JLL Tapped to Manage 13.4M-SF Toys ‘R’ Us Real Estate Portfolio
By Nicholas Rizzi October 3, 2018 6:03 pm
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The New York-based private real estate firm helping with the sale of approximately 275 former Toys “R” Us stores, Raider Hill Advisors, has hired JLL to manage the portfolio, the brokerage announced today.
Under the deal, JLL will handle retail and facility management, tenant coordination, construction, accounting and tax services for the nearly 13.4 million square feet of former Toy “R” Us and Babies “R” Us properties across 46 states, according to a press release. The portfolio includes 21 properties in New York, 38 in California and seven in Maryland, a spokesman for JLL said.
“We’re excited to take on this unique opportunity and partner with Raider Hill to manage their [Toys] portfolio,” Greg Maloney, the president and CEO of JLL Americas retail, said in a statement. “As the largest third-party retail property manager in the U.S., we are uniquely positioned to support Raider Hill Advisors on their operational ambitions, tenant relationship building program, and the identification of future value enhancing opportunities.”
Raider said in prepared remarks that it hired JLL because of the brokerage’s “depth of experience with portfolio transitions of this scale.”
Toys “R” Us Property Company I, the real estate arm of the toy chain, hired Raider Hill in July to assist in the selling of the portfolio, which included 287 retail properties, distribution centers and headquarters—a total of 14.5 million square feet. Three of those properties already sold and JLL was only hired to manage the retail portion.
The news comes a day after it was widely reported that the group of private equity funds that own a controlling stake in Toys “R” Us plans to revive the brand. Representatives for the funds filed a bankruptcy court document on Monday saying they canceled the liquidation sale of the toy giant’s intellectual property and proposed a reorganization that would launch a wholesale toy division under the brand, Bloomberg reported.
The 70-year-old Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy protection last year. In March, it closed its 800-plus stores across the country while Toys “R” Us Property Company I filed for Chapter 11, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
