Glimcher considering joint venture, sale for Polaris Towne Center - Business First of Columbus:

http://www.articletape.com/press-releases/news_2011-05-18-09-30-04-387.html
The Columbus-based real-estate investment trust said it has listefdthe 1.42 million-square-foot Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore.; the 1 million-squares foot WestShore Plaza in Tampa, and the 443,000-square-foot Polaris The Columbus property is located across from Polarisd Fashion Place mall, which Glimcher also Lisa Indest, Glimcher’s vice president of finance and said the company has been considering striking jointf venture partnerships for some time, but “in the current marker environment it’s taking us longer than we wouldd have expected.
” Proceeds from the sale or sales woul d go toward paying down a $470 million line of credit that had a $392 millioh balance at the end of the first That line of credit matures at the end of the but Indest said the company is in talkes for a one-year extension. Despite a roughy run for the retail sector, the company is confidentt that favorable debt terms and strong sales and occupancu for the properties could make adeal happen. Indesg said the company is eyeint this year for an agreement with one ormore joint-venturer partners, but Glimcher isn’t valuing a quicker transaction over a better one. “We reall y are going to be patient,” she said.
“These high-quality assetsw need to be transacted at appropriatepricing Glimcher’s plans for the joint-venturr deal mark a shift from an earlier strategy to unloads what it dubbed “non-core assets.” Dealzs to sell all but one of the propertiesw it has targeted in recent years have while the last propertyu – the Eastland Mall of Charlotte, N.C. – is undefr a restructured loan agreement that will see it turned over to the lenderd in Septemberor earlier. Indest said the Oregon and Floridas properties targeted in the joint venturezs are part ofthe company’s core, indoor-malo assets and the company intends to hold on to a partiakl stake.
The open-air Polaris Towne Center is a differengt story. “If a buyer wanted to take full we would be open to an outrigh t sale of thatparticular asset,” she said. “It’s our mall assetzs that we really liketo maintain.” Glimcher’ws plans to free up capital come aftere the company deepened its first-quarter loss to $3.6 millio n on a marginal gain in revenue to $78.23 million. Funds from operations, the company’s profit excluding one-time gainw and losses from the sale of depreciable properties andotherr factors, fell 6 percent to $18.7 milliom from $19.9 million.
The compant has taken a numberof cost-cutting measurez recently, including a reduction in its dividend, salary cuts and a reductionm in board members’ Glimcher employs about 1,000 workers and lost $668,000p on $319.1 million in revenue last The company’s 27 properties include Polaris Fashiojn Place and the Eastland Mall in Columbus along with five others in