J.C. Penney Selling Texas Headquarters to Decrease Debt

To help chip away at its debt, J.C. Penney is selling its Plano, Texas campus for $353 million. The retailer announced that it sold its headquarters and the 45 acres around it to Dreien Opportunity Partners, but will lease out 65 percent of the space for its home office. As of Oct. 29, 2016, the end of its most recently completed fiscal quarter, J.C. Penney had long-term debt of $4.5 billion.

Total Retail’s Take: This is the latest move by J.C. Penney to lower its debt. The retailer did lower debt from $5.15 billion to $4.5 billion over the course of its latest fiscal year, but it’s still an uphill battle. J.C. Penney is expected to report annual sales of just $13 billion for the fiscal year ending at the end of January. Cutting costs will have to offset declining sales in order for J.C. Penney to become profitable again.