More than five years after being foreclosed and taken back by its lender, the struggling, mostly vacant Mall at the Source in Westbury has finally found a buyer.

A Chinese firm that manufactures and distributes building supplies is in contract to purchase the 521,486-square-foot mall and the attached 208,000-square-foot former Fortunoff department store and plans to turn it a portion of the property into a product showroom, according to real estate industry sources. The acquiring company’s officials met with mall management in the mall’s empty food court Tuesday.

The purchase price has yet to be disclosed though sources peg it at about $90 million. The mall’s latest appraisal was $61 million in Sept. 2016, according to Trepp, the Manhattan-based analyst of commercial mortgage-backed securities loans. A closing on the sale is scheduled for next month.

RELATED: Mall tenants in limbo as Source sale looms

In foreclosure since Feb. 2012, the mall was appraised at $178 million in 1998 when its defaulted $124 million CMBS loan, now with special servicer LNR Partners, was originated. Trepp data reported by LNR now estimates an appraisal reduction of more than $99.32 million on the property. With interest and other fees, the mall’s loan exposure now eclipses $150 million. Despite the mall’s impending sale, it is projected that the bondholders of its CMBS loan will take a substantial loss approaching $90 million.

It’s been hard times recently for the mall that opened amid fanfare 20 years ago. After making a deal with Alan Fortunoff to build it and connect it to his family’s flagship department store, Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group opened the Mall at the Source in 1997, attracting more than 70 tenants, including Steve and Barry’s, Virgin Megastore, Circuit City and the Rainforest Café.

But when Fortunoff closed in 2009, two of the mall’s largest tenants – Circuit City and Steve and Barry’s – folded their tents as well, precipitating the exodus of smaller stores like Starbucks, Forever 21, Jones New York, Ann Taylor, Gap, Men’s Wearhouse and many more.

Brokers say the saturation of shopping centers and big-box stores within a short distance of the Source offers retailers an array of prime locations and helped hasten the downfall of the property. Roosevelt Field, one of the world’s largest shopping malls, is a short walk away, as is the 330,000-square-foot Gallery at Westbury Plaza.

Simon eventually sold its majority interest in the Source Mall and the property was later folded into a portfolio controlled by a European pension fund that defaulted on the mall’s $124 million mortgage in 2009. Since then, the note has been peddled by its special loan servicer to no avail. Brokers say several REITs have kicked the Source’s tires, but no deals had materialized until this latest buyer recently stepped forward.

Today, only a handful of tenants remain in the ghostly retail center on Old Country Road, including the Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s, Dave & Buster’s, Fortunoff Backyard Store and Fortunoff Fine Jewelry.

Litigation continues in two cases pending in Nassau Supreme Court to determine the validity of an option held to purchase the former Fortunoff store, according to the special servicer comments.

In Dec. 2014, the former Fortunoff store, which opened in 1964, was slated to be converted into a slots parlor by Nassau Off-Track Betting, but the agency pulled the plug on the plan a few months later after fierce community opposition.

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank currently manages the property.