Walmart Stock Hits New All-Time Highs, Company Goes Shopping For ... Malls?

The life of shopping malls has transformed in recent years with big-box tenants going bankrupt and malls looking for new uses for their large real estate space, including new tenants, apartments and entertainment experiences like those from Netflix.

Walmart Inc WMT is now the owner of a shopping mall and the move will likely be closely followed by the real estate sector.

What Happened: For what is believed to be the first time in company history, Walmart is the owner of a shopping mall. The world's largest retailer paid $34 million to acquire the Monroeville Mall, located near Pittsburgh.

Walmart purchased the mall from CBL & Associates CBL recently and partnered with Cypress Equities to redevelop the property. Cypress has been used by Walmart previously to help with site selection on new retail locations.

"Walmart did purchase the Monroeville Mall and is very interested in being part of any future redevelopment of this site," Walmart said in a statement, as reported by Retail Dive. "Walmart is working with Cypress on mall operations and potential redevelopment of the site."

The retailer is staying quiet on what the redevelopment plans look like for the 1.2 million square foot mall. The mall occupies 186 acres and sits near several major highways.

The Monroeville Mall, which was built in 1969, was last renovated in 2003. CBL bought the mall for $231.2 million in 2004.

Covering two stories, the mall has over 130 stores, which currently include Macy's, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and a Cinemark movie theater.

CBL, who listed the property for sale in December, said the mall gets over 3.5 million annual visits.

Why It's Important: With Walmart or Cypress not providing details on what will happen to the mall, a lot could change in the coming months.

The biggest question mark is why Walmart bought the mall, which leads into the second biggest question of will Walmart add its own store or a Sam's Club to the tenants that make up Monroeville Mall.

The report said Walmart does not have a store in Monroeville and has eyed the location before. With the mall having prominent real estate by major highways, a Walmart as a mall anchor could make a lot of sense and help justify the purchase price.

Based on what happens with this mall redevelopment it will also be interesting to see if Walmart keeps ownership of the property and becomes landlord to the other retailers and if the company would utilize this model at other shopping malls across the country.

WMT Price Action: Walmart stock closed 1.68% up at $102.46 on Wednesday versus a 52-week trading range of $55.85 to $102.58. Walmart stock hit the new 52-week highs during Wednesday's intraday session and the stock is now up 82% over the last year.

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