A mystery buyer has emerged for Westfield's Wheaton Plaza mall, creating an equally-mysterious forecast for the property's future. Parent company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is now in discussions with a prospective buyer who has expressed willingness to buy the mall property, and the loan and debt currently being carried on it by URW, according to Bisnow. The potential sale price is unknown, but the real estate website reports that the mall was recently reappraised with a value of $136 million, down 66% from its $402 million appraisal in February 2015.
If the mall were to sell for only $136 million, it could be one of the steals of the century. Obviously, the default on the property's mortgage by URW earlier this year, and the associated debt and complications from that, are a drag on any potential buyer. But the 1.6 million-square-foot property is a massive redevelopment opportunity, right next to a Metro station. The profits of redeveloping that as high-density luxury housing would as enormous as the impact on the surrounding residential neighborhood and Montgomery County infrastructure.
No comments:
Post a Comment