Palm Beach Outlets sold for undisclosed price
WEST PALM BEACH — The bustling Palm Beach Outlets has sold for an undisclosed sum, a deal that underscores the property’s dramatic turnaround from blighted mall to bustling shopping center.
Clarion Partners of New York and New England Development said Thursday night that they bought the 460,000-squarefoot mall from a group that included Eastern Real Estate, Lubert-Adler and New England Development. Clarion Partners takes over as majority owner.
Because New England Development will continue to manage the mall, shoppers will notice few changes, said Lauren Holden, senior vice president at Clarion Partners.
“It should be pretty seamless,” Holden said.
Palm Beach Outlets opened in February 2014. Among the dozens of tenants are Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, J.Crew, Ann Taylor Factory Store, Banana Republic Factory Store, Brooks Brothers, Kenneth Cole, Nike Factory Store, Tommy Hilfiger Company Store, Under Armour and Vera Bradley Outlet.
The deal includes just the outlet mall on the eastern portion of the property, not the 300,000-square-foot strip of stores along Interstate 95 that includes Whole Foods Market and Sports Authority.
No deed had been recorded as of Thursday night, and Clarion Partners and New England Development declined to disclose the price.
Clarion Partners was attracted by the mall’s 97 percent occupancy and its location in a large metro area, Holden said. While Sawgrass Mills is the rare outlet mall near a major population center, many outlet malls are in vacation areas and get few repeat shoppers, she said.
Clarion Partners says it manages $36 billion for 200 investors.
Demand for retail properties in Palm Beach County has begun to bounce back after the Great Recession. In the largest property sale ever recorded in Palm Beach County, The Mall at Wellington Green sold last year for $341.1 million.