#2 US Shopping Mall Owner Hit With Property Seizure After Failure To Make $95 Million Loan Payment

[hatrack]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Louisiana court issued an order to seize and sell a General Growth Properties Inc GGP.N shopping center in a New Orleans suburb after the No. 2 U.S. mall owner failed to repay a $95 million loan, a Citigroup Inc (C.N) unit said on Friday. The Oakwood Shopping Center in the town of Gretna is the fourth mall loan that General Growth has said over the past few days it would not be able to repay.

But it is unclear what the effect the relatively small foreclosure and defaults will have on the overall financial outlook for the company, which has said it may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot refinance its much larger debt.

The Chicago-based company, which owns or operates more than 200 U.S. malls, has $1.18 billion in past due debt and additional $4.09 billion of debt that could be accelerated by its lenders. It is trying to garner the support of holders of notes from Rouse Co, which General Growth acquired in 2004, for support that would allow it skip the payments on $2.25 billion of notes this year.

"I don't know if that necessarily leads them to foreclose across the board," Sam Lieber, chief executive and portfolio manager of the Alpine Funds. "It may make it tougher with regard to getting the final approval from the note holders. If that unravels as a result of this, I think you would see them do a preemptive filing, and that's in order to retain the cash flow and the cash on hand. Rating agency Standard & Poor's said on Friday securitized mortgages on three malls had been transferred to special servicers after General Growth said it would not be able to repay the loans due to difficult capital market conditions.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE52J5N020090320

[babylonsister]

1. Wow. And this? "General Growth defaults on some malls repayments"? nt

[originalpckelly]

2. Ruh-roh, dere goes da commercial property raggy...

[hatrack]

4. It's just those uneducated minorities taking out huge CRE loans they couldn't afford . . .

:sarcasm: as if anybody really needed it.

[WCGreen]

6. Losers, they are losers...

[DJ13]

3. General Growth remained in talks with bondholders - WSJ

NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - General Growth Properties Inc GGP.N remained in talks on Sunday with bondholders it was trying to persuade to accept reduced terms, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The weekend talks came after a second deadline for bondholders to agree to the so-called consent solicitation passed Friday afternoon without the desired percentage of bondholders signing on, the Journal reported on its website on Sunday.

General Growth has said it may have to file for bankruptcy protection if it cannot refinance its debt........


http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2254688520090323
General Growth remained in talks with bondholders - WSJ | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

[CoffeeCat]

5. The General-Growth-owned mall in my hometown...

....is huge, but there are only about 20 stores that are occupied.

This mall thrived when I grew up in the 1980's and 90's. It was the place to be.

Now, it's a ginormous cavern.

Many city offices are now in this mall, so at least some of the space is being put to good use.

This is probably happening across the board, in many US cities.

We're not spending enough to support the number of huge malls that were built decades ago.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Thats the outfit Lil' Tommy Friedman married into

Maybe a bit of the reason in Lil' Tommy has been changing his tune recently. Funny how looming (relative) poverty can change one's perspective.

But based on the bad news coming out of shopping-mall owner General Growth Properties , it is no wonder Friedman is feeling crankier than usual. That’s because the author’s wife, Ann (née Bucksbaum), is an heir to the General Growth fortune. In the past year, the couple—who live in an 11,400-square-foot mansion in Bethesda, Maryland—have watched helplessly as General Growth stock has fallen 99 percent, from a high of $51 to a recent 35 cents a share. The assorted Bucksbaum family trusts, once worth a combined $3.6 billion, are now worth less than $25 million.

But don’t expect Friedman to go from Beirut to Jerusalem begging for money. The distinguished columnist (and former New Establishment member) is still said to get at least $50,000 per speaking engagement on top of the millions he makes writing best-sellers.

[Kip Humphrey]

8. The commercial real estate domino begins to topple... Next domino? Credit cards.