CalPERS agrees to buy out partner in Chicago-area mall

The $245.3 billion California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) has agreed to take full ownership of the Chicago area’s largest shopping center, Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Ill., in a deal valuing the shopping center at more than $1 billion. The deal is expected to close in first quarter 2013. The 2.2 million-square-foot shopping center was the largest mall in the United States when it opened in 1971. It is more than 97 percent leased.

CalPERS has agreed to pay more than $500 million for a 50 percent stake in the mall owned by the pension fund of Detroit-based General Motors Co., according to media reports. CalPERS already owns the other 50 percent.

Including all types of real estate in the Chicago area, only one property has topped $1 billion in value. The Gurnee Mills shopping mall in Gurnee, Ill., was valued at nearly $1.1 billion in March 2012 when Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) bought a stake in 26 U.S. shopping cen