Lenders seize minority stake in Mall of America

Lenders are taking minority stakes in Minnesota’s Mall of America, a massive shopping mall that was used as collateral for the American Dream Mall in New Jersey. Triple Five Worldwide, the developer of the American Dream project, has pledged 49 percent of its equity stakes in Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada as collateral for 5 billion dollar East Rutherford, New Jersey project. The news was reported by Bloomberg.

The American Dream mall was hit with money problems largely in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a complete halt to retail shopping and tourism for several months. Investors were seen as likely to take the step of acquiring minority stake in Mall of America and West Emdonton Mall as a turnaround time for American Dream didn’t seem like it was going to be anytime soon.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the administrator for the senior lenders on American Dream. Other lender includes CIM Group and Goldman Sachs.

As reported by Bloomberg, the move by lenders would not affect operations at the retail properties. Mall of America, American Dream, and West Edmonton are all open and following current COVID-19 guidelines.

With 2020 being considered the worst year in tourism history, with 1 billion fewer travelers than in 2019, malls who were reliant on tourist foot traffic took a major hit. American Dream, was considered a revolution in retail, all but floundered with only the hope of return to normalcy standing a chance at the mall ever turning a profit.