General Growth Properties (GGP) announced today that they will file for bankruptcy protection. The company will continue to operate all of its 200 malls and other real estate assets. The filing will provide the company with the opportunity to refinance its debt on terms that can support future operations. “Our operational model is sound,” Thomas H. Nolan Jr., the company’s president and chief operating officer, said on a conference call early Thursday morning, citing “the unprecedented disruption in the real estate financing markets and the need to extend maturing debt” as the reason the company filed.
“We are finalizing a contract with UK-Lasalle, an operating unit with which GGP has a controlling interest. UK-Lasalle was not included in the bankruptcy filing” said David Edwards, Senior Policy Advisor to the Mayor. “We are confident that the program will move forward as planned”.
“Our partnership with the City of Atlanta in the public vending program will not be affected by this bankruptcy filing”, said Troy Benson, Vice President of Asset Management in GGP’s southeast region. “We look forward to implementing the program on schedule and we continue to be excited about the future of public vending in the City of Atlanta”.
City Council authorized the contract with General Growth Properties last year and designs for the new public vending kiosks were recently approved by the Urban Design Commission. The program will be launched this summer primarily downtown and around the sports stadiums.
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