Mall owner could seek bankruptcy
Traci White
General Growth Properties, the company that owns Piedmont Mall as well as Four Seasons Town Center in Greensboro, N.C., may be forced to file for bankruptcy if plans to refinance $958 million in debt do not succeed.
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By Bernard Baker
Published: November 12, 2008
City officials are keeping a close eye on General Growth Properties Inc.’s stock collapse because the Chicago-based company owns Piedmont Mall.
General Growth, the second-largest U.S. shopping mall owner, had its worst trading day ever Tuesday after saying it may seek creditor protection if plans to refinance $958 million in debt do not succeed, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. The company has lost 99 percent of its market share this year.
“We continue working with our advisors to develop a comprehensive, strategic plan to generate capital from a variety of sources including, but not limited to, core and non-core asset sales, joint venture interests, a corporate level capital infusion and/or strategic business combinations,” General Growth stated on its Web site. “Regardless of our situation, our properties and company will continue to operate, remain vibrant and look forward to a prosperous holiday season.”
Danville Economic Development Director Jeremy Stratton was not aware Wednesday that the company
was considering bankruptcy protection and said Piedmont Mall is a “retail stool” for the city.
“It’s very important to our community in regard to what it brings in,” Stratton said about the mall’s sales and sales tax revenue.
Stratton said the city will have to wait and see what happens with General Growth Properties, which also owns Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro, N.C. There’s not much Danville can do to help the company, he said, but the city could recruit a potential buyer if Piedmont Mall had to be sold.
Stratton said the city definitely does not want the mall to close its doors.
“That would be devastating if that happened,” Stratton said.
Mayor Sherman Saunders said Piedmont Mall draws in shoppers from a 60-mile radius.
“The mall is extremely important to the city of Danville and this region, in that it provides a number of things that includes jobs, goods, tax revenue, choice of shopping and it brings people in from all parts of the region,” he said.
Saunders said the mall has been a magnet that helped to attract other businesses to Piedmont Drive and the Mount Cross Road area. He said the mall is an integral part of Danville.
“That would be a big loss to our city,” he said. “The mall is a mega-attraction.”
• Contact Bernard Baker at (434) 791-7986.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( jaydeebee ) on November 13, 2008 at 10:34 pm
“..IF we can find enough willing to work at all.“
Well, that’s another kettle of fish altogether! I think we can both agree that there are plenty of people who enjoy being carried by the rest of us.
If our government would spend more time and energy trying to benefit those who ARE gainfully employed, or who wish to be, and LESS TIME on the bums who refuse to carry their own weight, we’d be in better shape today.
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Posted by ( Eeltee ) on November 13, 2008 at 10:04 pm
You are obviously buying your widgfets at the wrong place, I apy 2.50 for the American made widgets and $1 for those made in China.
I agree, the person doing the same job there makes a fraction of the exaggerated price we have to pay our people to do the same job, IF we can find enough willing to work at all.
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Posted by ( 832musik ) on November 13, 2008 at 4:23 pm
America, America, the land of the free and the home of the brave will be third world, if things keep going in this direction. Maybe the new president OBAMA will save the day!!!!
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Posted by ( jaydeebee ) on November 13, 2008 at 3:53 pm
“Normal, Middle Class cannot afford to buy 100% American!“
Well, that’s not entirely true. For one, there aren’t a lot of American made products left on the market, although I do seek them out. Also, the “savings” from having goods made overseas are for the most part being taken on the supply side.
For example; if ACME WIDGETS was making American-made widgets and selling them at the wholesale level for $2 each, now they may get the widget made for .50 cents in China. However, they are not passing the savings along at the wholesale level, they are pocketing the difference and selling the widget for the same $2, if not more. It’s a boon for the supplier, but not for the retailer or for the consumer. Worse still is that it’s completely eliminated competition as American workers can not compete with the wage slaves in China and still maintain any decent standard of living.
So it’s a net loss all around for consumers and for American workers. Even the gains for the greedy corporations which created “globalism” are beginning to turn sour in the wake of what they have wrought in the name of making more money.
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Posted by ( Eeltee ) on November 13, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I just have one problem with all the talk about stopping “free trade” with other countries. Look in anyone’s closet, house, auto, tec. and find someone that buys ONLY American made goods and I will show you someone that is considered rich.
Normal, Middle Class cannot afford to buy 100% American!
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Posted by ( jaydeebee ) on November 13, 2008 at 2:25 pm
General Growth owns malls everywhere, they are the second largest mall owner in the country. Their economic woes have little to do with Danville’s mall or how it’s been run, but are rather linked to the overall slowdown in the economy.
Boscov’s, Value City, The Mall…
I can’t stress this point enough; A COUNTRY THAT MAKES NOTHING HAS NOTHING. Put an end to all this so-called “free-trade” with countries like China and get back to making stuff and stand back as the economy soars. Otherwise, the U.S. is third-world bound.
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Posted by ( fireman ) on November 13, 2008 at 1:36 pm
If the mall would have lowered the rent on some of the spaces, many of the stores in the past would have remained and the mall would not be in the shape it is in now.
General Growth would do better in Danville if they brought in Abercrombie & Fitch, Cinnabon and many of the other stores that are located in the Greensboro Mall.
Danville should pursue those ventures, they would be worthwile additions to the mall. Adding another sit down restaurant would also do well.
The Mall here is not seeking its full potential.
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Posted by ( justiceforall ) on November 13, 2008 at 1:10 pm
wait..i thought the ‘bailout’ was supposed to prevent these things…....????????????
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Posted by ( jaydeebee ) on November 13, 2008 at 11:58 am
Retail “stool”? Um,...ew.
So the Danville Economic Development Director doesn’t know that company which owns one of the city’s largest employers, and one of our largest sources of tax revenue, is about to go toes up? That’s a comforting thought. Especially in light of the fact that Danville has foolishly staked so much on it’s “retail hub” strategy. The Retail Hub being the notion that unemployed people and those without good-paying jobs will buy more stuff if they have more places to buy and that this will make rich people want to come here and open businesses.
Come to think of it, maybe “Retail Stool” is a better term for it.
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Posted by ( newsnonsense ) on November 13, 2008 at 11:01 am
I doubt Coleman Marketplace will hurt the mall. Some of the stores there are just odd. Just what we need….another big christian bookstore. Also, Petco is so high priced it can’t possibly last in this town. Dick’s should do well though, and maybe Target. Sonic finally got a great location.
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