General Growth Properties Scrambles For Money, Seeks To Sell Mall To Municipality

GGP tries to unload old mall on the City of Redlands


Since the credit crisis erupted last fall, beleaguered mall developer General Growth Properties (GGP) has scrambled to raise cash, renegotiate with creditors and as a last resort to stave off a bankruptcy, sell properties.

Over the last several months GGP has tried to sell several of the high-profile properties in their portfolio. To date, there have been no takers.

Recently though, GGP has employed a new strategy to unload properties - call it GGP's version of T.A.R.P. We like to think of it as Securing Capital, Unloading Malls, or more affectionately known as SCUM.

Seems GGP is in talks with the city of Redlands, Calif. to unload, its 30-year Redlands Mall. Unfortunately for GGP, the City of Redlands is facing a budget crisis so it may not be able to employ it's SCUM strategy on the people of Redlands.

Making matters worse for GGP, the Redlands Mall's main anchor, Gottschalks recently declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. With the collapse of the commercial real estate and the weak state of the economy, the viability of the SCUM strategy may quickly die.

Nonetheless, GGP's actions should be instructive to the people of Elk Grove. Let's just make sure GGP doesn't try the SCUM strategy with another one of their troubled properties, the half-baked strip shopping center known as the Elk Grove Promenade.