2 New Businesses Opening At Recently Sold Annapolis Mall

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The new owners of the Westfield Annapolis mall confirmed their purchase Tuesday and announced two new experience-based businesses coming to the changing retail center.

The owners said DICK'S House of Sport and Dave & Buster's are both expected to open "in the winter of 2025."

DICK'S House of Sport is a new "experiential retail concept" from DICK'S Sporting Goods. It will sell products and have a climbing wall, multiple golf bays with TrackManTM simulators and HitTraxTM multi-sport cages.

Dave & Buster's is a full-service restaurant with a video arcade and a multi-screen sports bar.

The mall's new ownership did not disclose the sale price, but an earnings report from former owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said the total acquisition cost was $160 million. The sale closed on July 7 with a nonrefundable deposit of $10 million, the URW report said.

The incoming owners are headlined by Centennial, a Dallas-based retail real estate firm. The other major partner is Sandeep Mathrani, founder of Atlas Hill RE and former CEO of GGP and vice chairman of Brookfield Properties.

The Annapolis mall is "ideally located in Maryland’s famed Chesapeake Bay region, and with no other enclosed shopping centers within a 25-minute drive," Centennial Founder and CEO Steven Levin said in a Tuesday press release.

"Our short-term focus will be on enhancing the tenant mix through careful remerchandising efforts that will elevate the shopping experience," Levin said. "Long term, the property presents a unique opportunity to densify the site with complementary mixed uses that would benefit from retail as the integrated amenity."

The other ownership partners are:

• Waterfall Asset Management, which focuses on specialty finance opportunities within asset-backed securities, loans, and commercial mortgage REIT sectors
• Lincoln Property Company, one of the largest private real estate firms in the United States

The release said Centennial will manage the property, and Mathrani "will bring his deep expertise in repositioning prominent super-regional centers to the table."

"Annapolis Mall checks all of the boxes of a best-in-class retail asset with the center’s high sales volume and robust tenancy in an affluent, growing trade area; its limited competition; and the ability to add a residential community at the center of Annapolis," Mathrani said.

Related: Westfield Annapolis Mall Sold To Centennial: Report

The official sale announcement came nearly a month after news of the sale leaked. The Baltimore Banner first reported the pending transaction on Aug. 5.

Westfield Annapolis has reimagined itself in the past few years as anchor department stores shuttered.

The New Village Academy was prepared to open a free charter school in the mall, but the looming mall sale stalled lease negotiations. The school planned to have temporary classrooms in the former Nordstrom this fall until construction finished next year on its permanent home in the old Lord & Taylor.

Developers also already had plans to convert the current JCPenney into a Grocery Outlet, Hobby Lobby and Onelife Fitness.

Last month, Patch contacted URW and Centennial to ask how the sale affects these projects. Both declined to comment.

These redevelopments would continue the mall's trend of adapting.

Ball at the Mall opened pickleball courts in the former Nordstrom parking lot last summer. A library branch and an SPCA adoption center are other unique mall tenants.

Based in Paris, URW has looked to reduce its U.S. portfolio since April 2022 to trim its debt. The future of Westfield Annapolis has been uncertain ever since.

URW said it has secured €300 million of transactions this year. This will offload €500 million in debt when paired with deals currently being finalized.

"In addition, the Group remains actively engaged in discussions with potential buyers for €1.0 Bn in assets," URW said in its report. "The Group remains committed to further deleveraging through disposals in Europe, in line with its long-standing capital recycling policy, and the radical reduction of financial exposure in the US."