Spirit Realty Capital’s Jackson Hsieh Tapped as New Macerich Leader
By Nick Trombola February 5, 2024 12:43 pm
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Shopping center giant Macerich is bracing for a change next month as one of its longtime executives prepares for retirement.
Jackson Hsieh, former president and CEO of Spirit Realty Capital, will take over as president and chief executive of Macerich starting March 1. Hsieh will succeed Thomas O’Hern, who had served as CEO and director since 2019 and before that as chief financial officer since the company’s formation in 1993. O’Hern will stay on as an adviser through June 30.
In his previous role, Hsieh oversaw the merger of Spirit with Realty Income Corporation via an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $9.3 billion. Hsieh also has several decades of experience at investment banking firms including Morgan Stanley and UBS.
“[Hsieh’s] decades of real estate experience, both as a REIT CEO and in investment banking, and his proven strategic vision coupled with an ability to lead an organization in a collaborative, culture-driven manner make him the right person to lead the company going forward and create long-term shareholder value,” O’Hern said in a statement.
“I am excited to be joining Macerich at this time in the robust retail leasing environment,” Hsieh added.
In addition to O’Hern, Macerich President Edward Coppola is also set to retire from the company. Coppola is a founding partner of the original Macerich Group and had led significant acquisitions during his tenure, such as Westcor in 2002 and Wilmorite in 2005.
Macerich owns some 46 million square feet of real estate space across the U.S. In January, the shopping center giant and its partner, Hudson Pacific Properties, sold the planned Google office project on Los Angeles’ Westside for $700 million. Buyer UCLA plans to transform the properties into a state-of-the-art, 687,000-square-foot research campus.
Nick Trombola can be reached at NTrombola@commercialobserver.com.
