Mall Owner Brookfield Property Partners Loses $2 Billion In 2020

Brookfield Property Partners, which operates numerous malls around the U.S., lost $2.06 billion last year, according to its newest financial report.

The company’s funds from operations (FFO) were $167 million for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 compared to $367 million the year prior, the report stated. FFO “was impacted over the course of the year by the effects of the global economic slowdown during much of 2020.”

“We were encouraged by a noticeable increase in private market activity in the fourth quarter, as we closed on several sizable asset sales, including One London Wall Place and our self-storage business, executed at premiums to both our current and pre-pandemic carrying values,” said CEO Brian Kingston in the report. “Our office operations have continued to perform well, and we were pleased by the resilience of our retail portfolio leading up to and through the holiday shopping season.”

Under a section in the report called “operating highlights,” the company said the business generated $138 million for the quarter compared to $185 million the previous year. For the year overall, the company earned $540 million compared to $662 million the previous year.

The report stated these numbers “were mainly impacted by reduced contributions from our parking and retail operations.”

The results in this quarter took a hit from a $51 million decrease in earnings from Brookfield’s hospitality investments, the report stated, which came from pandemic-related hotel closures and travel restrictions.

But that was offset partly by a $40 million increase in realized gains related to the sales of mature assets, the report stated.

PYMNTS reported that in September, Brookfield Properties Retail Group CEO Jared Chupaila told employees that there would be layoffs for 20 percent of the company’s workforce. He said the company decided to lay employees off at that time because it had waited to see the long-term effects of the pandemic.