Simon Property Group ($SPG), the largest mall owner in the United States is suing Gap, Inc. ($GPS) over unpaid rent bills. According to the lawsuit and a report by Lauren Thomas at CNBC, Gap owes Simon more than $65.9 million in unpaid rent and other charges. Gap says it stopped paying rent in April as it closed hundreds of stores in order to reduce its monthly costs by about $115 million.
Gap runs its Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic stores throughout the country, paying rent to various REITs.
The map above shows Gap stores by retail landlord, described in the circumference of circles by the amount of square footage leased out at each location.
Simon isn't the only REIT to which Gap owes rent. It also runs dozens of stores under the auspice of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers ($SKT), General Growth Properties ($GGP), and Kimco Realty ($KIM), among others. In fact, it likely owes dozens of smaller REITs that could have a harder time surviving the loss of revenue than Simon.
The top-10 REITs to which Gap, Inc. likely owes rent are listed below.
|
REIT |
Gap Locations |
|---|---|
|
Simon Property Group |
363 |
|
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers |
72 |
|
General Growth Properties |
71 |
|
Kimco Realty |
39 |
|
Smartcentres |
18 |
|
Retail Properties of America |
16 |
|
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust |
16 |
|
Brixmor Property Group |
15 |
|
Shopping Center Group |
14 |
|
Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust |
13 |
Gap's nonpayment was part of its plan to survive the Coronavirus retail shutdown. According to Thomas, Gap warned others in an SEC filing that litigation could be incoming due to skipped payments.
“Although we believe that strong legal grounds exist to support our claim that we are not obligated to pay rent for the stores that have been closed ... there can be no assurance that such arguments will succeed,” the company said in the filing.
Meanwhile, Simon expects to be paid.
“The bottom line is, we do have a contract and we do expect to get paid,” he told analysts during a May 11 earnings conference call.
Gap's retail outlay remains strong, with stores throughout the country expected to re-open over the summer months.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.