URW sells Californian retail park for 537.5 million dollars

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) has sold Westfield Santa Anita for 537.5 million dollars to a real estate investor who operates retail assets in Southern California.

The sale was funded by the buyer through the combination of equity and new debt, reflecting a sub-six percent net initial yield and a 10.7 percent discount to the latest unaffected appraisal.

The 1.48 million square foot property is 96 percent leased and, according to URW’s press release, posts sales of 611 dollars per square foot.

The group said that its 2022 H1 sales reached 93 percent of 2019 levels.

Eastdil Secured, the firm which advised URW during the sale, added that the transaction was the largest for a mall in the US since 2018.

The sale comes as part of URW’s goal to streamline its regional asset portfolio, falling in line with its deleveraging programme that looks to radically reduce its financial exposure to the US.

In total, the group said it has made 0.9 billion dollars of disposals in the US since 2021, including the transfer of ownership of five other regional properties.

Similarly, in Europe, URW has made 3.2 billion dollars of its four billion dollar target of disposals.