Who Buys a $100 Million Shopping Mall in the Middle of a Pandemic?

Even before the novel coronavirus, Walmart and Sears had shut down their stores at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Los Angeles. The shopping center’s movie theater and many of its other retailers have been closed in recent weeks, too, because of a stay-at-home order. Some may struggle to reopen.

That didn’t stop developer CIM Group from agreeing to buy the mall for more than $100 million last month. The allure, like so much in real estate, came down to location: The shopping center sits at a soon-to-open light rail station. One concept is to convert the former Sears and Walmart into offices, which could help drive more foot traffic to the remaining retail. “This is what we do well,” says Shaul Kuba, CIM’s co-founder. “We try to figure out difficult situations and how to make them better.”