URW Lands $925M Refi for Los Angeles Mall
Five banks co-originate the note.
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has obtained a $925 million refinancing loan for its 1.4 million-square-foot Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, Commercial Observer reported citing a Fitch report. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Santander Bank and a Deutsche Bank affiliate will co-originate the five-year note. The deal is scheduled to close next week.
Proceeds will retire an existing $925 million CMBS loan originated by Morgan Stanley in 2023—one of the largest deals of that year. That note was due to mature in August, according to Yardi Research Data.
A Santa Monica mall
URW acquired the retail property in 2002, for $165 million. Since then, the 1964-completed shopping center has undergone several renovations; the most recent ones, dating back to 2017, amounted to $1 billion. Newmark estimated Westfield Century City’s value at $2.04 billion this May.
Anchored by Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, the mall features more than 260 tenants, including Guess, ZARA, Moncler, Tesla, Lacoste, Tiffany & Co., Din Tai Fung, Bar Verde and Gelson’s Grocery. The property is currently 95.6 percent leased, Commercial Observer also reported.
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Westfield Century City occupies more than 19 acres at 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., across the road from The Los Angeles Country Club. The city’s downtown area is 14 miles east.
URW currently owns and operates 67 shopping centers in 11 countries, 39 of which carrying the Westfield brand. Apart from Westfield Century City, the group’s Los Angeles retail footprint also includes Westfield Culver City and Westfield Fashion Square.
Los Angeles, mostly stable retail market
Western retail markets are somewhat lagging in performance, not yet showing the health in fundamentals met by the Southeast and Southwest. Los Angeles retail has been mostly stable over the past couple of quarters, even as vacancy went up 30 basis points year-over-year, to 6.1 percent as of the second quarter, according to a recent Cushman & Wakefield report. Meanwhile, the average retail asking rate has actually gone up in the metro on a yearly basis to $35.18 per square foot, marking a 0.6 percent uptick.
In one of the market’s recent transactions, Federal Realty Investment Trust sold a 180,000-square-foot retail portfolio located on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen and brother Tyler Mateen acquired the collection for $69 million.
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