Mall buys vacated JCPenney store

FORT COLLINS – General Growth Properties Inc. (NYSE:GGP), owner of Foothills Mall in Fort Collins, has purchased the space vacated by the JCPenney store in late September and is negotiating with potential new tenants.

Cynthia Eichler, mall manager, said the deal to buy the 62,500-square-foot space was finalized Nov. 10. JCPenney moved out of the mall and into a building formerly occupied by Shopko at 135 Bockman Drive off South College Avenue.

Eichler said she could not comment on the purchase price for the space. She said discussions are under way with possible new tenants for the space but added those discussions “are not far enough along to discuss in public.”

“But (the space purchase) will make those conversations go more quickly,” she said. “It puts those conversations at a different level.”

Eichler said Chicago-based General Growth is also negotiating with the owners of the former Mervyn’s department store space, which has been vacant since January. “We are in the running,” she said. “There are other companies looking at it.”

Eichler said she could not predict what kind of tenant or tenants that might ultimately move into the former JCPenney space. “While we’re considering a like use, other uses will be considered.”

At noon, shares of General Growth were trading at $54.54, up $1.40 from the opening bell.

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