Macy’s Reveals Redevelopment Plans

Company has announced plans to redevelop 50 locations over the next two years.

Cincinnati based retailer announced it is forming a strategic alliance with Brookfield Asset Management, global alternative asset manager, to create increased value in its real estate portfolio.

Under the alliance, Brookfield will have an exclusive right for up to 24 months to create a “pre-development plan” for each of approximately 50 Macy’s real estate assets, with an option for Macy’s to continue to identify and add assets into the alliance. These assets primarily include owned and ground- leased stores and associated land, most of which are located in malls not owned by major mall owners. The breadth of opportunity within the portfolio ranges from the additional development on a portion of an asset (such as a Macy’s-controlled land parcel adjacent to a store) to the complete redevelopment of an existing store.

The Brookfield alliance is part of Macy’s previously-announced strategy to generate value from its real estate portfolio consistent with the company’s commitment to stores as a critical element of its long-term omnichannel strategy and its balance sheet objectives. The company is also exploring options for its flagship stores and closing approximately 100 full-line Macy’s stores due to underperformance or because the value of the real estate exceeds the value to Macy’s as a retail store location.

Now Macy’s operates about 880 stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Outlet, Macy’s Backstage and Bluemercury.