2011: Lend Lease Sells King of Prussia Mall Stake for $545M

Lend Lease Group LLC sold its 50% interest in the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, PA to Morgan Stanley Prime Property Fund. The gross valuation comes to $1.25 million, so Morgan Stanley purchased the property for net proceeds of $545 million.

The price accounted for the debt level and Lend Lease netted $100 million. The sale of the largest enclosed mall on the East Coast, totaling 2.85 million sf, closed in September 2011.

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2012: Westfield Close to $1.2B Retail Deal at WTC

Westfield Properties and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closed a $1.4-billion joint venture deal for the retail portion of the new World Trade Center site, amounting to a per-sf price of $3,836. The venture gave Westfield the right to develop and lease about 455,000 square feet of retail at two towers. Westfield had been working with Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority to update the mall at the WTC prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Sydney, Australia-based retail giant backed off from the update plan after the attacks, but kept an option to move forward with retail plans there. The deal includes 365,000 square feet at the first planned tower when it opens in 2015, with another 90,000 square feet at the future 2 World Trade Center building.

Two years later, in January 2014, Westfield bought the other half of the WTC retail portion from the Port Authority for $800 million. The latter deal put the value of the retail component at $1.6 billion, or $4,384 per square foot. READ MORE HERE AND HERE

2012: CalPERS to Take Full Ownership of Woodfield Mall

A California pension fund will take full ownership of Schaumburg, IL shopping center Woodfield Mall. Sacramento-based California Public Employees' Retirement System, in partnership with Miller Capital Advisory, reached a contract to purchase a 50% stake in the retail property owned by Detroit-based General Motors Pension Fund.

CalPERS, which already owns 50% of the mall, agreed to pay over $500 million for the remaining 50%. The deal values the nearly 2.2-million-square-foot shopping mall at over $1 billion. New York-based Eastdil handled the sale. READ MORE HERE

2012: Luxury Goods Firm Makes Its Own High-End Buy

As an owner of global luxury goods companies, Richemont must know quality when it sees it. That's probably why it decided to pay $380.6 million for the retail condo of the St. Regis New York, at 2 E. 55th St., in October. At 24,800 square feet, the space traded for $15,347 a foot, representing the highest per-square-foot price paid for a retail property in 2012. The total purchase price is more than triple the price the seller—a partnership of Crown Acquisitions, the Feil Organization, Goldman Properties, Centurion Realty, US Realty Advisors and the Safra Group—paid for the asset exactly three years prior. Geneva-based Richemont, whose holdings include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc, intends to open up a store in the property once space becomes available.

Exactly two years later, in October 2014, Richemont sold the retail condo back to Crown Acquisitions, this time working in partnership with Vornado Realty Trust. During the time frame Richemont had owned the asset, the price had more than doubled to $700 million, or $28,226 per square foot, which the buyers paid in cash, at a 4.1% quoted cap rate. Vornado held a two-thirds share of the asset, with Crown owning the rest.

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2012: Kings Plaza, 666 Fifth Reign Among Top NYC Deals

The biggest property trade in the Big Apple came as a bit of a surprise to many in the market. Most years, the headlines focus on the sale of a trophy office tower in Manhattan, or sometimes a luxury apartment building. Few expected the crown to go to a 42-year-old mall in a far-off corner of Brooklyn.

There must have been something about the King's Plaza shopping center that caused Macerich to shell out $751 million, or $861 a foot, for the 1.2-million-square-foot retail property. Vornado Realty Trust and Alexander's Inc., represented by Eastdil Secured, sold the mall, the largest shopping center in the borough.

Within a month of closing out that November sale, Vornado completed its acquisition of the retail condominium at 666 Fifth Ave. from a JV of the Carlyle Group, Crown Acquisitions and Kushner Cos. At $707.8 million, or $12,979 per square foot, that purchase took the number-two spot on New York's big deals list. The 114,000-square-foot component is leased to Uniqlo, Hollister and Swatch, among others.

CBRE represented the sellers in the 666 Fifth transaction. Goldman Sachs put together a $500-million CMBS loan for Macerich's purchase, while Citigroup originated a $390-million CMBS loan for Vornado's buy.

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2013: GGP-TIAA JV Makes Big Bet in Vegas

GGP and TIAA-CREF formed a partnership to own and operate the Grand Canal Shoppes, including the Shoppes at the Palazzo, located in Las Vegas. The Grand Canal Shoppes is located at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip within the Venetian and the Palazzo hotel, casino and resort complex. The deal, brokered by Eastdil, values the properties at a collective $1.45 billion, or $1,778 per sf. The property is 99% leased and comprises approximately 774,000 square feet of gross leasable area occupied by upscale retailers and restaurants.

GGP and TIAA-CREF will each own approximately 50% of the retail property; prior to the formation of the partnership, GGP owned 100% of the property. The transaction generated approximately $410 million of net proceeds, and GGP will continue to provide management and leasing services. READ MORE HERE

2013: UBS AG Fund Acquires Stake in Water Tower Place

The largest retail asset on Chicago's Magnificent Mile was involved in the largest Metro Chicago trade of 2013. UBS AG's Trumbull Property Fund bought a 50% stake in the Water Tower Place from AEW Capital Management LP, acting on behalf of Alcatel-Lucent Pension Fund, for $410 million. That puts the full value of the property, located at 845 N. Michigan Ave., at $820 million, or $1,052 per foot, with a 4.5% cap rate. Eastdil arranged the deal, while MetLife provided a $200-million first mortgage.

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2014: JV Buys Half of Tampa Mall for $499M

At the start of 2014, Taubman Centers, TIAA-CREF, and Amsterdam-based APGsold a 49.9% interest in International Plaza to a joint venture that is 51% owned by TIAA-CREF and 49% owned by APG. The price for the stake was $499 million, valuing the asset at $998 million and giving the deal a 4.6% pro forma cap rate. International Plaza sits next to the Tampa International Airport at the center of the Tampa metroplex. Dillard's, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom anchor the 1.2-million-square-foot retail center, which opened in September 2001. Taubman will continue to lease and manage the center. The purchase price includes $337 million of cash and about $162 million of beneficial interest in debt. Eastdil represented the seller. READ MORE HERE

2014: Macerich Buys Out JV Partner Via Stock Swap

The Macerich Co. bought out its joint venture partner's 49% stake in five shopping centers, including four on the West Coast, for $1.89 billion including the assumption of $673 million in debt. The balance of the deal was the issuance of $1.22 billion in common stock to JV partner Cadillac Fairview Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. The sale gave Cadillac Fairview a 10.9% ownership stake in Macerich.

Totaling 6.7 million square feet, the properties include Lakewood Center in Lakewood, CA; Washington Square in Portland, OR; Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, CA; Stonewood Center in Downey, CA; and Queens Center in New York City. The latter is the highest-grossing of the properties at $1,089 per square foot across 971,000 square feet; the largest of the five, the 2.1-million-square-foot Lakewood Center, is also the lowest grossing at $429 per square foot. The portfolio averages 97% occupancy.

Those two assets also accounted for the bulk of the portfolio's value. Lakewood Center's allocated price tag was $1.17 billion, or $568 per foot, while Queens Center brought in $1,049 a foot, making its purchase price over $1 billion.

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