Connecticut’s Trumbull Mall goes on the market
One of Connecticut’s signature enclosed malls is once again up for grabs.
Nine months after Namdar Realty Group defaulted on its $152 million mortgage on the property — some 15 miles north of Bridgeport off the busy Merritt Parkway — has been listed for sale by Newmark.
For some years, the 1.1 million-sq.-ft. Trumbull Mall has lost key tenants that include Lord & Taylor, Seaquest Aquarium, Forever 21, and Ulta Beauty.
Last June, Centennial was engaged to manage the property, handling leasing, marketing, and accounting while in receivership. At that time, Paul Kurzawa, president of the Dallas-based regional mall-owner and third-party operator, commented that his company was “excited to have been selected to be the transitional steward of Trumbull mall as it enters an important new chapter and the search for its next owner.”
Newmark’s offering document describes Trumbull Mall as a dominant shopping center Connecticut’s high-income Fairfield County and as “a rare opportunity to acquire an institutional-scale regional mall in a high barrier-to-entry market.”
The offering details that Trumbull Mall is “positioned within a highly desirable trade area,” with nearly 456,000 residents and an average household income of $162,436 within a 10-mile radius.
Trumbull’s Planning & Zoning board has approved development of up to 200 age restricted (55+) residential units on the property with relaxed parking standards.
The Newmark offering adds that the municipality has put forth a “stated intent to actively market the mall-area vision,” and has expressed a “high degree of confidence to underwrite and execute change-of-use redevelopment, transforming optionality into near-term, realizable value.”
Newmark contends that with strong annual volumes at the mall continue to be turned in by brands that include Apple, Bath & Body Works, Finish Line, Hollister, Pandora, The Cheesecake Factory, and Victoria’s Secret.
Another key contributor to Trumbull Mall’s viability, noted Newmark, is the adjacency of The Residences on Main, a 260-unit luxury apartment community that will house a “walkable customer base” that will reinforce “the mall’s evolution into a mixed-use destination.”