Westfield appears to have struck a deal to sell its beleaguered, 1.6M SF mall in Wheaton, Maryland.

The potential deal comes as Westfield Wheaton, owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, is now valued at $136M, according to a new appraisal posted this month by CMBS tracking firm Morningstar Credit. That’s down 66% from its $402M appraisal when the mall was refinanced and its debt was securitized a decade ago.

The 1960s-era mall has been in special servicing since March, when its $235M mortgage matured and URW failed to pay it off. The loan was taken out in February 2015 to refinance the property. That was before Unibail-Rodamco purchased Westfield in 2018.

The Paris-based mall giant owned the property in a joint venture until February, when it bought out its partner’s 47% interest, according to its first-half financial disclosure. It now has 100% control of the asset and is in talks with the special servicer about the path forward for the mall, which is anchored by Target, JCPenney, Costco and Macy’s and was 97% leased as of March.

A “qualified buyer” has extended an offer to buy the loan and assume the debt, according to commentary from special servicer Greystone published this month in Morningstar’s database. Greystone and URW are in negotiations with the buyer, whose identity couldn’t be learned as of press time.

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