Westfield Annapolis Mall up for sale as European owners flee U.S. after COVID depresses shopping mall business model

Westfield Annapolis Mall has been put up for sale by its European owners less than four years after it was acquired in a $16 billion deal. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE announced last month that the company is leaving the U.S. as consumers have abandoned shopping malls for online buying during the coronavirus pandemic. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on April 5. Westfield Annapolis was among dozens other shopping malls in the U.S. and Britain that were acquired in 2017 by Unibail, a Paris-based real estate company.