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January 16, 2025

Major CT mall owner has $25.8M deal to buy struggling Buckland Hills mall in Manchester

Contributed The Shoppes at Buckland Hills in Manchester.
By Greg Bordonaro

A nearly four-year foreclosure case involving The Shoppes at Buckland Hills mall in Manchester could be coming to a close. 

Following a recent auction of the roughly 1.3-million-square-foot indoor shopping center, a buyer has agreed to purchase the mall for $25.8 million, federal court records show. 

The buyers are New York-based Namdar Realty Group, a well-known name in Connecticut, Mason Asset Management and CH Capital Group, court records show. 

Namdar Realty Group has been an aggressive acquirer of struggling malls in the state, including the Meriden Mall, Enfield Square Mall, Crystal Mall in Waterford and Trumbull Mall. 

A purchase-and-sales agreement for the Buckland Hills mall was submitted to the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, where the foreclosure case has been litigated, on Dec. 31. 

The Buckland Hills mall went into foreclosure on June 24, 2021, after its owners fell behind on payments to Wells Fargo Bank, the holder of its $130 million mortgage.

The foreclosure came amid the pandemic, which caused people to stay home and avoid crowds, exacerbating longer-term struggles faced by U.S. malls. Connecticut malls, including Buckland Hills, in March 2020 were forced to temporarily close under state-mandated pandemic restrictions, creating further challenges.

Buckland Hills has lost some key anchor tenants in recent years such as Sears, which had occupied about 145,800 square feet of space, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, which relocated in 2021 to a nearby retail plaza in Manchester.

The mall, which opened in 1990, has been in a court-ordered receivership, managed by Spinoso Real Estate Group.

Last year, real estate broker JLL was hired to auction off the 60.8-acre mall property.

According to the court records, 52 groups expressed interest in the mall and were provided confidential access to the auction offering memorandum. There were four rounds of bidding, and the $25.8 million bid was considered the highest and best offer.

The bid included an $8 million deposit and a cash close, court records show.

A joint motion to approve the sale is awaiting court action. 
 

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