General Growth Properties

CHICAGO - General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's second-largest mall operator, said Thursday it has $3 billion in debt remaining to be restructured and is considering "all indications of interest in the company." The company is also considering financing alternatives such as a public offering of equity. On Tuesday, the company, based in Chicago, said a bankruptcy court approved its plan to restructure $10.25 billion in debt. A plan for restructuring an additional $1.7 billion in debt is up for approval when some conditions are satisfied.

Baltimore's political and business leaders praised the New York-based real estate investment firm purchasing Harborplace as a potential savior for the Inner Harbor mall that has struggled to find the right mix of tenants to appeal to both tourists and locals. When it was announced last month that Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. was eyeing Harborplace, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake cited the company's high-profile properties - among them Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, Union Station in Washington and Rivercenter in San Antonio - as evidence that Ashkenazy will do right by Harborplace.

General Growth Properties will spend $1.8 million improving a seven-building office complex in Columbia's town center, its leasing agent said Thursday. The work on Columbia Corporate Center, across from the Mall in Columbia, will include renovations to suites, lobbies, common corridors and exteriors, said real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/RealEstateWonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Hurricane Sandy forced many area retailers to close Monday. Mall owner General Growth Properties shut down its Baltimore-area malls including Harborplace & The Gallery in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Towson Town Center in Towson, White Marsh Mall in White Marsh, Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore city and The Mall in Columbia. The Gallery remains ccessible for office tenants and guests of the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Management expects to know later today whether the malls will re-open on Tuesday.

Most of the long-struggling Owings Mills Mall will be torn down starting in 2013 to make room for a $65 million retail development, a move that Baltimore County officials hope will complement other burgeoning projects in an area targeted for growth. Mall owner General Growth Properties will work with Kimco Realty to redevelop and "de-mall" the 1-million-square-foot site — a move that mirrors the remaking of a shopping area in Hunt Valley. Developers said Thursday that they did not know how much of the mall they would demolish, but they expect anchor stores Macy's and JC Penney, as well as the AMC movie theater, to stay.

Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. said it amended its reorganization plan to increase its capital structure flexibility and improve investment terms, and remains on track to emerge from bankruptcy in October. The plan includes the reinstatement of $1.3 billion in bonds due in 2012 and 2013. The company, which in Maryland owns Harborplace, the Gallery, the Village of Cross Keys, Mondawmin Mall, Towson Town Center, Owings Mills Mall and White Marsh Mall, among others, said its emerging financing needs will be met partially by the reinstatement of the bonds and it does not expect to need a previously contemplated term loan.

The Mall in Columbia announced today that three new stores and one eatery will open this spring. The new tenants are The Children's Place, Lush, Brow Art 23 and Kabob Connection. The Children's Place will occupy roughly 4,500 square feet and will be located on the lower level near Lord & Taylor, while Lush, which makes organic beauty products, will take up 500 square feet next to Nordstrom on the lower level. Brow Art 23, which specializes in eyebrow threading, will also move in next to Lord & Taylor on the lower level and will occupy 1,600 square feet.

It may be a buyer's market, but Harborplace is going to be a tough sell. General Growth Properties, the financially strapped owner of the pavilions and The Gallery, says it is looking for investors or buyers for its waterfront markets here and in New York and Boston. Buying into these projects would require deep pockets since the commercial credit market is so pinched, but as critical to the future of Baltimore's prime waterfront venue, an investor would need vision. The heart of the Inner Harbor's revitalization 30 years ago, Harborplace remains a draw for tourists.

Simon Property Group Inc. said General Growth Properties Inc.'s plan for discussing Simon's proposed takeover of its bankrupt rival is "unreasonable" and asked the mall operator to reconsider its negotiating agreement. Simon, the largest U.S. shopping mall owner, said General Growth's draft of a nondisclosure agreement would prohibit Simon from talking with potential partners and wouldn't ensure the company receives the same information made available to competing bidders. Simon commented in a letter sent to General Growth Chief Executive Officer Adam Metz and distributed Friday in a news release.

CHICAGO - Two major investors in General Growth Properties are joining Brookfield Asset Management in offering to inject a combined $6.5 billion in fresh funds into the shopping mall operator to help it emerge from bankruptcy protection. General Growth said in a statement late Monday that its board is weighing an offer from Fairholme Capital Management, one of its largest unsecured creditors, and Pershing Square Capital Management, one of its largest shareholders, to invest $3.93 billion.

The Baltimore waterfront's iconic Harborplace is being sold to a New York real estate investment firm that has a reputation for purchasing distinctive retail centers, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake announced Tuesday. Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., which is collecting unique commercial landmarks like Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, Union Station in Washington and Rivercenter in San Antonio, purchased the Inner Harbor mall from General Growth Properties, Rawlings-Blake said in a statement.

When Harborplace first opened, it was hailed as one of the crown jewels of Baltimore's renaissance, and millions of visitors from across Maryland and around the country beat a path to its door. On a typical Saturday afternoon, the Light and Pratt street pavilions were beehives of activity, crowded with tourists who came to the Inner Harbor to eat, shop and gawk. More than 30 years later, Harborplace is still viable and still commercially successful, although not necessarily what it once was. There are any number of reasons for this, from competition elsewhere to the natural evolution of any attraction - but surely one big problem involved its owners and the lack of sufficient investment in the properties as ownership transferred from Rouse Co. to Chicago-based General Growth Properties, which subsequently landed in bankruptcy.

As a further sign of its investment in the revitalization of Columbia's town center, the Howard Hughes Corp. last week acquired the former Ryland Group headquarters, a nine-story office building next to The Mall in Columbia and close to land where Howard Hughes plans to build a $100 million apartment and retail complex. The property known as 70 Corporate Center opened in 1992 at Little Patuxtent and Broken Land parkways and is one of Columbia's largest office buildings, with nearly 170,000 square feet of space.

The longtime headquarters of the Rouse Co. will become home to the first Howard County branch of Whole Foods Market under a $20 million plan to renovate one of the community's most prominent landmarks and draw new residents downtown. The Howard Hughes Corp., the Dallas-based owner of the former Rouse headquarters, and Whole Foods Market of Austin, Texas, disclosed Wednesday that the upscale grocer has signed a lease for 45,000 square feet and plans to open a market by the fall of 2014 inside the largely vacant office building on Little Patuxent Parkway overlooking Lake Kittamaqundi.

General Growth Properties will spend $1.8 million improving a seven-building office complex in Columbia's town center, its leasing agent said Thursday. The work on Columbia Corporate Center, across from the Mall in Columbia, will include renovations to suites, lobbies, common corridors and exteriors, said real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. jhopkins@baltsun.com twitter.com/RealEstateWonk Text BUSINESS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun Business text alerts

Most of the long-struggling Owings Mills Mall will be torn down starting in 2013 to make room for a $65 million retail development, a move that Baltimore County officials hope will complement other burgeoning projects in an area targeted for growth. Mall owner General Growth Properties will work with Kimco Realty to redevelop and "de-mall" the 1-million-square-foot site — a move that mirrors the remaking of a shopping area in Hunt Valley. Developers said Thursday that they did not know how much of the mall they would demolish, but they expect anchor stores Macy's and JC Penney, as well as the AMC movie theater, to stay.

NEW YORK - General Growth Properties Inc. said Wednesday that lenders have agreed to restructure about $9.7 billion in debt under a plan that will allow the nation's second-largest shopping mall operator to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of the year. General Growth will pay off loans covering 92 regional shopping centers, offices, community centers and related subsidiaries. The plan will allow the real estate investment trust to retain ownership of the properties, including Harborplace & The Gallery in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The Columbia Association Board of Directors and General Growth Properties Inc. will meet April 3 on a variety of issues, including how the two organizations can best partner on the redevelopment of Columbia Town Center. The 7:30 p.m. meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Spear Center at GGP headquarters, 10275 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia. The discussion is expected to include GGP plans for the Columbia lakefront and Symphony Woods. GGP is scheduled to release its draft master plan of Town Center on April 28. Also on the agenda is a presentation by a GGP consultant on its regional storm water management plan.

The American Civil Liberties Union's Maryland chapter has asked managers of The Mall in Columbia to reverse one-year banning orders issued to two middle-aged homeless people who say they were ejected from the center last month for no apparent reason. Mall manager Katie Essing strongly denied the charge in a prepared statement that said the two people were banned for repeatedly violating mall rules, but she offered to meet with the two and discuss it. The letter, sent to both Essing and to Howard County police Chief William J. McMahon, said Patricia R. "Anne" Francis and Stephan Rabai were illegally banned from mall property in early February's bitter cold despite being patrons of food stores there and causing no disturbances.