Good afternoon, Netizens...

Hot off the skillet of the Associated Press, General Growth Properties, Inc., the corporate owner of Northtown Mall, Spokane Valley and Silver Lake malls has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning. You can read the gory details here http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/apr/16/operator-3-area-malls-files-bankruptcy/ but the question that is rattling around in my head, one that makes me chuckle even, is when or if they get their bailout funds?

Of source, since I first began writing this piece, and although there are no real details regarding the debt to liquidity margins for all three malls, the bankruptcy may yet prove to be more than it appears at this moment.

According to the AP story, they had about $29.6 billion in assets at the end of the year, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York and filed bankruptcy on approximately $27 billion in debt. The Company currently has ownership interest in, or management responsibility for, over 200 regional shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in master planned community developments and commercial office buildings. The Company’s portfolio totals approximately 200 million square feet of retail space and includes over 24,000 retail stores nationwide. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGP.

So perhaps, as you can from the above, there is more at play here than simply the three regional malls.

Dave

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