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A federal program designed to help people avoid eviction by paying their rent is running into an unexpected hurdle: Some landlords are turning down the payment, saying it comes with too many conditions, the Wall Street Journal reported. Congress has allocated about $50 billion for rental assistance to stave off a surge in evictions of tenants who lost jobs during the pandemic and missed rent payments. The federal support is also meant to help struggling landlords who have to make mortgage payments and have been overwhelmed by tenants falling behind on their rent. But thousands of building owners across the country are rejecting the government offer. They say the aid often has too many strings attached, such as preventing them from removing problematic tenants or compelling them to turn over sensitive financial information to government agencies or contractors. Their decision to forgo the cash could be costly for tens of thousands of renters who have been counting on that aid and who are vulnerable when the national ban on most evictions expires at the end of March, though the government could extend it again. The government has said the money should be used to help low-income tenants pay back part or all of their missed rent for up to 12 months.

Quintessential mall stores from Macy’s Inc. to Kay Jewelers to Gap Inc. are plotting out a post-Covid future — and traditional shopping centers won’t play as much of a role in it, Bloomberg News reported. Signet Jewelers Ltd., which owns chains such as Kay and Zales, said this past week it will expand in off-mall locations while continuing to pull back from the old-school gallerias where it has long had a major presence. The company also plans to add more kiosks in underserved markets. The move brings “an opportunity for a better economic model,” Joan Hilson, Signet’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. “The foot traffic for off-mall locations is better than what we’re seeing in the mall, certainly in this time. It’s really important, and we see that shift continuing.” Retailers are abandoning enclosed malls in growing numbers as the rise of online shopping transforms the industry — a trend that has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Almost a third of retail CFOs are planning to scale back their mall presence, according to a recent survey from consulting firm BDO USA. That’s throwing into question the future of hundreds of traditional malls, already financially struggling before the pandemic, as they grapple with expensive real estate and fewer tenants who want to be there. “Even the ones that haven’t been distressed are being hurt by the lack of foot traffic in the mall,” said David Berliner, head of the restructuring and turnaround practice at BDO. Some are talking about relocating stores from malls to nearby centers anchored by merchants like Walmart Inc. “because they’re going to get more foot traffic than they’re getting at the mall now.”

Neiman Marcus Holding Company Inc. launched a junk-bond sale on Thursday to refinance debt taken out to emerge from bankruptcy, marking the retailer’s return to the capital markets just six months after exiting from chapter 11, Bloomberg News. The troubled upscale department store is marketing a $1 billion five-year first lien bond. An investor call is scheduled for 11 a.m. New York time, with pricing expected on Friday. Proceeds will pay down the $125 million first-in, last-out facility and repay the roughly $748 million exit term loan and notes due 2025, resulting in a “modest” reduction in interest expenses, according to a report Thursday morning by S&P Global Ratings. Early pricing discussions are for a yield in the mid-to-high 7% range.

California-Nevada Methodist Homes filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday in a bid to avert disastrous consequences at its two retirement communities if the Oakland-based operator's unruly debt isn't reined in by the court, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Otherwise, Methodist Homes, which offers four levels of care up to skilled nursing and rehabilitation, says it will be "unable to operate its business during the chapter 11 case" and could result in "potentially leaving residents without food, medical supplies, proper medical care, and other services they require," according to documents filed in bankruptcy court. Years of financial troubles exacerbated by COVID-19 has strained the nonprofit senior living operator's finances to the point it where it can no longer make good on payments for a roughly $33 million tax-free bond it borrowed in 2015to refinance and to make more than $6 million in renovations to its two retirement homes. Methodist Homes stopped making payments on the bond, managed by Wilmington Trust, in February 2020. Methodist Homes, which was founded nearly 70 years ago and operates retirement communities in Oakland and Pacific Grove, is hoping the court will allow it to continue using its remaining assets to pay 223 employees and expenses related to operating the homes and their 220 residents until it is able to come up with a plan, likely finding a buyer. According to its bankruptcy documents, Methodist Homes owes between $50 million and $100 million.

The pandemic has hit few mall operators harder than Pyramid Management Group, a family-run owner of 14 U.S. shopping centers worth $4 billion before lockdowns hammered property values, Bloomberg News reported. Reappraisals — triggered last year amid the firm’s mounting mortgage delinquencies — slashed valuations on eight of Pyramid’s malls by 59% on average, leaving those centers worth less than their debt. Even with that burden, Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Congel is optimistic his company can withstand the crisis that has pushed other mall owners to file for bankruptcy. “I’m paying a $50 bounty for somebody who can come up with a more dramatic word than ‘apocalyptic,’” Congel said in an interview. “We don’t believe that to be the long-term forecast for the viability of the industry.” Malls were losing market share to e-commerce and discount retailers long before the pandemic. Now, as tenants withhold rents and shutter stores, only about half of the country’s 1,100 enclosed regional centers are likely to survive, according to Floris van Dijkum, an analyst with Compass Point Research & Trading. The delinquency rate on regional mall commercial mortgage-backed securities was 22.9% in February, the highest of any real estate category, according to Moody’s Investor Service. Even the strongest landlords — Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. — have talked about walking away from some of their shopping centers rather than throwing good money after bad.