Southland Center in Taylor is for sale following a loan default.
The shopping mall on Eureka Road between Telegraph and Pardee clocks in at about 905,000 square feet and would become the most recent Southeast Michigan shopping mall to change hands in the last several years, following Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn (twice) and Oakland Mall in Troy.
Toronto-based owner Brookfield Properties took out a $78.75 million Barclays loan in 2012 and defaulted on it in July 2022; the loan’s maturity date was extended until July 2023. Brookfield and the special servicer, Atlanta-based Trimont LLC, are in the process of executing a loan forbearance agreement, according to commercial mortgage-backed securities loan commentary provided by New York City-based Trepp LLC, which tracks CMBS debt and trends.
Net operating income has increased the last several years at the mall, rising from $9.17 million in 2021 to $9.69 million in 2022. Last year, it was $9.74 million.
However, the mall has plunged in value, falling from $114.4 million at the time the loan was issued to just $64.9 million less than a year ago, not much more than the current loan balance of about $61.4 million.
JLL, the Chicago-based real estate brokerage with local offices in downtown Royal Oak, has the sale listing on the mall, according to loan commentary from June and July. A sale has been under consideration since at least late last year.
Emails were sent to spokespeople for Brookfield and JLL seeking comment Monday.
Brookfield acquired Southland in 2016 when it purchased New York City-based Rouse Properties Inc., the mall’s previous owner, in an all-cash deal reportedly valued at $2.8 billion.
Southland is one of four regional malls built by the J.L. Hudson’s department store company. Two of those malls are becoming or have become new uses: Northland Center in Southfield, primarily turning into mixed-use residential project, and Eastland Center in Harper Woods as industrial/warehouse space.
The city of Westland — which named itself after the mall, not the other way around — has been exploring what to do with its aging shopping center, Westland Center.
Northland, Southland, Eastland and Westland shopping centers were designed by Victor Gruen.
