TIAA-CREF, a retirement system settles to have APG, a Dutch pension adviser, as its partner in investing for the five biggest shopping malls in the United States costing at least $1.5 billion.
These two companies have decided to give its announcement regarding APG purchasing 49% interest in TIAA-CREF stakes last month, and this include the malls: Pearland Town Center in Pearland, Texas; Oak Park Mall in Kansas City, Kan.; CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville, Tenn.; West County Center in St. Louis; and Westfield Montgomery mall in Bethesda, Md.
A venture of 50% is under TIAA-CREF for each of the said malls, which they have bought last year. The 49% is the one APG would be paying for TIAA-CREF’s interests in those malls, summed up to approximately $375 million, though each side refused to reveal the precise total.
APG is looking forward to find other prospects where they could invest in these malls together with TIAA-CREF, though there was a time that store closings and curtailed consumer spending have brought mall vacancies to their peak point since 2000.
According to Steven Hanson, APG’s managing director of Americas real estate, “We take a long-term view. We feel that the best assets will continue to perform over cycles. These opportunities don’t come around many times to invest in these types of assets.”
Another statement by Scott Kempton, managing director of global real-estate-portfolio management for TIAA-CREF said, “There are additional monies on both sides to acquire additional malls as part of this strategy. It’s fungible, based upon the number of investment opportunities that might come forward.”
