Target to Pick Up Four Federated Units

NEW YORK – Sixty-two down, 18 to go.

That’s the scorecard as of Thursday after Federated Department Stores said it had agreed to sell four department store locations to Target Corp. With the agreement, all but 18 of the “duplicate locations” resulting from Federated’s acquisition of May Department Stores Co. have buyers, Federated said.

Target has agreed to buy two Macy’s sites, a 175,000-square-foot store in the Westminster Mall in Westminster, Calif., and a 153,000-square-foot store in the Coronado Center in Albuquerque, N.M. Additionally, it will acquire the 179,000-square foot store Robinsons-May at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, Calif., and the 186,000-square-foot Strawbridge unit at the Springfield Mall in Springfield, Penn. 

Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed, but Federated had said previously that sales of the duplicate stores are expected to result in after-tax proceeds of between $400 million and $500 million, an average of $5 million to $6.25 million per store.

The sales are the first by Federated to a mass-market retailer and further cloud the line that had once clearly separated department stores, traditionally the anchors at regional malls, and discount operations, which had generally been restricted to off-mall real estate. The majority of sales thus far have been to real-estate interests—Westfield has picked up 13 locations, Macerich 11, and General Growth and Simon have garnered nine each. Among retailers, Boscovs is the clear leader with 10 units versus one for Gottschalks and the four just scooped up by Target.