The family behind Dallas’ NorthPark Center is close to sealing a $900 million refinancing that would restructure the mall’s debt and buy out its institutional partner, bringing full ownership back to the Nasher-Haemisegger clan for the first time in a decade.
A Fitch Ratings presale report shows the family lined up a two-year, floating-rate CMBS loan from Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, plus $300 million in mezzanine financing, Bisnow reported. Proceeds will wipe out $650 million of old debt and acquire J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s 60 percent equity stake in the mall, at 8687 North Central Expressway. The bank bought into the 1.9 million-square-foot property in 2014 through its Strategic Property Fund.
NorthPark — developed in 1965 by Raymond Nasher and now operated by his daughter Nancy Nasher and her husband David Haemisegger through NorthPark Management Company — is one of the most successful malls in the country. Cushman & Wakefield appraised it at $1.6 billion in August, pegging the debt package at a 55.5 percent loan-to-value ratio, or 63.5 percent when mezzanine loans are included. The mall generated $1.4 billion in sales last year, with anchors Dillard’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Eataly and AMC accounting for $499 million of that haul.
NorthPark is almost fully leased. Occupancy hit nearly 99 percent in June, and it hasn’t dipped below 93 percent in the past decade. Nearly 40 percent of tenants are exclusive to the mall within the Dallas market, helping drive repeat traffic despite a crowded luxury landscape. CBRE’s Elizabeth Herman Fulton said the property’s private ownership structure allows for an unusually curated tenant mix, keeping NorthPark “cool” while other regional malls have lost their luster.
The Nasher-Haemiseggers have invested more than $25 million into capital improvements, including a south exterior revamp in 2018 and roof and HVAC replacements last year. Only Galleria Dallas and Grapevine Mills boast similar occupancy levels in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro, according to Fitch.
Still, competition looms. Just south, along Knox Street and Henderson Avenue, two mixed-use projects are slated to deliver about 180,000 square feet of high-end retail and dining next year.
— Eric Weilbacher
