Forest City Realty Trust Converts Ownership of 10 Retail Centers in Metro New York City

NEW YORK CITY — Forest City Realty Trust has completed the conversion of its common ownership interest to preferred interest in 10 specialty retail centers in the New York City metro area. The closing covers 10 of the 13 centers that are part of a joint venture between Forest City and Madison International Realty. Final closings on each of the individual centers are expected to occur as Forest City secures replacement assets into which to redeploy its preferred interest. The properties included in this round of closings are Shops at Gun Hill Road (Waring), Shops at Gun Hill Road (Ely) and Castle Center in the Bronx; Harlem Center in Manhattan; The Heights, Atlantic Terminal Mall and Atlantic Center in Brooklyn; Forest Avenue and Shops at Richmond Avenue in Staten Island; and Columbia Park Center in North Bergen, N.J. Closings on the conversions on the remaining two centers — Shops at Northern Boulevard and Queens Place — are expected by the end of the first quarter of 2018. The last center in the joint venture, a retail/entertainment complex on 42nd Street, is expected to transact at a later date upon resolution of the ground lease dispute with the city of New York.