Latest news with #SwireProperties
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Swire sells majority stake in Brickell City Centre retail to Simon for $512M
Swire Properties cashed out of the retail and parking components of Brickell City Centre in a $512 million deal with Simon Property Group. Simon, an Indianapolis-based shopping center-focused real estate firm led by David Simon, bought Swire's majority 75 percent stake in the 500,000-square-foot open-air center anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Hong Kong-based Swire, led by Henry Bott, also sold Brickell City Centre's underground parking garages to Simon as part of the deal. Previously, Simon owned a 25 percent interest in the shopping center's ownership entity since 2015. The four-level retail component was completed a year later, a press release states. In addition to Saks, Brickell City Centre has 90 retail tenants including Apple, Coach, lululemon, Sephora and Zara. The center also features 15 dining and entertainment venues including Puttshack and a CMX movie theater. Profits from the sale, the entire $512 million, will be applied to Swire's funding and capital obligations for the firm's U.S. projects, the filings state. Those developments include the planned Brickell Key luxury condominium, called The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Miami, a Swire spokesperson said in a statement. The two-tower project has reached $1 billion in contract sales and has sold more than 50 percent of one of the planned buildings, the spokesperson added. Developed by Swire, Brickell City Centre is a 5.4 million-square-foot mixed use project. In 2020, Swire sold the development's two office towers for $163 million to Northwood Investors. A year later, funds tied to Trinity Fund Advisors and Certares Real Estate Management bought the 352-room East Hotel at Brickell City Centre from Swire. The joint venture paid $174 million for it. Brickell City Centre also includes Reach and Rise, a pair of 43-story condominiums. In May, Swire sold a nearby site where the firm scuttled a supertall office project. Miami-based Melo Group paid more than $200 million for the 2.8-acre property. Meanwhile, Simon has been expanding its ownership of big box spaces at regional malls that the firm owns in South Florida. This month, Simon paid $23 million for a shuttered Sears store at Town Center at Boca Raton in Palm Beach County, and dropped $15.6 million for a JCPenney ground lease at Dadeland Mall in Miami-Dade County's Kendall. This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story. Sign in to access your portfolio
Miami Herald
7 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Mall giant bets big on Brickell City Centre, spending half-billion on retail complex
Brickell City Centre's mall, home to the luxury stores and fine dining restaurants that have built upon the neighborhood's upscale identity, has been sold to a new owner. Swire Properties, the firm that developed Brickell City Centre, sold the mall and the parking garage under it to Simon Property Group, a company known for investing in retail complexes across the country. Business publications said that Simon paid upward of $500 million, with Bloomberg reporting a $512 million purchase price and Reuters citing a price tag of up to $548 million. For now, there's no indication that the sale will result in any major changes for shoppers. Since its completion in 2016, when rapper Pitbull cut the ribbon at Brickell City Centre's opening, the mixed-use complex has been a cornerstone of Brickell's rapid transformation. In total, the mall's four floors make up about 500,000 square feet of retail space rented out to over 90 businesses. The open-air shopping center is home to the likes of Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora, Apple and Lululemon, among other various other stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. Simon owns shopping malls across the country and previously owned a 25% stake in Brickell City Centre's retail side before acquiring the rest, along with the complex's parking garages. The shopping-focused real estate firm has recently been expanding in South Florida. Just this month, Simon bought a closed Sears outlet in Palm Beach County and a JCPenney inside Kendall's Dadeland Mall. While many have already declared the death of the American mall, Simon appears to be investing all the more heavily into retail complexes. In a statement concerning the Brickell City Centre sale Friday, the company said its properties 'provide community gathering places for millions of people every day and generate billions in annual sales.' Swire, a Hong Kong-based developer with a headquarters in Miami, has several other investments in the area, including two luxury towers under construction on Brickell Key. Swire indicated that proceeds from the mall's sale would go toward the financing of other development projects.
Reuters
13 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Miami's Brickell City Centre sold to Simon Property in up to $548.7 million deal
June 27 (Reuters) - U.S.-based shopping mall owner Simon Property Group (SPG.N), opens new tab has acquired the parking and retail segments of Miami's Brickell City Centre for up to $548.7 million from Swire Properties ( opens new tab, the Hong Kong-listed company said on Friday. Simon Property already owned a 25% stake in the retail component since 2025 and has now bought the remaining. Swire said in a statement proceeds from the deal would be used for the funding requirements of the group's U.S. arm and general working capital requirements. Brickell City Centre stretches across four floors and features more than 90 retail stores, anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. It forms part of a mixed-use development in Miami's financial district, which also includes office and residential towers as well as a hotel. Simon Property is a real estate investment trust engaged in the ownership of shopping malls, dining and entertainment sites.
The Star
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Hong Kong branch of Singaporean 1880 club in liquidation with HK$20 million debt
The Hong Kong branch of a Singapore-based private club that closed after less than a year in business is undergoing liquidation with debts of about HK$20 million (US$2.5 million), former employees have said. Financial difficulties forced 1880 Hong Kong, located at Two Taikoo Place in Quarry Bay, to shut its doors on Friday last week, leaving 100 employees without pay for two months and some members angered by sales made shortly before the closure. It also owed rent to its landlord, Swire Properties. Two former employees told the Post on Tuesday that the cash-strapped club had gone into liquidation, blaming the failure on the company's poor financial planning and governance. Both said that the landlord made a substantial capital investment in the fixed assets, while the club only had to take care of operations. One said that Swire's capital investment amounted to more than HK$170 million. The club, which opened on November 8 last year, occupied four floors offering event spaces, a gym with spa facilities, four restaurants, a cocktail bar and a sports bar. Each member had to pay a joining fee of about HK$24,000 and a monthly subscription fee of HK$1,300, or HK$14,000 for a full year, according to the founding member rates seen by the Post. 'Still, the company could not run the club properly because it did not understand how Hong Kong works and did no due diligence. It just assumed the city was going to be the same as Singapore,' one middle-ranking employee said. 'It was suffering from cash-flow problems from day one.' He said the senior management made a string of poor decisions, including hiring more than a dozen staff members for each of their five kitchens long before the restaurants opened and ordering tens of thousands of cake packaging materials for an eatery that did not sell cakes. 'But when an employee at a lower rank tried to speak up, they did not listen,' he said. 'November was the last month I received my salary on time.' The company had not managed to pay all of its staff on time since December last year, with the landlord returning a deposit at one point to help it pay wages, but priority was given to junior employees. He also said the club had struggled to pay its suppliers since February and had asked to settle the payments in instalments. But it failed to honour the arrangement, placing immense pressure on frontline staff, he added. 'In the end, we were only paying those whom we desperately needed to keep the club in business,' the middle-ranking employee said. In the first week of May, founder Marc Nicolson held a town hall meeting to reassure all staff that a 'very big investor' was coming to save the business, he said. Despite being in a dire financial situation, the club kept recruiting new members, with the last one joining in mid-May, just about two weeks before the closure. The same employee said the company's Singaporean leadership had sent in support before the opening in November, but they stopped in January this year. He said he believed the company still owed staff members about HK$4 million in unpaid wages and around HK$15 million to suppliers and its landlord. Another employee, who was transferred from Singapore to the Hong Kong club in August, said he was owed more than HK$100,000 in unpaid wages dating back to April, as well as payment in lieu of notice. Comparing the operation of the clubs in Singapore and Hong Kong, he said the one in the city state had a much smaller floor area but was exclusive to its 2,000 members. But the Hong Kong branch had a larger floor size and was partly open to the public, making it far less attractive to sign up as a member. He said that all the restaurants had failed to hit their targets, even after a downward adjustment, with the amount being made by the food outlets 'definitely below HK$1 million monthly'. He also said the company did not pay suppliers for months, and they had only accepted cash on delivery since March. 'I just pray they find the money to pay the staff because they really believed in the company, even when wages were delayed for weeks and came to work until the last day. Some of us even took a loan to come to work,' he said. 'They could have been honest about it and told us the truth in the last two, three months ... it's really unethical for them to do this.' He said that returning to Singapore was difficult because it would mean breaking his lease and losing his deposit. The head office would not cover his loss either because he had signed a new contract with the Hong Kong branch, he added. The group previously announced plans to expand to Bali, with the construction of a resort largely completed before the project was shut down late last year. A spokeswoman for Swire said the landlord was unable to disclose any financial details related to specific tenants. Hong Kong's Labour Department and the Customs and Excise Department said they had received complaints and were following up on the matter. The Consumer Council said it had yet to receive any complaints related to the club. The Post has reached out to the club and its founder for comment.
South China Morning Post
05-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
1880 Hong Kong members offered alternative club, but ‘not what we signed up for'
Members of 1880 Hong Kong, a Singapore-based private club that recently shut down after only seven months in operation, have been offered a luxury lifeline by landlord Swire Properties. Advertisement The club told members on Thursday that they would be able to have joining fees waived for The Refinery, a club in Swire's Taikoo Place that is operated by The Peninsula, and a food and drink credit would be provided. But the announcement did not appear to have pacified members, with some preferring a refund of their original joining and subscription fees. Some said they no longer trusted the company and had not given their consent to join the alternative club, which was 'not what we signed up for'. 1880 Hong Kong's email to members on Thursday did not mention whether they would have to pay subscription fees for access to the luxury Swire-owned club. A member at The Refinery told the Post that her joining fee in 2021 was HK$50,000 (US$6,370) and the monthly subscription was HK$1,800, after a tenant discount. Advertisement The email asked members to contact The Refinery directly to accept the offer of full membership.
