Elgin Area Chamber Of Commerce: J.C. Penney Portfolio, Symbolizing Department Store Struggles, Down To A Dozen Outlets Left To Sell

Press release from the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce:

October 14, 2021

One of the J.C. Penney retail portfolio properties that still needs a buyer is located at the Stoneridge Shopping Cener in Pleasanton, California. (CoStar)

By Linda Moss
CoStar News
 

A dozen J.C. Penney stores remain up for grabs, with deals pending or buyers lined up for another 18 brick-and-mortar locations, all marketed for sale after a retail bankruptcy process that's come to symbolize the struggle of some traditional American department stores.
 

Newmark, the exclusive broker handling the transactions, offered the update about the status of the J.C. Penney retail portfolio. The 12 stores that remain available are in California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas and Puerto Rico.

In recent marketing materials, Newmark identified the 18 J.C. Penney locations that it had “selected buyers” for, essentially taking them off the block because they are in the process of being sold. In addition, sales have already closed on five other J.C. Penney stores, including one in San Bruno, California, that just traded to an unidentified purchaser for $105.25 million.

The J.C. Penney store sales are the aftermath of a flood of U.S. retail bankruptcy protection filings in 2020, when the coronavirus outbreak accelerated the growth of online shopping to deal a blow to brick-and-mortar retailers.

Newmark didn’t respond to several requests for a comment Wednesday. The broker is selling the store portfolio on behalf of Copper Property CTL Pass Through Trust in a process stemming from J.C. Penney’s Chapter 11 proceeding last year.

Newark says it has a buyer for the J.C. Penney store at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, New Hampshire. (CoStar)

The J.C. Penney stores, which include a handful of ground leases, still on the block are:

• Westfield Santa Anita, 400 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, California, 204,563 square feet.
• Stoneridge Shopping Center, 1 Stoneridge Mall Road, Pleasanton, California, 155,919 square feet.
• Danbury Fair, 7 Backus Ave., Danbury, Connecticut, 136,375 square feet.
• Twelve Oaks Mall, 27458 Novi Road, Novi, Minnesota, 155,807 square feet.
• Freehold Raceway Mall, 3710 U.S. Highway 9, Freehold, New Jersey, 149,608 square feet.
• Newport Centre, 30 Mall Drive W, Jersey City, New Jersey, 185,330 square feet.
• Gateway Shopping Center I and II, 579 Gateway Drive, Brooklyn, New York, 123,942 square feet.
• Polaris Fashion Place, 1500 Polaris Parkway, Columbus, Ohio, 146,990 square feet.
• Mayaguez Mall, 975 Avenue Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, 86,204 square feet.
• Plaza Centro, 200 Avenue Rafael Cordero, Caguas, Puerto Rico, 99,742 square feet.
• Barton Creek Square, 2901 S. Capital of Texas Highway, Austin, Texas, 144,129 square feet.
• The Woodlands Mall, 1201 Lake Woodlands Drive, Spring, Texas, 146,000 square feet.

The group of stores that are under contract for sale, or have contracts pending, according to Newmark, are:

• Paradise Valley Mall, 4568 E. Cactus Road, Phoenix, 158,718 square feet.
• Westfield Culver City, 6000 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, California, 203,832 square feet.
• The Oaks, 350 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, California, 144,959 square feet.
• Christiana Mall, 132 Christiana Mall, Newark, Delaware, 159,878 square feet.
• Northshore Mall, 210 Andover St., Peabody, Massachusetts, 141,692 square feet.
• Westfield Annapolis, 2002 Annapolis Mall, Annapolis, Maryland, 126,732 square feet.
• The Mall in Columbia, 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Maryland, 171,000 square feet.
• Tamarack Village, 8278 Tamarack Village, Woodbury, Minnesota, 81,973 square feet.
• Pheasant Lane Mall, 310 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, New Hampshire, 104,836 square feet.
• Queens Center, 90-15 Queens Blvd., Elmhurst, New York, 204,340 square feet.
• Village at Fairview, Fairview, Texas, 117,641 square feet.
• Robertson’s Creek, 5801 Long Prairie Road, Flower Mound, Texas, 103,689 square feet.
• Memorial City Shopping Center, 303 Memorial City Way, Houston, 140,486 square feet.
• University Oaks Shopping Center, 201 University Oaks Blvd., Round Rock, Texas, 103,525 square feet.
• Alamo Ranch Marketplace, 5503 W. Loop 1604 N, San Antonio, Texas, 104,406 square feet.
• Fair Oaks Mall, 11750 Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax, Virginia, 193,422 square feet.
• Springfield Town Centre, 6500 Springfield Mall, Springfield, Virginia, 125,917 square feet.
• Dulles Town Centre, 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Sterling, Virginia, 125,917 square feet.

And five stores have already been sold, namely:

• Fashion Valley, 7007 Friars Road, San Diego, 268,859 square feet.
• SouthBay Pavilion at Carson, 20700 Avalon Blvd., Carson, California, 200,697 square feet.
• The Shops at Tanforan, 1122 El Camino Real, San Bruno, California, 223,232 square feet.
• Park Meadows, 8417 S. Park Meadows, Lone Tree, Colorado, 151,293 square feet.
• Stonebriar Centre, 2601 Preston Road, Frisco, Texas, 163,800 square feet.

Copper Property was formed as part of J.C. Penney’s Chapter 11 reorganization after Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management, the largest U.S. mall landlords, acquired the 119-year-old retailer. The trust is managed by an affiliate of Hilco Real Estate.

J.C. Penney’s lenders took ownership of its properties during the bankruptcy proceedings, when the company agreed last December to sell its operating business to Simon and Brookfield and signed a 20-year lease agreement for 160 U.S. stores and six distribution centers with the property-owning entity controlled by lenders.

In August, Copper Property reported that Simon and Brookfield had themselves opted to purchase three J.C. Penney stores — those in San Diego, California; Lone Tree, Colorado; and Frisco, Texas — for $32.3 million.

Source: CoStar Group, www.costar.com

This press release was produced by the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.