Harborplace & The Gallery, the shopping and entertainment development that was central to Baltimore's downtown renaissance, is for sale as its landlord faces pressure to raise cash to avoid bankruptcy.
The New York investment bank DTZ Rockwood posted materials on its Web site yesterday saying that it had been hired by Chicago-based General Growth Properties to sell its Festival Marketplace Portfolio, which includes the 28-year-old Baltimore development, Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York.
General Growth, which owns more than 200 shopping malls in 44 states, said last month that it was trying to sell properties as it faced nearly $3.1 billion in maturing debt next year. General Growth's woes stem in part from its $11.3 billion purchase of the Columbia-based Rouse Co. in 2004. General Growth, which owns several other local malls, is Columbia's master developer.
This marks the first time since General Growth's debt announcement last month that an area mall has been shopped publicly for sale. A General Growth spokesman confirmed that the company is looking for investment opportunities for Harborplace but did not provide specifics.
"Harborplace is among a group of properties for which General Growth is seeking partners, investors or buyers," spokesman David Keating said in an e-mail yesterday. "This is a part of our company's effort to reduce debt and improve our balance sheet."
But retail brokers and analysts said the difficult retail and credit environment could make it a challenge to sell the properties, despite its prime downtown waterfront location. The properties generated nearly $114 million in retail sales for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, according to DTZ Rockwood marketing materials. DTZ listed more that $102 million each in sales for South Street Seaport and Faneuil Hall.
A DTZ spokesman declined to comment yesterday. It is unclear whether the properties would be sold individually or as a group.
"In this climate, I think everything is hard," said Geoffrey Mackler, a principal with H&R Retail. "The fact is that most banks are closed for business. You can't get a loan [or] any loan you can get now is going to be short-term. And the bank requirements are very, very strict. I do believe it's a great piece of property if there are people out there with either huge funds ... or who can get financing."
