The Mall of America is no longer delinquent on its $1.4 billion mortgage.
The shopping center’s parent, Triple Five Group, has modified the terms of its mortgage and is now current on the loan, meaning all payments of principal and interest that were due have been paid.
“Facing these unprecedented economic times, we immediately began to work with our lending partners to address the cash flow issues created by this loss of revenue,” a Mall of America spokesperson said in a statement. “We are pleased to have been able to resolve the outstanding issues to the satisfaction of all parties involved, which included a modification of the loan terms.”
At the onset of the pandemic, state and local governments imposed restrictions on nonessential retailers, leading the largest shopping center in the United States — located in Bloomington, Minn., a suburb of the Twin Cities — to keep its doors closed to the public for months. Even though it reopened in June, Mall of America faced challenges stemming from some of its 500 retail tenants’ inability to pay rent or decision to skip out on lease obligations to preserve liquidity within their own businesses.
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In August, reports emerged that Triple Five, which also operates the American Dream retail and entertainment center in New Jersey, entered a cash management forbearance agreement with special servicer CWCapital Asset Management to avoid Mall of America’s foreclosure. A few weeks later, the mall confirmed that 211 workers across various departments were set to lose their jobs for good at the end of September, while an additional 178 people remained on furlough. (It employs roughly 1,000 people.)
A surge in new COVID-19 infections, however, is threatening the future of malls in the U.S. According to Johns Hopkins University researchers, more than 20.94 million people in the country have been sickened by the virus and at least 355,600 deaths have been recorded. Experts have also warned that January could be the worst month of the outbreak thus far as Americans defied the advice of health officials by traveling during the holiday season. (The Transportation Security Administration reported that U.S. airports screened the most passengers on Sunday since March.)
