Pyramid’s mall problems spread to New England 

Pyramid Management Group’s mall troubles extend beyond New York.

The Syracuse-based owner is on the verge of losing the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts, the Boston Business Journal reported. An auction of the shopping center at 367 Russell Street is scheduled to take place on June 20.

MassLive first reported last month about the possibility of foreclosure at the property when a legal notice appeared in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The Gazette noted that the tax assessment on the mall is $19 million, barely half of the $37 million valuation the town conferred on the property in 2010.

The 470,000-square-foot, one-story mall’s tenant roster includes JCPenney, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Planet Fitness and Cinemark Theaters. The half-century-old mall includes 343,000 leasable square feet across its 46-acre domain.

Pyramid did not respond to the Business Journal’s request for comment.

In some ways, Pyramid became one of the faces of mall distress in recent years, with financial troubles at some properties and plummeting valuations at others. While retail has proven resilient to the pandemic and e-commerce, older and enclosed malls are struggling.

Last summer, an unidentified lender purchased the $243 million mortgage debt backing Pyramid’s flagship Crossgates Mall outside of Albany, New York. The debt was sold at a significant discount; bondholders lost $100 million on the sale, according to Trepp.

Prior to the debt auction, Fitch downgraded the debt at the mall due to declining performance and concerns about refinancing. Weeks later, Pyramid defaulted on the mall’s three mortgages.

Since 2011, the value of the Poughkeepsie Galleria in New York’s Hudson Valley has declined 71 percent, cratering from $237 million to $68 million, according to CRED iQ appraisal data. At Destiny USA, the state’s largest mall, Pyramid needed a five-year extension on $430 million worth of debt previously set to mature last summer.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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