Macerich sells 49 percent stakes in Twenty Ninth Street, FlatIron Crossing

Santa Monica, Calif.-based real estate investment trust The Macerich Co. (NYSE: MAC) announced Wednesday that it is selling 49 percent stakes in both the FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield and the Twenty Ninth Street shopping Center in Boulder.

The deals are part of larger arrangements in which Macerich is selling minority interests in eight shopping centers to global investment firms GIC Real Estate and Heitman LLC. The sales are expected to reap $2.3 billion in proceeds for Macerich, and place the combined value of the eight shopping centers at $5.4 billion. The deal includes placing $1.14 billion-worth of financing on Twenty Ninth Street and four of the other centers.

Macerich officials said they plan to use the proceeds to fund a newly announced $1.2 billion share repurchase program, to pay down debt and to pay a special dividend of $3.50 to $4.50 per share.

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Macerich owns 51 regional shopping centers around the country.

FlatIron Crossing, which opened in 2000 and includes more than 1.4 million square feet of retail space, is 92.5 percent leased and has sales of $545 per square foot, according to figures disclosed by Macerich Wednesday.

Twenty Ninth Street, the redevelopment of the former Crossroads Mall site that opened in 2006, includes 847,000 square feet of space. It is 99.3 percent leased, with average sales of $620 per square foot.

Heitman purchased the 49 percent stakes in both local shopping centers along with a 49 percent stake in Deptford Mall in New Jersey. GIC, meanwhile, bought 40 percent stakes in five shopping centers in Arizona, California, Texas and Oregon.