Proposed Buyer Emerges For Buckland Hills Mall In Manchester

MANCHESTER, CT — After being put on the auction block four months ago, a proposed buyer for the Buckland Hills mall has emerged.

And its Connecticut portfolio is already extensive.

On the final day of 2024, Mortgage-holder Wells Fargo submitted a filing in the U.S District Court for Connecticut that outlined a sale of the 1.3-million-square-foot mall in Manchester to Namdar Realty Group affiliates Mason Asset management and Namco Realty for a price slightly less than $60 million, records show.

Records show that the mall has been mired in foreclosure proceedings since 2021, when the pandemic was rearing its ugly head on the indoor retail industry.

Namdar Realty Group also owns malls in Enfield, Meriden, Waterford and Trumbull.

Now the waiting game begins.

The mall in Manchester sits on sits on 114.70 acres on Buckland Hills Drive, 60.8 of which are "owned," according to the listing when the mall went on the auction block on September.

The mall was constructed in 1990 and it took the place of the Red Rock golf course, a hilly, public layout that, "you had to be a billy goat to play," one veteran golfer quipped this week. The remnants of the course are the red rock cliffs that face Buckland Street.

If the $25.8 million sale goes through, it will mark a fraction of the $215.15 million full market value once noted in the Manchester Assessor's Office database.