Village of Cross Keys sold to retail and property investor

Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. is new owner, according to memo to tenants

The Village of Cross Keys, an upscale North Baltimore shopping center and one of the earliest projects of Columbia founder James W. Rouse, has been sold by General Growth Properties to Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., a retail and office property investor, according to a notice to tenants delivered Wednesday.

The center on Falls Road is now being managed by Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc., according to the memo to retailers from the center's management office. The open-air shopping center has about 30 shops and restaurants, including Williams-Sonoma, Talbots, Ruth Shaw and Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa.

Chicago-based General Growth, which owns most of the malls in the Baltimore area, has been selling off noncore assets to boost its balance sheet since emerging from bankruptcy in 2010.

An article last month in The New York Times said Ashkenazy is a major retail landlord on Madison Avenue.

A spokesman for General Growth did not respond to requests for comment.

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