The new loan, through Bank of America, was for a fixed interest rate of 6.76%, and replaces the former mortgage that had interest of 8.20%, according to Lisa Indest, vice president of finance and accounting for Glimcher. "It's very good news, the interest rate is favorable," she says. "We have continued to take positive steps addressing capital structure, and we're very excited about our momentum."

The company recently sold a 60% stake in two mall properties, Lloyd Center in Portland, OR and WestShore Plaza in Tampa, to the Blackstone Group for $320 million, netting about $60 million to lower Glimcher's credit facility. Indest tells GlobeSt.com her firm is working on refinancing one more mortgage coming due this year. "The Mall at Johnson City, in Tennessee, is due in June," she says.

Lending for the Polaris property will be structured to be sold into commercial mortgage backed securities, a sign of encouraging success this year for the CMBS market, Indest says. "We would say the credit environment is improving, we had interest in the Polaris loan from both life insurance companies and banks," she says. The company has more than 25 retail properties.