Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Corp. and Santa Monica, California-based shopping mall operator The Macerich Co. are forming a 50/50 joint venture that will purchase nine Sears stores located in Macerich malls for $150 million. The venture will then lease the stores back to Sears or to other retailers.
Sears has entered two other similar leaseback joint ventures during April 2015, including deals with General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group. According to Macerich, the stores have average in-line sales of $680 per square foot.