CHICAGO-Garrison Investment Group, based in New York City, has hired locally based Urban Retail Properties to manage four malls totaling about 2.8 million square feet. The properties include the Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs, CO; Central Mall in Salina, KS; Decatur Mall in Decatur, Alabama and Lakeshore Mall in Gainesville, GA.
Garrison and Addison, TX-based Coyote Management LP acquired the 517,000-square-foot Lakeshore for $6.5 million and the 576,000-square-foot Decatur for $8.5 million in a portfolio purchase from First Republic Group Realty in September 2010, in a deal that included four other malls.
The venture then bought the 486,000-square-foot Central Mall in December for $20 million from Investment Properties of America, and the 1.2-million-square-foot Chapel Hills for $71.5 million from General Growth Properties in June 2011.
Ross Glickman, CEO of Urban, tells GlobeSt.com that his firm is taking over the management duties from Coyote. It’s not clear if Coyote has just stepped back in an ownership role, though the properties are still listed on the firm’s Web site. Coyote officials did return a request for comment.
He wouldn’t comment directly on the occupancy rate, though sources say all the malls were in a troubled situation. Decatur Mall, for example, has lost 19 of its 70 stores. Glickman did say there’s opportunity. “Each of these properties need some attention,” he says. “We feel there will be a lot of leasing and re-leasing to come, and we can dramatically increase occupancy with credible tenants.”
Glickman says though retailers were riding a wave of confidence in the first half, tenants are still negotiating hard. “It’s getting much more difficult today, the economy is as bad as it’s ever been and disposable income is at a low point,” he says. “A tenant doesn’t have to expand, but if the deal is right and the market is right, they’ll do it.”
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