KBRA Upgrades Four Ratings and Affirms One Rating for Aventura Mall Trust 2018-AVM
8 Jun 2026 | New York
KBRA upgrades four ratings and affirms one rating for Aventura Mall Trust 2018-AVM, a CMBS SASB transaction. The rating actions follow a surveillance review of the transaction, which has exhibited improved performance since KBRA’s last review, primarily as a result of increased occupancy and increases in base rent. The rating actions also reflect the high quality of the collateral property as well as the sponsor’s experience.
The collateral for the transaction is a $750.0 million portion of a $1.75 billion non-recourse, first lien mortgage loan. The whole mortgage loan is represented by 24 pari passu A notes totaling $1.41 billion and four subordinate B notes totaling $343.3 million. The trust collateral includes four of the senior A notes totaling $406.7 million and the four subordinate B notes. The non-trust collateral consists of the remaining 20 pari passu A notes ($1.0 billion) which were securitized in 15 other transactions. The whole loan has an outstanding balance of $1.75 billion ($1,437 per sf) as of June 2026. The sponsors are Simon Property Group, LP (NYSE: SPG) and an individual affiliated with Turnberry Associates.
The mortgage loan is secured by the borrower’s fee simple interest in a 1.2 million-sf portion of Aventura Mall, a 2.8 million sf super-regional mall in Aventura, Florida, 18 miles north of the Miami CBD. The mall anchors are Macy’s (299,011 sf), Bloomingdales (251,831 sf), Macy’s Men & Home (225,000 sf), JCPenney (193,759 sf), and Nordstrom (167,000 sf). Only JCPenney serves as collateral for the loan. The other anchor tenants own their stores and lease the underlying land from an affiliate of the sponsors. The largest major tenants are national retailers such as Apple (HQCWT), Equinox Fitness, H&M, Zara and AMC Theatres.
The review utilized information obtained from the trustee and servicer to analyze the loan collateral. The analysis produced a KNCF of $162.1 million and a KBRA value of $2.4 billion ($1,972 per sf). The resulting in-trust KLTV is 72.9% compared to 80.1% at last review and 79.3% at securitization. KBRA maintains the KPO of Perform.
Details concerning the classes with rating changes are as follows:
- Class B to AA+ (sf) from AA- (sf)
- Class C to A+ (sf) from A- (sf)
- Class D to A- (sf) from BBB (sf)
- Class HRR to BBB+ (sf) from BBB- (sf)
To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.
Click here to view the report.