Dallas-based real estate firm Centennial has bought a mall in Santa Clarita from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, about nine months after Unibail defaulted on a loan tied to the shopping center.
Centennial bought the 1 million-square-foot Valencia Town Center for $199 million, according to an announcement from Paris-based URW this week. URW held a 50 percent stake in the mall, which was sold for $199 a square foot.
The sale was an alternative to a foreclosure, according to special servicer comments on a $195 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan tied to the mall, located at 24201 Valencia Boulevard.
URW missed its deadline to pay off the CMBS debt — originated by UBS and Barclays — in January, according to Trepp data, and has been in default on the loan ever since.
The default apparently did not have a drastic effect on the value of the mall — URW said the deal represented a discount of less than 3 percent compared to the mall’s appraisal in December. The mall was 87 percent occupied when it was sold.
In 2022, URW announced it was looking to “radically reduce” its exposure to U.S. assets. So far, in Southern California, the firm has sold almost $1.4 billion worth of malls.
In Southern California, URW has sold the 1.5 million-square-foot Santa Anita complex in Arcadia for $538 million, The Village in Woodland Hills to Stan Kroenke for $325 million and a 1.1 million-square-foot mall in San Diego for $290 million. Those deals have all traded at higher prices on a square foot basis, compared to the Valencia Town Center.
URW has also ceased making payments on a $558 million mortgage tied to Westfield San Francisco Centre, which it owns with Brookfield.
Centennial, which says it has a portfolio of 22 million square feet, recently resolved its own issues on a loan tied to its MainPlace mall in Santa Ana. The firm and its partner USAA Real Estate scored an extension on its $140 million CMBS debt, according to Morningstar, after the loan was sent to special servicing earlier this year.
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