Results tagged “generalgrowthproperties”

Back in November we mentioned that General Growth Properties, the owners of several Washington malls including Westlake Center, had hired legal help to deal with mounting bills. Another deadline passed on March 16--GGP was trying to persuade creditors holding $2.25 billion of its unsecured notes wait for payment until the end of 2009--and now hedge fund investor William Ackman is pushing for a seat on the board of GGP, and predicting that bankruptcy is the only way to go. What that means for Westlake and GGP's other Washington properties is anyone's guess, as the real estate market is not exactly hopping.

No one's saying anything, but the clouds look pretty dark for the mall's current owners. The Wall Street Journal reports that Chicago's General Growth Properties have hired very specific legal help, bringing on "the law firm Sidley Austin as bankruptcy counsel while it negotiates with lenders for more time to restructure its $27 billion debt load." If Westlake isn't the market already, the auction block is becoming a distinct possibility.

Yesterday we mentioned the scuttlebutt about malled-up REIT General Growth Properties putting Westlake Center up for sale. Today GGP stocks were hammered after the company announced it "might be forced to seek protection from its creditors as it struggles to refinance debt," and are now trading at around $0.40 in after-hours trading. GGP has $958 million in debt due Dec. 1, but a "good price" for Westlake was quoted at just $150 million, so it's going to take more than that to right the REIT's ship.

NYT über-pundit Thomas Friedman is married to Ann Friedman (née Bucksbaum), whose family (still) runs General Growth Properties, a Chicago-based REIT heavy into malls (they own eight in Washington alone). General Growth is trying to make some hefty debt payments and has to unload some of its inventory, which means Westlake Center downtown may now have a For Sale sign attached. The price tag is estimated at around $150 million. Who wants to start the bidding?