Simon is broke? Broke companies don't typically have market valuations in the tens of billions of dollars; Simon's is currently about $37 Billion.
Valuation has nothing to do with whether they are broke, come on now. WeWork had a large valuation at one point too and still went broke.
No clue is Simon is broke but I'm sure they have their hands full with a lot right now with all the retailers they've been buying and others not paying rent. I doubt they're as flush with cash right now as they were two years ago.
I hate Simon with a passion, but this should get back off the ground this year and completed, I would think. Retail is going to bounce back, and people are looking for things to get out and do again. Outlet malls remain popular, for whatever reason, and I think we all know cheap okies would love this one. The one in OKC seems to do OK with minimal effort on their part.
Simon is broke, but this is a good opportunity to gain a property that actually generates revenue.
Why I think it is doubtful this is ever be completed is because Woodland Hills, I believe, has no debt on it and is one of their more profitable assets for this reason. Given there's almost zero competition in the Tulsa market now, outside of Utica - which is very small, they've not had to do massive capital expenditures to keep it competitive and at 'top of market'.
Most of the retail leases are structured in which, the more sales a store has the more money they pay in rent. It's a base rent of $0.00, plus a 0.0% of profits beyond a certain sales amount. It's a common practice in retail, especially in malls or high streets. So completing the outlet mall in Jenks will dilute their sales in Tulsa some... different product type but some people who might have bought a Michael Kors in Woodland might instead go buy a cheaper version at the outlets. Thus, they've diluted their potential revenue by having to operate both centers that have some overlap in customers (not all, but indeed some).
This is why they are so aggressive if another developer proposes a project. They bully tenants into not signing LOI's or leases with other small firms by leveraging their assets in the same or other markets (like if you sign a lease with that other developer in Tulsa we'll raise your base rent at Woodland twice next year kind of thing when your up for renewal - or if they're up in renewal in Dallas, they'll say we'll raise your rent on whatever lease is coming up if you don't play ball with us). It's not legal, but that's how most of the big mall operators do business anymore.
The most profitable option for Simon is to just walk away from that Jenks project now that they've killed all the other outlet proposals. They've put very little money into it so far and if Jenks sues them they can use a force majeure clause, due to COVID, to fight Jenks being able to claw back any of the infrastructure/TIF $ that's been spent. Hopefully Jenks has some good lawyers. I will be shocked if Simon decided to finish, they might, but it's a very slim chance that they do.
Another thing too - it is most certainly not that there isn't a market for the center, there is in Tulsa. Simon could careless about that, they're more concerned on the profit margins and completing the outlet center will not do that. The only chance I see it happening is if one of the previous developers comes back to the table again and that might force Simon into finishing it - just for them to preserve near complete market control of major regional centers in Tulsa.