Sale of Uniontown Mall finalized
The ownership company of the Uniontown Mall announced Wednesday that it has sold its interests in the mall to a New York-based real estate investment firm.
Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), which has owned the mall since 2003, recently finalized the sale of the property to Namdar Realty Group for $23 million.
According to a press release issued by PREIT, Namdar separately acquired the land on which the mall sits from the property owners, listed in online Fayette County property records as the Ratner family of Greensburg and Boca Raton, Florida.
A Namdar representative confirmed the company’s purchase of the shopping center, but a company executive was not immediately available for further comment.
PREIT previously announced its intent to sell the mall in January as one of five properties in Pennsylvania it was seeking to divest in 2015, citing a desire to improve its portfolio and focus its resources elsewhere.
PREIT said the sale represents continued progress on the company’s commitment to strengthen its portfolio by investing in high-quality malls and divesting its “non-core” assets. Since beginning the initiative in 2012, PREIT has sold its interests in 18 properties for more than $470 million.
“Finalizing this transaction is another step in PREIT’s transformation,” said PREIT CEO Joseph Coradino in the press release.
“Our transformed platform, which we anticipate will generate sales exceeding $450 per square foot, is expected to provide earnings stability and meaningful organic growth.”
A phone call made Wednesday to PREIT seeking additional information regarding the sale was not returned.
Current tenant anchors at the mall, which is the 15th-largest in the region at 698,585 square feet, include Burlington Coat Factory, Bon-Ton, JCPenney, Sears and Teletech Customer Care. About 93 percent of the mall’s space is currently leased, according to an SEC filing made last week by PREIT.
The mall recorded sales of $282 per square foot for the quarter ending June 30, well below PREIT’s portfolio average of $418.
Records in the Fayette County tax assessment office, which do not reflect the recent transactions, show that the Ratner family owns the land on which the mall sits, as well as nine outlot properties around the mall that hold restaurants, a mattress store and a thrift store.
The mall property was last assessed at $29.9 million in 2013.
The Uniontown Mall opened in 1972 and underwent redevelopment in 1990.
PREIT acquired the mall in 2003 through a merger with Crown American Realty.
Namdar, a privately held commercial real estate investment and management firm based in Great Neck, New York, just outside of New York City, owns about 50 properties nationwide.
The company’s portfolio includes more than 15 million square feet of commercial real estate in retail strip centers and medical and office buildings.