Westfield Group Divests $550M Assets

LOS ANGELES-The Westfield Group has sold a majority stake in eight shopping centers across the country to Centro Properties Group and Somera Capital Management for $550 million. Seven of the centers are going to Centro and Somera is taking one.

Sydney, Australia-based Westfield, which has its US operations here, is selling the properties because they are not part of its core portfolio and don’t fit in with the company’s long-term redevelopment strategy, says Peter Lowy, Westfield’s group managing director. The company has divested similar assets in the United Kingdom.

Centro is taking full ownership of two of the centers, the 720,366-sf Enfield (CT) Square; and the 476,829-sf Westland, in Lakewood, CO. It is also acquiring a 95% interest in the other five, while Westfield will hold the remaining interest. Those centers are the 456,959-sf Eagle Rock, in Los Angeles; the one-million-sf Independence, in Wilmington, NC; the 1.1-million-sf Midway Mall, in Elyria, OH; the 727,185-sf Richland Mall, in Mansfield, OH; and the 501,038-sf West Park Mall, in Cape Girardeau, MO.