VALLEY STREAM, NY-Macerich Co. said Friday it had finalized its $500-million acquisition of the Green Acres Mall here, closing the loop on a two-property deal first announced this past October. The Santa Monica, CA-based shopping center owner acquired Green Acres and Kings Plaza in Brooklyn from Vornado Realty Trust for a combined $1.25 billion.

In a statement, Macerich said Friday that the purchase of the 1.8-million-square-foot Green Acres was funded largely with a $325-million, eight-year loan with a fixed interest rate of 3.43%. The balance of the purchase price was funded from cash on hand, and from the company's line of credit. Macerich was represented in the acquisition by Tom Muller, Anita Hsu and Kim Moore at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

For its part, Vornado, headquartered in New York City, said Friday that the sale of Green Acres produced net proceeds of $185 million after repaying the existing loan and closing costs. The financial statement gain will be approximately $205 million and the tax gain, which has been deferred as part of a like-kind exchange, is about $304 million, according to Vornado.

One of Long Island's oldest malls, Green Acres was built in 1956 and enclosed in 1968. It was renovated and expanded under Vornado's ownership in 2007, and today is 94% occupied, with tenants' annual sales averaging more than $520 per square foot. Its primary selling area is southwestern Nassau County and southeastern Queens.

When the acquisitions of Green Acres and Kings Plaza were announced this past October, Macerich chairman and CEO Arthur Coppola said the purchases were “consistent with our investment strategy of acquiring assets in the major markets where we have our best assets and selling non-core assets and recycling capital.” Citing the Queens Center mall already in the Macerich portfolio, Coppola said Kings Plaza and Green Acres offered “substantial opportunities to replace lower sales producing tenants with higher productivity tenants, in a manner similar to what we accomplished after we acquired Queens Center.”