A co-owner of Charleston Town Center mall plans to sell its stake to one of Australia's largest institutional investment firms.
The Charleston Urban Renewal Authority voted Wednesday to waive a 10-percent transaction fee, worth about $13 million, for Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises Inc. to sell its ownership stake in the mall to Queensland Investment Corp.
Jeff Linton, senior vice president of corporation communications at Forest City, confirmed Wednesday that QIC already is a part-owner of the mall.
When Forest City first completed the mall in 1983, it, along with Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co., each owned 50 percent of the building, excluding the four anchor tenants: J.C. Penney, Macy's, Sears and Montgomery Ward.
Montgomery Ward announced it was closing its stores, including it's Charleston location, in 2000. BrickStreet Insurance moved to former department store's location in 2007.
In 2013, Forest City entered into a partnership with QIC for nearly a dozen regional malls, including the Charleston Town Center.
Since then, Forest City's ownership in the mall has been 26 percent, while QIC owns 24 percent, Linton said.
Forest City is a managing member in the mall, though, and is responsible for leasing, operations, marketing, financing, development services and asset management of the properties.
"We're proposing for [QIC] to acquire our 26 percent interest in the mall," Linton said.
Charleston Mayor Danny Jones attended the meeting Wednesday, where representatives from Forest City detailed the company's plan for the mall's sale in closed session.
"We are going to waive that fee because, if we don't make that transaction happen, we believe there may be some jeopardy attached to the future of the mall," Jones said. "It's a fee neither side is willing to deal with, and we don't want to get in the way of keeping our mall in downtown Charleston."
Jones said he's been working for months, with the help of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to convince representatives from Macy's to stay at the mall, amid the impending closure of Sears.
"I've talked to the director of operations, I've talked to real estate people personally," Jones said. "They'll be there at least until the end of my term, and maybe more."
Jones' term ends in January 2019.
While Macy's will remain open for the foreseeable future, Linton said Forest City recently closed on its building there.
When asked if the company also has considered purchasing Sears or J.C. Penney, he said, "We would let the anchor tenants take the lead on anything like that."
Linton said that, regardless of any future transaction, the mall will continue to operate as normal, but Forest City no longer would be involved.
While Cafaro still owns 50 percent of the mall, Joe Bell, its communications director, declined to comment on whether the company is considering selling its stake in the property.
Forest City pays the board at least $300,000 per year on the parking structures surrounding the mall, which CURA owns. It also pays a small monthly fee to CURA for the use of restaurant patio space around the mall, and a certain amount of net revenue in excess of tenants' base rent.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.