concern. General Growth paid for the property with cash, a $180 million non-recourse mortgage loan, and other avenues of existing credit. The company plans to refinance $317 million in debt, thereby yielding $86 million in proceeds.

Located just minutes from the Virginia Beach oceanfront off I-264, Lynnhaven Mall is easily accessible from a bevy of surrounding and distant communities. The shopping center boasts six anchors–including Dillard’s, Hecht’s, JCPenney and Lord & Taylor–as well as 390,000 sf of specialty retail space, and about a dozen or so eateries. While the 22-year-old property underwent renovations in 1991 and 1996, more changes are in store with the addition of a new 18-screen AMC movie theate, and a 28,000-sf space to accommodate a new Barnes and Noble Bookseller. Recent changes include a new 180,000-sf Dillard’s store, a move that has left the store’s former space open for the 123,000-sf movie theater that is scheduled to pull back the curtains on its screens this November.