JLL to lease and manage transition of Chesapeake Square Mall

JLL said Wednesday that it has been chosen to lease and manage Chesapeake Square, a 717,000-square-foot regional mall in Chesapeake that went into foreclosure and was taken over by a special servicer in April.

The mall, located at 4200 Portsmouth Blvd., had been losing tenants. Anchor tenant Sears left in 2015, and Macys said earlier this year that it would be closing as well.

JLL said it has plans to stabilize and to continue to lease the property as normal. Current tenant operations are not expected to be affected by the foreclosure.

According to Trepp LLC, a real estate analytics firm based in New York, the mall has an outstanding loan of $61.7 million, and the loan is currently real estate owned, or back in the hands of the lender.  The loan special servicer is CW Capital Asset Management. 

“We look forward to working with the special servicer to further strengthen Chesapeake Square, which includes two unmatched opportunities to become an anchor tenant,” said JLL Senior Vice President and Regional Manager Rick Vita. “The mall has a captive customer base in the fast-growing, Western Branch area and greatly benefits from the corporate presence of multiple Fortune 500 companies, major military institutions and shipyards.”

Vita, JLL Vice President Tom Dunn and Associate Christine Young will lead the assignment.

The mall, anchored by Target, J.C. Penney, Burlington Coat Factory and Cinemark, has a 90 national and specialty retailers, including Finish Line, Foot Locker, Gymboree, Men's Warehouse, New York & Company, Stride Rite, Victoria's Secret and Zales Jewelers.

JLL is the largest third-party retail property manager in the U.S. with more than 1,000 centers, totaling 125 million square feet, under management.