Macerich unloads Phoenix mall for $100M; redevelopment awaits

Paradise Valley Mall will become 3M-sf multifamily, office, retail complex

Macerich president Edward Coppola and a rendering of the redevelopment in Pheonix (Macerich/City of Pheonix)
Macerich president Edward Coppola and a rendering of the redevelopment in Pheonix (Macerich/City of Pheonix)

Macerich Company has sold a Phoenix mall for $100 million, as the mall REIT continues to battle back from a withering year of losses.

The buyer is a joint venture affiliated with Red Development, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Santa Monica-based Macerich retained a 5 percent interest in the JV, which plans to redevelop the Paradise Valley Mall, on property that encompasses 92 acres, into a mixed-use complex.

The redevelopment plan includes adding 3.25 million square feet of multifamily buildings, office space, and retail including a grocery store and restaurants. The mall was built in 1978 and was recently rezoned.

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Macerich is one of the largest shopping mall operators in the country, with a portfolio of 46 properties and 50 million square feet. Many of its properties are heavily leveraged, and the pandemic brought the firm increased financial pressure.

Macerich collected just 26 percent of rent in the first quarter of 2020 and the year with little to celebrate. The firm reported $230 million in losses in 2021, compared to a net income of $96 million in 2019, according to the report.

Macerich has a $1.5 billion line of credit coming due in July and around $800 million in mortgages under forbearance plans. Early this year, Alex Goldfarb, a Piper Sandler analyst who covers mall REITs, estimated the firm will need to raise $2 billion in 2021 to meet its debt obligations. In late February, Macerich brought on PJT Partners to help manage its debt.

[LABJ] — Dennis Lynch