Glimcher Pays $170M for Puente Hills Mall

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA-Glimcher Realty Trust of Columbus, OH has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the 1.2-million-sf Puente Hills Mall from tenant-in-common specialist Passco Cos. LLC of Irvine for $170.1 million. The deal is expected to close in late December.Glimcher is paying $81 million in cash and assuming $89 million of non-recourse mortgage debt with a fixed interest rate of 5.2% for the property. Passco had owned the mall since 2003, when it bought it for $148 million in one of the largest tenant-in-common deals ever executed.The Puente Hills property had been on the market since the first quarter of this year, with Faris Lee Investments of Irvine as the listing agent. The sale to Glimcher was brokered by David Lee and Rich Walter of Faris Lee, which also brokered the deal when Passco bought the property from San Francisco-based Krausz Cos. in May 2003.The Puente Hills Mall, situated near the 60 Freeway on the corner of Colima Road and Azusa Avenue, is a two-story enclosed regional center anchored by Sears, Robinsons-May and an AMC 20-screen movie theater. It was built between 1974 and 1975 and is more than 93% occupied with tenants that include Burlington Coat Factory, CompUSA, Circuit City, Ross, Linens 'n Things, 24-Hour Fitness and Borders Books & Music.The mall is the first Southern California acquisition for Glimcher, which says it is considering partnering with an institutional investor on the Puente Hills acquisition. The REIT plans for a $10-million interior renovation that will include new flooring, updated lighting, refurbished and expanded food court, children's soft play area and new vertical transportation.