Add The Mall of America to the list of people suing Eddie Lampert.
It seems the Bloomington, Minnesota-based mall wants its empty three-story space back from Lampert, who pays-ready for this?-$10 annual rent.
Mall of America owners are panicking because this situation can lead tenants to end their leases at the mall.
Malls need anchor stores to draw traffic to all the stores. When an anchor store leaves tenants can either renegotiate their lease-in other words, pay less money on the lease-or close shop and move out. To prevent this scenario, some mall owners may have a clause in tenants contracts to prevent them from leaving the mall, if an anchor store leaves.
Mall landlords have unlimited resources to fight Lampert/Transformco in court. Lampert is already fighting three current lawsuits from Sears Holdings, Stanley Black and Decker, and Sears Hometown and Outlet investors.
Lampert will fight this latest lawsuit with his army of corporate attorneys. His reputation among those in the retail world is most likely gone. His handling of Sears/Kmart stores has doomed him, permanently.
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/mall-of-america-wants-control-of-empty-sears-store