Westcor payment on lease due soon

Westcor is facing a payment deadline of April 30 on its lease of state trust land for a long-planned shopping mall at Scottsdale Road and Loop 101.

The Valley mall developer has deferred lease payments to the Arizona State Land Department for the 112-acre mall site.

Westcor owes $2.2 million to the state agency by April 30 on lease payments for last year and this year, said Vanessa Hickman, deputy state land commissioner.

The company was under extension last year until Dec. 30 and was granted another four-month extension.

Westcor officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Late last year, Scott Nelson, Westcor vice president of development, said the company was evaluating whether to retain a 99-year lease for the site northwest of the freeway interchange in Phoenix.

Westcor was the winning bidder for the land lease in April 2008, agreeing to pay $32 million for use of the land and invest $67 million for improvements of utilities, roads and drainage.

Westcor made $1.26 million in lease payments through 2010 and deferred its January 2011 payment of $960,000 to Dec. 30. With interest, that payment is $1.1 million. This year's payment is $1.04 million.

Last spring, Macerich, the parent company of Westcor, announced a partnership with AWE Talisman Co., of Coral Gables, Fla., to build the Fashion Outlets of Scottsdale at Loop 101 and Scottsdale Road.

But two other Valley outlet shopping centers have been launched since then.

Tanger, of Greensboro, N.C., broke ground a month ago on an outlet mall at Glendale's Westgate City Center.

Plus, the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group on March 28 started building an outlet mall at the Gila River Indian Community's Wild Horse Pass development near Interstate 10.

The Arizona State Land Department has taken back a dozen parcels of land since the real-estate market cratered in 2008.

by Peter Corbett - Apr. 13, 2012 07:19 PM The Republic | azcentral.com



Westcor payment on lease due soon