Mall

Regional mall owner General Growth Properties Inc., which is struggling to avoid a bankruptcy filing, said Monday that it is continuing discussions with bondholders to extend a deadline to pay certain loans. The nation's second-largest shopping mall owner owns Harborplace & The Gallery and Towson Town Center, among other area shopping centers. It began this month to formally solicit holders of $2.25 billion of the so-called Rouse series of unsecured notes to give General Growth until the end of the year to refinance the debt.

Howard County police said yesterday that they arrested an Owings Mills man for breaking into cars at The Mall in Columbia and stealing two Global Positioning System devices. Tony Brown, 37, of the 900 block of Joshua Tree Court was taken into custody Thursday after a witness reported seeing a man break the window of a car in the mall parking lot. Since Nov. 30, police have received 23 reports of GPS units and other property being stolen from cars at the mall. Brown was charged with theft and destruction of property in the two cases reported Thursday, and police were continuing to investigate the other cases.

Molly Lazarek, a senior at River Hill High School, may find the perfect little black dress or spring's new trend - the little white dress - closer to home. "I always go to the [White House/Black Market] at Arundel Mills or Tysons Corner, which is 45 minutes away, so I like the fact that they are opening one at Columbia Mall." White House/Black Market opened Monday next to the Disney Store on the upper level and features black and white clothing that women "can wear to work but also to evening functions," according to mall marketing manager Asa Williams.

Protected from elements, visitors to The Mall in Columbia can enjoy a winter wonderland - without the cold. The mall's Santastic display uses MagicSnow, a nontoxic water-based product that looks like the real thing. It floats from the chimneys of the buildings in the mall display, is blasted at children dropping letters into Santa's mailbox and evaporates when it hits the ground. Adam Williams, a former electrician, came up with the idea of the fake flakes for a magic show.

I like to read retail signage. More accurately, I like to find mistakes in retail signage. This makes me one of those annoying people who hold up the line at a fast-food place because they feel compelled to let the cashier know that there really should be no apostrophe in the headline: "Try our spicy Southwestern nugget's." Does it seem a bit cruel, my joy in pointing out the grammatical blunders of others? Yes, but once I held a job writing fast-food tray liners, and I like to think I brought to that lowly position the same respect and reverence for language that I share with you weekly in this column.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Last month, shortly after a jury was seated in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought against the owner of a suburban shopping mall here, attorney Johnnie Cochran, who represented the family of the deceased, told me the case wouldn't go to the jury."

SLIP ON A banana peel, and that's supposed to be funny. Whether it's old-time slapstick comedy, a Donald Duck cartoon or "America's Funniest Home Videos," we all seem eager to guffaw at another's pratfall.Slip on an orange peel, and that's grounds for a million-dollar lawsuit. Nothing funny about it. Especially if the victim ends up with serious injuries.As you might know by now, a Baltimore woman is suing the Cranberry Mall and Baugher Enterprises produce stand there for negligence. Orange peel left on the mall floor caused her to fall and sustain permanent injuries, claims Bertha Hayden in the lawsuit.

Although a handful of Ellicott City residents raised some minor concerns yesterday about a proposed face lift of Chatham Mall on U.S. 40, many seemed to agree that a renovation is long overdue for one of the oldest shopping centers in Howard County."

Cranberry Mall, where more than 25 percent of the stores sit vacant, is losing another tenant -- CVS Pharmacy will close its store there within 30 days, mall and company officials said yesterday."

The developer of the $250 million Arundel Mills mall pulled out the stops yesterday for a glamorous groundbreaking gala at its construction site in Hanover, while a small group of opponents brandished anti-mall signs in the streets.Inside a large white party tent, Mills Corp. executives read the list of the first tenants to sign up for stores in the 1.4 million-square-foot mall and promised more tax revenue, jobs and shopping for the county. Outside, about 20 members of Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development warned of traffic congestion and irreversible environmental damage.

The long-planned revitalization of the area surrounding Oldtown Mall in East Baltimore inched forward Wednesday, as city officials approved funds to help relocate merchants and make way for mixed-use development. The Board of Estimates, the city's spending panel, approved more than $256,000 in moving expenses for seven small shops or businesses, among them a hair salon, a car wash and a tailor's shop, that occupy buildings the city has acquired. The city has been buying up property around the mall south of Monument Street at Orleans and Ensor streets as part of a deal to turn over a 5-acre parcel to a development group led by Continental Realty Corp.

They sit encased in glass or displayed on anigre wood shelves like precious goods. There's the $895 black patent leather clutch with LV monogrammed in gold on the clasp. Then there's the classic dome-shaped purse that is part of the Speedy collection, first made for Audrey Hepburn years ago. And for those who really want to splurge there is the Rider Orange, an orange-colored canvas bag trimmed in leather that has the name of Louis Vuitton stores on it. It costs $1,940. Welcome to the new Louis Vuitton store at Towson Town Center mall.

Three girls were charged with attempted robbery and second-degree assault after a woman was attacked by four teens shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday as she was leaving Arundel Mills mall, Anne Arundel County police said. The 24-year-old woman told police that she was walking from the mall when three girls and a boy blocked her. The boy punched her and tried to take her purse, and when she resisted and tried to run, she was tackled from behind and hit with a board, police said. As her attackers tried again to take her purse, a passer-by saw the attack and yelled, and her assailants ran. Police quickly apprehended four suspects.

Chipotle to open first food court location in Columbia Chipotle is opening its first restaurant at a mall's food court June 30 at The Mall in Columbia. It will be next to McDonald's and Fast Wok. The eatery is located in other malls across the country, but usually as a stand-alone store on a parcel adjacent to a mall or inside a mall with its own outside entrance and seating area. Chipotle, which uses organic meats and condiments in its burritos, tacos and salads, has 13 other locations in the Baltimore area.

Eastern Mountain grand opening Eastern Mountain Sports, an outfitter of outdoor gear, apparel, footwear and accessories, is holding a grand opening of its new store Sunday at Annapolis Towne Centre, 200 Harker Place. Three kayaks are among many prizes awarded every hour. Other activities will include live animal demonstrations by the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center and Pocomoke State Park; free food by Whole Foods Market Annapolis; and adventure movies. One percent of the opening weekend's proceeds will be donated to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center.

General Growth Properties, the giant shopping mall and development firm that filed for bankruptcy protection last week, has added Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall and seven buildings in Columbia to the 158 centers listed in the Chapter 11 filing. According to the Chicago-based company's Web site, the buildings that were added include one housing Clyde's Restaurant and the Columbia Association offices on the lakefront; the adjacent former Columbia Exhibit Center; a building occupied by a convenience store in Running Brook; and four older office buildings along Little Patuxent Parkway, including one occupied by That's Amore restaurant.

The Anne Arundel County Council held off Monday night on introducing several amendments to a bill that would allow electronic slots in the county. The legislation, submitted last month by County Executive John R. Leopold, would essentially allow Baltimore-based developer Cordish Cos. to build an elaborate casino with nearly 5,000 slot machines at Arundel Mills mall in Hanover. Current zoning laws do not allow slots in the county. Councilman Daryl Jones, whose district includes the mall, asked that the council delay taking action until its next meeting May 4, noting that Councilman C. Edward Middlebrooks was unable to attend the meeting because he is recovering from surgery.

James Rouse took risks with malls and marketplaces, not finances. General Growth Properties did the opposite. That explains as much as anything why the company that absorbed the Columbia-based Rouse Co. landed in bankruptcy proceedings on Thursday. A city-planing seer and religious humanitarian, Rouse was also a canny business operator. He understood companies evolve and sometimes crater. "He was constantly reinventing what the Rouse Co. was up to, what he was up to," says Nicholas D. Bloom, associate history professor at the New York Institute of Technology and author of Merchant of Illusion, a Rouse biography.

Regional mall owner General Growth Properties Inc., which is struggling to avoid a bankruptcy filing, said Monday that it is continuing discussions with bondholders to extend a deadline to pay certain loans. The nation's second-largest shopping mall owner owns Harborplace & The Gallery and Towson Town Center, among other area shopping centers. It began this month to formally solicit holders of $2.25 billion of the so-called Rouse series of unsecured notes to give General Growth until the end of the year to refinance the debt.

Citigroup Inc. moved to seize one of General Growth Properties Inc.'s shopping malls in Louisiana after the Chicago-based shopping mall operator missed payment on a $95 million loan. General Growth owns most of the Baltimore area's regional malls, including Harborplace and Towson Town Center, and is Columbia's master developer. It operates more than 200 malls nationwide and has been warning investors since November that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it cannot renegotiate its debts.