Results tagged “mall”

Devastating news for most adolescents as their favorite malls--and parent-free hang-outs--are facing bankruptcy. General Growth Properties Inc., the nation's second-largest mall operator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which owns local mall properties: Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, Bellis Fair Mall in Bellingham, and Westlake Center in Seattle. With their stock prices cheaper than an on-sale pack of gum, financial reorganization will be key, for what's been claimed as the largest real estate failure. We just hope it can turn around, so it doesn't force a void (and access to the Monorail) in downtown.

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?

Seattle fashionistas, get ready because your H&M prayers are being answered. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, in addition to its Southcenter location, ever-popular H&M will open two new stores in Seattle proper next month. A 19,000-square-foot, two-story location will open in University Village on Sept. 12 and a 16,000-square-foot location will open at 520 Pike St. in downtown Seattle one little week later, on Sept. 18.

"Here" meaning "Southcenter," but we'll take what we can get. The first (and largest) of three stores planned to open in the Seattle area this year, the Southcenter H&M opens at 10 a.m. today. It's part of the mall's big expansion, which features a whole mess of new stores and restaurants, making the Tukwila shopping center the largest indoor mall in Washington and Oregon. Recession be damned.