Joint venture will own Leawood’s Town Center Plaza and Town Center Crossing

Some major retailing real estate in Leawood has completed a half-off sale — of sorts.

WP Glimcher recently sold 49 percent of its interest in Leawood’s Town Center Plaza at 119th Street and Roe Avenue and its across-the-street neighbor Town Center Crossing to O’Connor Mall Partners LP.

WP Glimcher made the agreement with O’Connor on the two local centers, as well as four malls in Arizona, Hawaii, Ohio and Tennessee. Under the new joint venture, WP Glimcher keeps a 51 percent interest in the two area shopping centers.

O’Connor will pay 49 percent of the malls’ combined value of about $1.625 billion, less the mortgages on the properties. O’Connor Mall Partners is an affiliate of New York’s O’Connor Capital Partners.

WP Glimcher, based in Columbus, Ohio, will continue to lease and manage the properties. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter.

“We expect this to be seamless for shoppers,” said Karen Bailey, spokeswoman for WP Glimcher. “We remain fully committed to the same level of service and the same commitment to bringing in great retailers to the combined properties.”

The company declined to comment on occupancy rates for the two centers.

WP Glimcher bought Town Center Plaza, on the northwest corner of 119th and Roe, in mid-2011.

A two-story, 17,000-square-foot freestanding Arhaus furniture store is now under construction in the center and is expected to open in May.

Restoration Hardware is constructing a three-story, 46,796-square-foot building to open in 2016. Other tenants include Macy’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Pottery Barn and Anthropologie.

Sunglass Hut moved and opened Friday in a new, slightly larger space on the south side next to Hanna Andersson. Gap is remodeling its space and will consolidate its Gap Kids/Baby Gap store there in May. Athleta is going through city planning for a new location on the 119th Street side.

Town Center Plaza recently lost Cache after the retailer filed for bankruptcy reorganization. Aeropostale also closed in January on the north side of the center, which has several dark spaces. Mall management said it was in negotiations to fill several of those spots.

In mid-2012, Glimcher bought the One Nineteen shopping center on the southeast corner of 119th and Roe. It later changed the name to Town Center Crossing to tie its two area centers together for marketing.

Town Center Crossings’ tenants include Trader Joe’s, the Apple Store and the metro’s only Crate and Barrel. Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is scheduled to open in April, another exclusive tenant for the center.

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Joint venture will own Leawood’s Town Center Plaza and Town Center Crossing."