Simon Property Group, the nation's biggest mall owner, reported growth during the holiday season despite economic headwinds, showing the resiliency of its largely Class A retail property portfolio. But some of its tenants were stung by the impact of inflation and rising prices.

Indianapolis-based Simon, which owns 163 U.S. malls and outlet centers, is closely watched by Wall Street and the retail industry as a bellwether for the performance of brick-and-mortar retail.

"We had another excellent year, effectively navigating external headwinds that included rising interest rates, strong U.S. dollars, inflation and a somewhat softening economy," David Simon, president and CEO of Simon, said Monday during an earnings call.

Simon Property, a real estate investment trust, saw its total income, occupancy and rents rise in the quarter that ended Dec. 31. But several retailers that the company owns stakes in and helped rescue out of bankruptcy — such as fast-fashion chain Forever 21 and department store operator J.C. Penney — last year were "affected by inflationary pressures and consumers reducing their spend," according to CEO Simon. Earlier in the day, The Children's Place, North America's largest pure-play children’s specialty apparel retailer and a Simon Property tenant, announced preliminary fourth-quarter results and said it would suffer a $52 million to $57 million loss.

Higher interest rates and rising costs for goods and energy costs took their toll on retailers, according to Simon.

"The consumer was whipsawed, you know, and we felt the impact of it," he said.

Simon Property's CEO delivered his statements from the site of what represents a big part of the real estate owner's future: a mixed-use redevelopment of an existing mall. During the call, Simon said he was physically at Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, which recently completed a reinvention with the addition of a Nobu hotel and restaurant, a 340,000-square-foot office building, a Life Time fitness facility with one of its coworking sites, Life Time Work, in addition to a roster of retail occupants. That mall was once home to a Belk department store.

Retail landlords across the country such as Simon Property are adding new uses to their malls — like residential, fitness, healthcare, restaurants, hospitality, office and coworking — in order to drive foot traffic.

In the fourth quarter, Simon Property posted net revenue of $1.4 billion, up from $1.33 billion in the prior-year period. Occupancy at its U.S. properties was 94.9%, compared with 93.4% in the same year-ago period. And base minimum rent per square foot was $55.13, compared with $53.91 a year ago. Last year, Simon Property executed over 14 million square feet of leases and completed 14 redevelopment and densification projects, according to the company's CEO.

In what may be a good omen for brick-and-mortar this year, during January visits to America’s shopping malls paced ahead of where they were one year ago, according to a report Monday from foot-traffic analytics firm Placer.ai.

"Looking at visits year over year ... indoor malls, open-air lifestyle centers and outlet malls saw visits increases of 4.1%, 5.2% and 2.7% respectively," according to Placer.ai. "The wider trend of [year over year] uptick is significant because of the draw these formats have shown in the face of powerful economic challenges. They also indicate the lingering power of key shifts to tenancy strategies that many top-tier malls have deployed."

Regarding Forever 21's performance, Simon said Wall Street analysts, "It had a rough year last year, like I mentioned earlier. ... There are always retailers who do well, who slow down. ... Forever 21, you can blame it on us. ... We made some tactical mistakes."

A new CEO was brought in to Forever 21 to rectify those errors, according to Simon.

Simon Property was expecting both Forever 21 and J.C. Penney to have a year like 2021, but 2022 had unexpected challenges, according to Simon. But in the case of J.C. Penney, which Simon Property co-owns with fellow mall owner Brookfield Asset Management, the chain has been invigorated, Simon said.

During the earnings call, CEO Simon alluded to the woes of tenant Bed Bath & Beyond, which is expected to file for bankruptcy protection, and Party City, another tenant, which has already filed for Chapter 11.

"Obviously, you've got a couple of big names out there [with financial problems], but we have very little exposure to them, " Simon said. "The ones that we have, we'd like their box back so we could do something better with them."