CLEVELAND, Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Forest
City Realty Trust (NYSE: FCEA) and Madison International Realty
today announced the signing of definitive agreements for
Madison's acquisition of Forest
City's 51 percent interest in a 2.1-million-square-foot, 12-asset,
specialty retail portfolio located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten
Island and Northern New
Jersey, for a gross value of approximately $1.0 billion. Final closing is expected in the
fourth quarter of 2017.
The transaction is in line with Forest City's strategy of
focusing its portfolio on apartment, office and mixed-use assets in
core urban markets. The company announced in August 2016 that it would explore strategic
alternatives for its regional mall and New York specialty retail portfolios. Forest
City and Madison have been joint
venture partners in the specialty portfolio, in which Madison has a 49 percent ownership stake,
since 2011.
"Today's announcement is an important step in the ongoing
execution of our strategic plan and is another example of
delivering on our commitment to create value," said David J. LaRue, Forest City president and chief
executive officer. "Madison International has been a great partner
for the past six-plus years in these high-quality assets, and I
salute the teams on both sides for bringing this large and complex
transaction to fruition."
"This transaction fits well with our strategy of executing
large-scale equity investments to create 'win/win' outcomes for our
partners and investors," said Ronald
Dickerman, president and founder of Madison. "The retail centers in this
portfolio are in densely populated, well-trafficked areas that
offer significant opportunity for continued value creation. We are
pleased to have assisted our partner, Forest City, in accomplishing
this important milestone."
The 12 retail centers that are part of the transaction are Shops
at Gun Hill Road (Waring), Shops at Gun Hill Road (Ely) and Castle
Center in the Bronx, Harlem Center
in Manhattan, Shops at Northern
Boulevard and Queens Place in Queens, The Heights, Atlantic Terminal Mall
and Atlantic Center in Brooklyn,
Forest Avenue and Shops at Richmond Avenue in Staten Island, and Columbia Park Center in
North Bergen, New Jersey.
About Forest City
Forest City Realty Trust,
Inc. is a NYSE-listed national real estate company with
$8.2 billion in consolidated assets.
The Company is principally engaged in the ownership, development,
management and acquisition of commercial, residential and mixed-use
real estate in key urban markets in the United States. For
more information, visit www.forestcity.net.
Safe Harbor Language
Statements made in this
news release that state the company's or management's intentions,
hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are
forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could
differ materially from those expressed or implied in such
forward-looking statements due to various risks, uncertainties and
other factors. Risks and factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to carry out
future transactions and strategic investments, as well as the
acquisition related costs, unanticipated difficulties realizing
expected benefits expected when entering into a transaction, the
company's ability to qualify or to remain qualified as a REIT, its
ability to satisfy REIT distribution requirements, the impact of
issuing equity, debt or both, and selling assets to satisfy its
future distributions required as a REIT or to fund capital
expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives, the impact
of the amount and timing of any future distributions, the impact
from complying with REIT qualification requirements limiting its
flexibility or causing it to forego otherwise attractive
opportunities beyond rental real estate operations, the impact of
complying with the REIT requirements related to hedging, its lack
of experience operating as a REIT, legislative, administrative,
regulatory or other actions affecting REITs, including positions
taken by the Internal Revenue Service, the possibility that the
company's Board of Directors will unilaterally revoke its REIT
election, the possibility that the anticipated benefits of
qualifying as a REIT will not be realized, or will not be realized
within the expected time period, the impact of current lending and
capital market conditions on its liquidity, its ability to finance
or refinance projects or repay its debt, the impact of the slow
economic recovery on the ownership, development and management of
its commercial real estate portfolio, general real estate
investment and development risks, litigation risks, vacancies in
its properties, risks associated with developing and managing
properties in partnership with others, competition, its ability to
renew leases or re-lease spaces as leases expire, illiquidity of
real estate investments, its ability to identify and transact on
chosen strategic alternatives for a portion of its retail
portfolio, bankruptcy or defaults of tenants, anchor store
consolidations or closings, the impact of terrorist acts and other
armed conflicts, its substantial debt leverage and the ability to
obtain and service debt, the impact of restrictions imposed by the
company's revolving credit facility, term loan and senior debt,
exposure to hedging agreements, the level and volatility of
interest rates, the continued availability of tax-exempt government
financing, its ability to receive payment on the notes receivable
issued by Onexim in connection with their purchase of our interests
in the Barclays Center and the Nets, the impact of credit rating
downgrades, effects of uninsured or underinsured losses, effects of
a downgrade or failure of its insurance carriers, environmental
liabilities, competing interests of its directors and executive
officers, the ability to recruit and retain key personnel, risks
associated with the sale of tax credits, downturns in the housing
market, the ability to maintain effective internal controls,
compliance with governmental regulations, increased legislative and
regulatory scrutiny of the financial services industry, changes in
federal, state or local tax laws and international trade
agreements, volatility in the market price of its publicly traded
securities, inflation risks, cybersecurity risks, cyber incidents,
shareholder activism efforts, conflicts of interest, risks related
to its organizational structure including operating through its
Operating Partnership and its UPREIT structure, the uncertain
outcome, impact, effects and results of the Board's review of
operating, strategic, financial and structural alternatives, as
well as other risks listed from time to time in the company's SEC
filings, including but not limited to, the company's annual and
quarterly reports.
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SOURCE Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.