The Macerich Co. reached agreements on a $130 million refinancing for a portion of Queens Center, a 963,041-square-foot property in Queens, N.Y. and a $250 million refinancing for Washington Square Mall, a 1.5-million-square-foot property in Portland, Ore. The deals were funded by life insurance companies and a pension fund. Previously, both loans made up part of the REIT’s $945 million in 2009 debt maturities.
“We’ve got plenty of access to capital, and this is capital that is being funded to us from long standing partners and lenders that we’ve been doing business with for over 30 years,” said Art Coppola, Macerich chairman and CEO, on Nov. 4 during the company’s third quarter conference call. “We were never one of the companies that got addicted to CMBS debt. We always had a healthy balance of life insurance company debt in our portfolio.”
The Queens Center loan features a 7.5 percent fixed interest rate and will close in early 2009. The Washington Square Mall loan features a 6.0 percent fixed interest rate and a seven-year term and will close in December 2009. Upon completion of these transactions, Macerich will have only $525 million in 2009 loan maturities, having extension options on an additional $267 million of its maturing debt.
Other Notable Deals
Cohen Financial arranged a $26.9 million credit facility for Emerald Grande, a mixed-use property in Destin, Fla. The property contains 280 condominium hotel units and 48,647 square feet of retail space… Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services negotiated the sale of a 129,346-square-foot Sam’s Club ground lease in Citrus Heights, Calif., from Trestle Regency LLC to First Acorn LLC for $15.6 million… Cohen Financial secured a $9.0 million acquisition loan for a 77,467-square-foot retail center in Oak Lawn, Ill. on behalf of Inland Mortgage Corp…. Winick Realty Group negotiated the sale of a 24,000-square-foot retail property in Queens, N.Y. to Monroe LLC for $7.3 million.