Forest City and Madison International Enter Definitive Agreement for New York City Specialty Retail Portfolio

CLEVELAND, Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Forest City Realty Trust (NYSE: FCEA) and Madison International Realty today announced the signing of definitive agreements for Madison's acquisition of Forest City's 51 percent interest in a 2.1-million-square-foot, 12-asset, specialty retail portfolio located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Northern New Jersey, for a gross value of approximately $1.0 billion. Final closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

The transaction is in line with Forest City's strategy of focusing its portfolio on apartment, office and mixed-use assets in core urban markets. The company announced in August 2016 that it would explore strategic alternatives for its regional mall and New York specialty retail portfolios. Forest City and Madison have been joint venture partners in the specialty portfolio, in which Madison has a 49 percent ownership stake, since 2011.    

"Today's announcement is an important step in the ongoing execution of our strategic plan and is another example of delivering on our commitment to create value," said David J. LaRue, Forest City president and chief executive officer. "Madison International has been a great partner for the past six-plus years in these high-quality assets, and I salute the teams on both sides for bringing this large and complex transaction to fruition."

"This transaction fits well with our strategy of executing large-scale equity investments to create 'win/win' outcomes for our partners and investors," said Ronald Dickerman, president and founder of Madison.  "The retail centers in this portfolio are in densely populated, well-trafficked areas that offer significant opportunity for continued value creation. We are pleased to have assisted our partner, Forest City, in accomplishing this important milestone."

The 12 retail centers that are part of the transaction are Shops at Gun Hill Road (Waring), Shops at Gun Hill Road (Ely) and Castle Center in the Bronx, Harlem Center in Manhattan, Shops at Northern Boulevard and Queens Place in Queens, The Heights, Atlantic Terminal Mall and Atlantic Center in Brooklyn, Forest Avenue and Shops at Richmond Avenue in Staten Island, and Columbia Park Center in North Bergen, New Jersey.

About Forest City 
Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. is a NYSE-listed national real estate company with $8.2 billion in consolidated assets. The Company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate in key urban markets in the United States.  For more information, visit www.forestcity.net.

Safe Harbor Language 
Statements made in this news release that state the company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to various risks, uncertainties and other factors. Risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to carry out future transactions and strategic investments, as well as the acquisition related costs, unanticipated difficulties realizing expected benefits expected when entering into a transaction, the company's ability to qualify or to remain qualified as a REIT, its ability to satisfy REIT distribution requirements, the impact of issuing equity, debt or both, and selling assets to satisfy its future distributions required as a REIT or to fund capital expenditures, future growth and expansion initiatives, the impact of the amount and timing of any future distributions, the impact from complying with REIT qualification requirements limiting its flexibility or causing it to forego otherwise attractive opportunities beyond rental real estate operations, the impact of complying with the REIT requirements related to hedging, its lack of experience operating as a REIT, legislative, administrative, regulatory or other actions affecting REITs, including positions taken by the Internal Revenue Service, the possibility that the company's Board of Directors will unilaterally revoke its REIT election, the possibility that the anticipated benefits of qualifying as a REIT will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period, the impact of current lending and capital market conditions on its liquidity, its ability to finance or refinance projects or repay its debt, the impact of the slow economic recovery on the ownership, development and management of its commercial real estate portfolio, general real estate investment and development risks, litigation risks, vacancies in its properties, risks associated with developing and managing properties in partnership with others, competition, its ability to renew leases or re-lease spaces as leases expire, illiquidity of real estate investments, its ability to identify and transact on chosen strategic alternatives for a portion of its retail portfolio, bankruptcy or defaults of tenants, anchor store consolidations or closings, the impact of terrorist acts and other armed conflicts, its substantial debt leverage and the ability to obtain and service debt, the impact of restrictions imposed by the company's revolving credit facility, term loan and senior debt, exposure to hedging agreements, the level and volatility of interest rates, the continued availability of tax-exempt government financing, its ability to receive payment on the notes receivable issued by Onexim in connection with their purchase of our interests in the Barclays Center and the Nets, the impact of credit rating downgrades, effects of uninsured or underinsured losses, effects of a downgrade or failure of its insurance carriers, environmental liabilities, competing interests of its directors and executive officers, the ability to recruit and retain key personnel, risks associated with the sale of tax credits, downturns in the housing market, the ability to maintain effective internal controls, compliance with governmental regulations, increased legislative and regulatory scrutiny of the financial services industry, changes in federal, state or local tax laws and international trade agreements, volatility in the market price of its publicly traded securities, inflation risks, cybersecurity risks, cyber incidents, shareholder activism efforts, conflicts of interest, risks related to its organizational structure including operating through its Operating Partnership and its UPREIT structure, the uncertain outcome, impact, effects and results of the Board's review of operating, strategic, financial and structural alternatives, as well as other risks listed from time to time in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to, the company's annual and quarterly reports.

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SOURCE Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.