Sales on the Rise at Willow Grove Park Mall

Rising sales at Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT)-owned malls are continued signs of a recovering economy.

According to a recent PREIT press release, its April 24 end-of-first-quarter report, showed that sales at PREIT-owned regional malls reached an all time high of $376 per square foot.

Including the , PREIT also owns Moorestown and Cherry Hill malls.

According to the release, the rise in sales marks the ninth consecutive quarter in which PREIT has shown increases with its sales.

“With strong sales and meaningful NOI [Net Operating Income] growth, we are gaining momentum as the economy improves,” Ronald Rubin, PREIT chairman and chief executive officer said in the release.

As previously announced by PREIT, Rubin will step down in June as CEO, but will remain the Philadelphia-based company’s chairman.

According to the release, the NOI, which is a measure of real estate revenues minus operating expenses, was reported to be $69.1 million by March 31, 2012, as compared to $66.8 million for the quarter that ended exactly a year prior.

Primary factors that affected this past quarter’s financial results, as reported in the release, include: lower operating expenses, such as snow removal and bad debt; and decreased interest expense, which was primarily due to lower interest rates and debt balances. The PREIT release said that the company was able to pay down debts after selling stock shares this month, which raised $110.7million in net proceeds.