Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/753030
12 S C T / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 A nother high-rolling investor is placing a bet on Las Vegas retail property. Institutional Mall Investors, a venture co-owned by Miller Capital Advisory and CalPERS, is buying the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, a 501,500-square-foot mall with street-level retail fronting the Las Vegas Strip. The sellers are TriStar Capital and RFR Holding. The companies have not disclosed the price, which observers have pegged at $1.1 billion. TriStar Capital and RFR Holding took ownership of the mall in 2004, when it was still known as Desert Passage. In 2007 the adjacent Aladdin hotel was rebranded as the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, and the mall shed its Middle East bazaar theme. Axis Theatre, a venue for pop stars doing Las Vegas residencies, such as Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez, anchors Miracle Mile Shops, which boasts 13 restaurants. Tenants are decidedly midmarket relative to some of the luxury stores at the surrounding retail properties. Miracle Mile's tenants include Guess, French Connection, H&M;, MAC Cosmetics and Sephora. "We're extremely proud of the job our entire Austin-based Stratus Properties sold its 236,700-square- foot Oaks at Lakeway (Texas) shopping center to Massachusetts- based TA Realty for $114 million. Anchors are HEB, High Five and Twin Liquors D E A L B A R O M E T E R W H O ' S P A Y I N G H O W M U C H F O R W H A T Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust purchased the 85,000-square-foot Centennial Shops, in Edina, Minn., from an unnamed seller for $32.1 million. Anchors include Pinstripes, The Container Store and West Elm Weingarten Realty sold the 188,500-square- foot, Lowes Foods–anchored Wake Forest (N.C.) Crossing to Acadia Realty for $36.6 million. Kohl's and T.J.Maxx are also tenants Rouse Properties bought the 115,000-square- foot Shops at Somerset Square, in Glastonbury, Conn., from the HB Nitkin Group for $42 million. Tenants there include Chipotle, Francesca's and others Gramor Development sold its 92,000-square- foot Timberland Town Center, in Beaverton, Ore., to JLL Income Property Trust for $43.1 million. A Market of Choice supermarket anchors the center Newport Capital Partners sold the 199,100-square- foot Danada Square East, in Wheaton, Ill., to LaSalle Investment Management for nearly $63.3 million. Whole Foods anchors the center Whitestone REIT bought two upscale shopping centers in Scottsdale, Ariz. — the 147,200- square-foot La Mirada and the 90,000-square- foot Seville — for a combined $72.5 million. BUYING BACK BOXES General Growth Properties paid $46 million for five Macy's department stores as part of an effort to boost the productivity of anchor spaces at its shopping centers. "We proactively approached them to take advantage of the potential opportunity to buy back certain boxes where we felt there was strong tenant demand," General Growth CEO Sandeep Mathrani said on an earnings call. Though Macy's will continue operating at Tysons Galleria through a lease, the company closed the Quail Springs Mall store last spring and will shut the remaining three this coming spring. General Growth already has plans for these new acquisitions, according to Mathrani. "At Greenwood Mall, he said, "we're welcoming a new Belk department store." team has done over the last decade, weathering Las Vegas' economic downturn and rebounding to make Miracle Mile Shops one of the 10 busiest malls in the country," said David Edelstein, president of TriStar Capital. "With its location, tenant mix and Las Vegas' continued growth, we believe Miracle Mile Shops is ideally poised to continue its upward trajectory." Las Vegas has proved to be an inviting market for retail investment. Earlier this year Simon and Invesco agreed to pay $1.1 billion for The Shops at Crystals, a 324,000-square-foot luxury shopping center at the CityCenter mixed-use complex on the Strip. Investors say the high cost will pay off; retail sales are expected to increase by 5.3 percent in Las Vegas this year relative to last year, according to Marcus & Millichap. "Las Vegas continues to set record visitor numbers, and that is certainly reflected in the traffic we see at Miracle Mile Shops," said Andrew Miller, president and CEO of Miller Capital Advisory. "The world-class mix of tenants appeals to a broad demographic, and we expect to continue to build on the mall's current success." Deal diary: Vegas Bet D E A L S & T R A N S AC T I O N S T H E C O M M O N A R E A