Macy's Has a Buyer for Half of Its Chicago Flagship Store

For more than a year, Macy's (NYSE: M) has been actively pursuing a deal to sell off excess space in its State Street flagship store in Chicago. The upper floors of the State Street building have been underutilized for a long time, and the strength of the real estate market makes this a good time to cash out.

This week, Macy's reached a tentative agreement to sell about 700,000 square feet of space in the Chicago flagship building, according to the Chicago Tribune. The prospective buyer is one of Macy's existing real estate partners, Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM). This deal will help Macy's accelerate its efforts to pay down debt.

Today, the Macy's flagship location in Chicago is one of the company's two largest stores, along with the Herald Square flagship in Manhattan. The State Street building has more than 2 million square feet of space -- about 10 times more than the average Macy's full-line store -- spread across a basement and 14 above-ground floors.

Source: Fool.com