Federated Department Stores Inc. will sell its Macy’s Department Store in Tucson Mall to the mall’s owner, General Growth Properties, the companies said Tuesday.
The 138,000-square-foot space is among nine stores in six states being purchased by General Growth from Federated, which continues to rid itself of duplicate stores gained in last year’s acquisition of May Department Stores.
Federated will continue operating the Macy’s store at Tucson Mall, but it will move the Macy’s operation into its old Robinsons-May store sometime before Christmas.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Federated announced earlier that it would sell 80 duplicate stores nationwide. The Cincinnati-based retailer has buyers for 55 of the 80 stores.
Proceeds from the sale will be included in the $400 million to $500 million of after-tax proceeds expected from the sale of duplicate stores nationwide.
John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth Properties, called the department store spaces “prime real estate” that could be used for other department stores or transformed into a collection of retail shops and restaurants.
“Retailers view Tucson as a viable place to do business,” said Jill Harlow, group marketing manager at Tucson Mall. “In that respect, there is a lot of interest.”
Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, operates more than 850 department stores under various names, including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Famous-Barr, Foley’s, Marshall Field’s and Robinsons-May.
Chicago-based General Growth Properties is the second largest U.S.-based, publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust. The company has an ownership interest in or management responsibility for more than 200 shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in planned community developments and commercial office buildings. General Growth also owns Park Place in Tucson.