Westfield giving downtown San Francisco mall back to lender

Westfield San Francisco Centre — the city's biggest shopping center — is headed back to its lender after the mall owners ceased making payments on a $558 million loan, the latest economic and symbolic blow for a downtown struggling to regain its footing after the pandemic.

The 1.2 million-square-foot mall near Union Square is owned jointly by the parent company of Westfield Corp., French conglomerate Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, and Brookfield Properties, which acquired its stake through its acquisition of Forest City.

“For more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property,” the company said in a statement. “Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward.”

Deutsche Bank originated the loan in 2016. Midland Loan Services is both the master service and the special servicer, an entity brought in when loans are at risk to help work out a plan between the lender and borrower. The lender will likely seek to sell the debt or the property secured by the loan, potentially opening the door for a new owner to get a major San Francisco site as a large discount.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/06/13/westfield-mall-brookfield-san-francisco.html