Mall of America in default and may become dead mall

The Mall of America is located in Bloomington, Minnesota, which is about 10 miles of downtown Minneapolis.  Minneapolis is rapidly becoming the next Detroit, after allowing looters and arsonists to destroy or severely damage more than 1500 buildings and then deciding to disband its police force. 

Minnesota’s Mall of America, one of the nation’s largest shopping centers, missed its third payment on its $1.4 billion mortgage, Bloomberg reported. That puts its owner, Triple Five Group, more than 60 days delinquent. The Canadian-based company failed to make its $7 million debt payment for June, the news service reported, citing unnamed sources. Don Ghermezian, a senior executive at the real estate development company, told CNBC in April that without federal assistance, “many malls will be headed into default.”

The 5.6-million-square-foot complex on nearly 100 acres features more than 520 shops, including Macy’s and Nordstrom and two hotels. In addition, the mall’s center has a 7-acre indoor theme park, Nickelodeon Universe, according to the company’s website. Since it opened in 1992, more than 1 billion people have visited the mall.
https://www.pymnts.com/debt/2020/mall-of-america-mortgage-payments-reportedly-overdue/

So, more than 1 billion people have visited the mall since it opened in 1992, but it is on track to becoming a dead mall.  If they have missed 3 mortgage payments, it is highly unlikely they will ever catch up. The Mall officially reopened with 150 of its 500 stores on June 10, but it is unlikely to ever return to the previous level. 

The city of Bloomington is likely being heavily affected because of the drop in sales tax payments and property taxes.

The owner is Triple Five Group, which also owns the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada (which is even bigger than the Mall of America) and the American Dream, which is another huge mall that partially opened in East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2019 and then promptly closed because of the pandemic and still hasn't reopened. Triple Five used its ownership stakes in the Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall as collateral to borrow $1.7 billion to build the American Dream.  Bonds sold to finance it are in junk bond territory.

The West Edmonton Mall reopened on May 13, and seems unaffected by the troubles afflicting the other two malls.