Westfield Group will no longer operate San Francisco’s largest mall, the company has said.
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Westfield said that “for more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property. Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward.”
According to the Chronicle, Westfield stopped making payments on a $558 million loan as it and its partner, Brookfield Properties, began the process of offloading control of the mall.
Westfield blamed Nordstrom’s pullout from the mall, which was announced in May, on “unsafe conditions” and “lack of enforcement against rampant criminal activity.”
When Nordstrom announced its departure from the mall, Jamie Nordstrom, the company’s chief stores officer, stated “The dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.”
The departures come amid a growing exodus of retailers fleeing downtown San Francisco for various reasons as the city continues to struggle with retail theft, homelessness and a raging drug crisis.