Namdar Realty Group and Mason Asset Management Inc., both of Great Neck, N.Y., have a contract to buy the Regency Square Mall, confirmed Igal Namdar, president of the realty group.
The Daily Record learned that a joint venture between the two related companies would buy the Arlington regional mall, which has an occupancy rate of just 37.9 percent and has been for sale.
The mall has a 2013 taxable value of $29 million.
When asked if Namdar Realty and Mason Asset Management had a contract to buy the mall, Namdar said Monday: “That is correct.”
Namdar referred other questions to a representative of Mason Asset Management, who was not immediately available.
It would not be Namdar’s first purchase in Jacksonville. It bought the Jacksonville Regional Shopping Center at 3000 Dunn Ave. for $6.8 million last year. That 220,000-square-foot center is anchored by Winn-Dixie and JCPenney.
In its year-end financial report, General Growth Properties Inc. reported the occupancy drop last week to 37.9 percent, down from 43.8 percent at the end of the third quarter and 60.1 percent at the end of 2012.
General Growth continued to say that Regency Square has been “transferred to the special servicer,” which has been handling the property, without giving more details.
Namdar Realty Group is a privately held commercial real estate investment and management firm.
It says on its namdarrealtygroup.com that it owns more than 5 million square feet of commercial real estate in the United States and continues “to grow at an unprecedented pace.”
It says the company's portfolio includes a number of retail strip centers and medical and-or office buildings.
Its acquisition criteria outside of the New York metropolitan area includes shopping centers, medical and office buildings in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest with a minimum price of $1 million and a minimum 50 percent occupancy.
It’s “also interested in (more than willing to buy) performing and non-performing bank notes, properties in distress, REO’s (and) off-market deals.”
The Daily Record reported in June that a consultant for a distressed debt advisory firm met with city officials for exploratory talks on possible uses for the mall.
Rockwood Real Estate Advisors of New York has been retained to market Regency Square to qualified investors, according to an offering statement obtained by the Daily Record.
The offering says the 1.4 million-square-foot Regency Square, which opened in 1967, has "a number of distinct advantages," including "a proposed 225,000 square foot power center redevelopment, which will significantly increase retail traffic to many of the Property's existing retail tenants."
The anchor tenants are listed as Belk and JCPenney. Sears and the Dillard's clearance center are connected to the mall but are separately owned buildings.
Belk is at the center of the enclosed mall and customers use the store as a pass-through from the Penney-anchored wing on the east to the Sears-anchored wing on the west.
However, a new Belk is under construction 3 miles east at Atlantic and Kernan boulevards, raising questions about the future of the Belk at Regency.
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