Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Sells LA-Area Mall for $199M

Westfield Valencia Town Center. Image courtesy of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has completed the $199 million sale of Westfield Valencia Town Center, a 1 million-square-foot shopping mall in Santa Clarita, Calif. Centennial Real Estate purchased the property for $4 million in excess of the property’s existing $195 million debt. URW had defaulted on the loan in January.

Following the change of hands, the property has been rebranded as Valencia Town Center. Carl Tash, Centennial’s CIO & senior executive vice president, said in prepared remarks the firm is taking into consideration the asset’s redevelopment into a live-work-play destination that will combine retail with offices, apartments and entertainment spaces.

The sale is the latest transaction in URW’s ongoing two-year deleveraging strategy that includes office and residential properties. So far, the undertaking has generated $1.8 billion in proceeds; dispositions included Westfield Mission Valley and Westfield North County Fair, two shopping centers totaling 2.7 million square feet.

A shopping mall with a long history

Valencia Town Center came online in 1992, developed by the former JMB Realty’s retail-focused arm, Urban Shopping Centers. Eight years later, the firm was bought by Rodamco North America, which merged with the Westfield Group in a $2.2 billion deal that closed in 2002. That move saw Westfield acquiring a quarter of the ownership stake of the asset, which would later expand to half in 2005, after a $69.2 million buy. The mall consequently adopted the Westfield brand, in line with other shopping centers owned by the company.

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In 2019, the owner announced a $100 million expansion with a Costco and additional cinema space to take shape at the site of a now-demolished Sears. That project was canceled two years later.

Presently, the 60-acre mall is home to some 140 retailers. Macy’s, alongside JCPenney, H&M, Forever 21, Regal Cinemas and Gold’s Gym, anchor the property. The Patios, a landscaped outdoor section that combines experiential stores with outdoor dining options is one of its most-trafficked offerings. The asset was 87 percent leased at the time of sale.

Located at 24201 Valencia Blvd., the shopping mall is adjacent to Valencia Town Center Drive, a mixed-use development that also includes a 57,000-square-foot medical facility, 551 luxury apartments and a 244-key Hyatt hotel. Downtown Los Angeles is 34 miles southeast.