Rouse Properties paid $45 million for the portion of Independence Mall that had served as collateral for a $110 million loan, according to a news site that publishes stories on commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

Commercial Real Estate Direct, a news source owned by Trepp, a firm that maintains a database of securitized mortgages, reported the sale price recently, saying that as a result of the transaction, the loan has been resolved. The $45 million price "betters the $42 million apprised value" placed on it late late last year, the story said.

Trepp first reported that the Independence Mall loan, backed by 493,432 square feet of the more than 1 million-square-foot mall, including the space occupied by J.C. Penney, was in default in September 2014. The mall's other anchor tenants, Belk, Sears and Dillard’s, own their buildings.

The loan was moved to a special servicer and foreclosure proceedings on the mall property continued for more than two years, with foreclosure sales postponed multiple times. A New Hanover County Superior Court judge on March 9 approved the sale to Rouse Properties. Rouse is owned by Brookfield Asset Management and also has two other malls in North Carolina -- Greenville Mall in Greenville and Valley Hills Mall in Hickory, according to Rouse's website.

A company spokesman for Rouse Properties Inc., a publicly traded (NYSE: RSE) real estate investment trust that owns and manages 35 regional malls and retail centers in 21 states, said the firm had no comment Monday about the purchase.