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BLOOMINGDALE, IL-Already spending $30 million to renovate the 500,000 sf of non-anchor space at Stratford Square Mall, Feldman Mall Properties is increasing its investment here. The Great Neck, NY-based REIT has picked up the 144,000-sf J.C. Penney store for $6.7 million, or $46 per sf.

Feldman Mall Properties paid $93.1 million in January 2005 for the non-anchor space at the mall at Army Trail Road and Gary Avenue, and has since landed Century Theatres Inc. as a new tenant. The 16-screen theater is the lynchpin of a repositioning effort focusing on adding entertainment and restaurant venues at the property.

Company officials say buying the J.C. Penney store gives them greater control over the mall, which has five other anchors in Kohl's, Sears, Carson Pirie Scott, Marshall Field and Burlington Coat Factory. However, while those retailers own their Stratford Square stores, the J.C. Penney store on 10.1 acres was owned by a private investor. The seller signed a lease with J.C. Penney before the sale at $3.80 per sf through October, then increasing to $4.39 per sf through October 2008. J.C. Penney has two 10-year options after that. In addition of annual rent payments starting at $550,000, Feldman Mall Properties also assumes a 5.15% fixed-rate loan, with $3.5 million left to pay by November 2013.