Vornado seeks buyer for three NYC-area mall stakes

Vornado Realty Trust has commissioned Eastdil Secured to market its stakes in three New York City-area malls, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the investment trust looks to exit the sector. The Steven Roth-led firm wants to unload a 32.4 percent stake in Brooklyn’s Kings Plaza Regional Shopping Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot mall that’s 95.6 percent occupied and anchored by Sears, Lowe’s and Macy’s. The property has a $250 million mortgage and posts annual sales figures of $655 per square foot.

Vornado is also looking to sell its 100 percent stake in the 90.6 percent-occupied Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, that’s anchored by a Macy’s, Sears, Walmart and JCPenney and posted sales of $475 per foot last year. Finally, it’s looking for a buyer for a 50 percent stake in the 1.5 million-square-foot Monmouth Mall in New Jersey, that’s 92.7 percent occupied and posts $400 in sales per foot.

The sale is part of a strategy by Vornado to simplify its portfolio by relinquishing retail properties and comes as more retail execs say that many U.S. malls are doomed. However, the quality of these particular properties has already helped draw interest from General Growth Properties, Glimcher Realty Trust and CBL & Associates Properties, according to the Journal. [WSJ]