Fallen Timbers being sold to N.Y. company

The Shops at Fallen Timbers in Maumee, which is owned by mall developer GGP Inc., is in the process of being sold to a New York-based real estate investment and advisory firm.

Mall tenants said Tuesday that they had been notified by a mall official that the property was in the process of changing ownership this week and that in the near future it will be owned and managed by Mason Asset Management of Great Neck, N.Y.

The Shops at Fallen Timbers in Maumee had been listed for sale in 2014 for $30 million.

As of Tuesday, the privately held company already had added the Shops at Fallen Timbers to the list of properties that it owns and displays on its website.

But Kevin Berry, a senior vice president of investor & public relations at Chicago-based GGP, said the mall remains the property of GGP. He also indicated he was unfamiliar with Mason Asset Management.

A spokesman for the Lucas County Auditor’s Office confirmed that the property still is owned by GGP and the spokesman said that as of Tuesday the office had not been presented with any deed or request transferring ownership of the property to another party.

However, Mr. Berry added that GGP does not comment on ongoing transactions. If Fallen Timbers were to be sold, the company would not disclose a sale immediately, preferring instead to announce all transactions that occurred in the fourth quarter at the end of the quarter after Dec. 31.

According to its website, Mason Asset Management is a company that was formed in 2010 and has expertise in the acquisition, management, disposition, and leasing of commercial real estate properties throughout the United States.

It invests in “value-add properties” and provides transactional and advisory services to banks, financial institutions, and owners with a focus on the real estate restructuring industry. It lists a portfolio of 88 properties, mainly malls and shopping centers, seven of which are over 1 million square feet.

In several instances, Mason Asset Management has bought struggling malls, including one from GGP in 2014, which the New York firm then upgraded in order to revive the property.

Fallen Timbers previously was listed for sale in 2014 at a price tag of $30 million, according to industry newsletter Commercial Real Estate Direct.

More recently, GGP has been in the process of dealing with an unsolicited bid by Brookfield Property Partners LP, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate firms, to buy the Chicago mall developer. Brookfield last month offered $14.8 billion to buy a 66 percent stake in GGP. Brookfield already owns 34 percent of GGP.

Two days ago GGP rejected Brookfield’s bid but shortly afterwards the CEO of Brookfield, Bruce Flatt, said he expects the bid ultimately will be successful.

Fallen Timbers, an open-air “lifestyle center” with two anchor department stores and a theater, has about 1 million square feet. Located on a 108-acre site just west of the U.S. 23/​I-475 interchange and near the Fallen Timbers battlefield for which it was named, the mall opened in 2007 and now has 59 tenants.

Contact Jon Chavez at jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.