American Eagle is suing the owner of a prominent downtown San Francisco shopping center for allegedly failing to address safety and security concerns, claiming that it has “let the mall deteriorate into disarray,” the Washington Post reported. The clothing retailer says Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, a commercial real estate firm, neglected the mall, including by failing to invest in security. A complaint filed Monday in the Superior Court of California for San Francisco County accuses the company of “allowing the mall to become a lightning rod for, in Westfield’s words, ‘rampant criminal activity.’” “American Eagle believed it was leasing a prime real retail space with a street-front entrance in Downtown San Francisco from one of the most established and reputable retail landlords in the country,” the complaint reads. But the neglect of Westfield San Francisco Centre left “American Eagle and its employees to suffer and respond to gun violence, physical assaults, burglaries, and robberies,” it adds. “This is not the store American Eagle paid millions of dollars for, or the store that Westfield promised.”
