J.C. Penney leases in Arizona to go up for auction
As it attempts to emerge from bankruptcy, department store J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is looking to sell some of its leases and a property in Arizona
Article originally posted here.
Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney — the 118-year-old department store company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May — is selling nearly 150 leases in a bankruptcy auction, including three in Arizona. The auction is set for Sept. 14 and 15.
The leased JCPenney locations listed for sale in Arizona include the stores at Christown Spectrum Mall in Phoenix, El Con Mall in Tucson and the Little Creek Center in Cottonwood.
The Christown location already was slated for closure and is listed as “vacant” on the Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM) website. Kimco owns and operates the central Phoenix mall. JCPenney will close its doors at Christown on Sept. 27.
The loss of JCPenney is another hit to the Christown Spectrum, which will have its Costco Wholesale Corp. (Nasdaq: COST) store closing later this year. Costco decided not to renew its lease for that location and is set to close sometime this fall. The mall will have more than 250,000 square feet of space being vacated by those two anchors.
Of all the JCPenney leases up for auction, the Christown lease is one of the more pricer ones in the country. At a gross rent price of $10.15 per square foot, only 10 other properties on the list have a higher rent, according to documents marketing the auctions.
Besides the leases up for auction, one Arizona property outright owned by J.C. Penney Co. is up for sale. The company’s store at the The Promenade at Casa Grande shopping center in Casa Grande, south of the Valley, is listed for sale, according to marketing documents. The 103,636-square-foot store was built in 2007. Besides JCPenney, the Promenade at Casa Grande is home to a number of other big boxes including Dillards, Kohl’s and Harkins Theatres.
Marketing materials say the sale of surplus stores “is being conducted as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The properties may be acquired as individual assets, as a subgroup of assets or as an entire portfolio. J.C. Penney continues to operate at each of the assets.” Cushman & Wakefield and B. Riley Real Estate are overseeing the sale of these properties and leases.
The J.C. Penney Co. bankruptcy has included a number of twists and turns. Most recently, the company asked on Aug. 5 for the deadline to be extended through the end of the week so potential buyers and lenders can iron out details.