Brookfield behind on D.C. area mall debt, does not expect default

Brookfield Property Partners will reportedly miss its deadline to pay off $282 million in outstanding debt on Virginia’s Tysons Galleria mall after the commercial mortgage-backed securities loan was sent to its special servicer.

The loan on the high-end mall, set to mature on Sept. 1, was moved to special servicing for imminent default, according to the Washington Business Journal, which cited multiple ratings agencies.

A Brookfield spokesperson told the news outlet that the company “does not expect a default” on the CMBS debt but did not elaborate. The company did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday by The Real Deal.

Brookfield has struggled to collect rent from more than half of its mall tenants amid the pandemic, which forced stores across the country to shutter. At the same time, a growing number of retailers have declared bankruptcy.

The publicly traded real estate giant alluded to a possible refinance of the mall’s debt in a letter to shareholders in mid-March, just as states around the country began shutting down in response to the pandemic.

Brookfield Property’s loan on Tysons Galleria is among the largest chunks of its debt set to expire this year, alongside 200 Vesey Street at Brookfield Place in New York.

Despite Covid’s devastating impact on retail, Brookfield Asset Management announced in May that it plans to invest $5 billion in struggling stores.

Brookfield Property CEO Brian Kingston told TRD in June that the firm had trouble collecting rents in the second quarter but expects its retail portfolio, including its $14.8 billion acquisition of General Growth Properties in 2018, to do well in the long-term.

Tysons Galleria is one of six mall properties that Brookfield owns in Virginia. The firm also owns the Yards, a mixed-use redevelopment project in Washington, D.C. [Washington Business Journal] — Dennis Lynch