Shopco had owned the 50-year-old mall since 1997 when, as a holder of a 9% interest in the property through the three-partner Eastpoint Mall LP, it acquired the remaining 91% interest for $25.5 million in cash and the assumption of $51 million in existing debt. Rockwood Realty Associates brokered the transaction, representing Shopco and orchestrating financing for Thor's acquisition in the form of a first mortgage.

Eastpoint Mall sits on a 67-acre site just off the Baltimore Parkway about six miles outside of downtown. The single-story facility began as an open-air retail site in 1956 and underwent a redevelopment project that left it as an enclosed shopping destination in 1972. The mall also features about 70,800 sf of office space, and has been renovated and expanded on a total of four occasions, the last of which occurred in 2005.

Eastpoint is presently anchored by Sears, Value City, JC Penney and Steve & Barry's University Sportswear, which opened its doors about six months ago. And among its remaining 115 or so tenants are six businesses--AMF Bowling Lanes, Bank of America, Checkers, Golden Corral, Mercantile Bank and Staples--that occupy outparcel structures.