Fairlane Town Center’s new owner to redevelop Dearborn mall with mixed-use destinations
The new owner of Fairlane Town Center says it will redevelop the Dearborn mall for mixed use-destinations after its previous owner defaulted on loans.
Centennial, a Dallas-based real estate investment firm focused on retail and mixed-use properties, on Wednesday said it has acquired the struggling 1.4 million-square-foot shopping center from Florida’s Starwood Capital Group. Details of the deal weren’t disclosed, but it was made in partnership with New York investment adviser Waterfall Asset Management and Dallas commercial real estate company Cawley Partners.
“When we purchase a shopping center, we don’t buy simply to operate it as is,” Whitney Livingston, president and chief operating officer of Centennial, said in a statement. “We buy to own valuable real estate that we can redevelop into dominant mixed-use destinations, and that is the plan we envision for Fairlane Town Center as well.”
Centennial added it will continue to operate the property as a local shopping center, but with a plan to reimagine it. Details weren’t provided in a news release announcing the purchase.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud in February expressed hope that the 1976-built mall could once again become the “heartbeat of our city” as a redevelopment project for affordable housing, public health, environmental sustainability, flood mitigation, parks and recreation. At the time, 85% of its 125 stores were occupied.
Fairlane Town Center has been in financial trouble for years, entering receivership in 2020 after its $161 million portfolio loan, including two other mall properties, was transferred to special servicing in March 2019.
This fall, the mall at 18900 Michigan Ave. was placed under new management, with Syracuse, New York-based Spinoso Real Estate Group LLC marketing the troubled facility for leasing.
Centennial has a history of repositioning retail properties across the country, according to a news release. In addition to property acquisition, it has a full-service advisory services platform that includes property management, development, marketing and leasing teams.
It owns 12 malls in nine states, according to its website, as well as nine open-air shopping centers. The portfolio covers 13.9 million square feet of retail real estate. The company on Wednesday also announced the acquisition of The Shops at Willow Bend in Texas.
Posted By: The Detroit News on May 4, 2022. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
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