Jack Hsieh

Chief Executive Officer, Macerich

In the two years since Hsieh took over Macerich, the $4 billion mall owner has been offloading properties to pay down debt — part of his “path forward plan.”

Macerich recently closed on the sale of Lakewood Center for $332 million, including the assumption by the buyer of the $317 million loan on the property, meaning the deal resulted in $5 million of net proceeds. Despite it being one of the priciest sales last year, the trade came out to $160 a square foot — much less than Hines’ Runway at Playa Vista buy, which for the retail piece, came out to $915 per square foot. Before the Lakewood Center deal, Macerich surrendered the Santa Monica Place mall, designed by the late Frank Gehry, to lenders after defaulting on a $300 million loan.

Macerich has mortgage notes on 10 other malls that come due before the end of the decade.

Hsieh was chief executive of Spirit Realty Capital where he led a merger through an all-stock transaction with an enterprise value of about $9 billion. Before that, he held high-level roles at Morgan Stanley and UBS.

— Alena Botros