Brookfield Property is developing a 700,000-square-foot regional mall in South Norwalk, Connecticut on West Avenue next to I-95. Construction is nearly complete and the property, called the SoNo Collection, is scheduled to open in October. The mall will be anchored by Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom’s, which together will occupy 300,000 square feet. In-line space will total about 400,000 square feet and will include Abercrombie and Fitch, Soma, J. Jill, Chico’s, Sephora and similar shops. More recent tenant signings include Apple, clothier H&M and Bath and Body Works. The in-line space is nearly fully leased. Total project costs are an estimated $460 million.
Brookfield obtained a $300-million loan from Credit Suisse secured by the mall that closed in August. The floating rate loan has a two-year term and three one-year extension options. The loan-to-value ratio is 52% based on a projected value of $575 million. The property was previously unencumbered.
The SoNo Collection broke ground in 2017 when it was owned by GGP. New York-based Brookfield acquired the Chicago REIT a year ago and put it in a unit called Brookfield Properties Retail. This unit owns more than 170 retail properties encompassing 146 million square feet in 43 states.