General Growth Properties

Sears Holdings Corp.said Thursday that it will spin off its smaller Hometown and Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores in a deal expected to raise $400 million to $500 million as it seeks to regain profitability and market share. The operator of Sears and Kmart also says will sell 11 stores to the real estate company General Growth Properties for $270 million. The moves drove Sears' stock up more than 13 percent in premarket trading. The disclosures of the store plans came as the Hoffman Estates , Ill.-based company reported it swung to a loss in the fourth-quarter while revenue fell 4 percent to $12.48 billion.

As a longtime La Canada Flintridge resident, I shop occasionally in Glendale and have followed with great interest the developing sage of the Glendale Town Center. Since most of the "letters" printed in the Community Commentary have been highlighted with a contrasting color, I have been unsure about their commercial support, but they have been very well written and have done an excellent job of supporting Caruso and the city of Glendale. The June 3 commentary ("General Growth survey full of misleading information")

LOS ANGELES — Attorneys for Americana at Brand developer Caruso Affiliated Holdings on Monday made a final attempt to convince a jury that Glendale Galleria owners General Growth Properties illegally interfered with development of their project, costing Caruso $76 million. But General Growth contends delays in the Americana at Brand development were related to legal and construction-related hurdles that were self-inflicted by the developer. Originally filed in 2004 as a $40-million antitrust suit, Caruso alleged that General Growth engaged in illegal interference by strong-arming potential tenants away from the Americana by threatening to cancel or terminate those companies’ tenancies at other General Growth malls across the country.

The Glendale Homeowners Coordinating Council canceled a public forum to debate the pros and cons of the proposed Americana at Brand shopping center after General Growth Properties canceled due to a scheduling conflict. Developer Rick Caruso and a spokesman from General Growth, the owners of the Glendale Galleria and an opponent of the Americana, were going to field questions from the public about the retail and residential project. General Growth canceled because spokesman Arthur Sohikian is on vacation.

DOWNTOWN GLENDALE — More than a dozen picketers demonstrated outside the Glendale Galleria on Friday to protest what they say are unfair labor practices endorsed by the owner of the mall. The protest came after the Service Employees International Union, which represents 1.9 million workers across the country, filed a complaint Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair labor practices against General Growth Properties Inc., which owns the Galleria.

Two representatives from General Growth Properties, which owns the Glendale Galleria, will appear tonight on "The Larry Zarian Forum" to discuss the future of the Town Center project. Vice President Carol Jacobs and Arthur Sohikian, senior vice president for the MWW Group, the public-relations firm hired by General Growth, will be Zarian's guests. They will discuss developer Rick Caruso's decision to withdraw his proposal for the Town Center, which is adjacent to the Galleria, and the future of the site.

Tuesday's decision by voters to approve the Town Center project "was a great victory for the people of Glendale," Mayor Bob Yousefian told the Valley Sun Wednesday. The mayor, the leading supporter of the $264 million redevelopment project, said he wasn't surprised by the closeness of the vote. The margin of victory on one of the three measures was fewer than 600 votes. "People were confused by the campaign," he said. "When they're confused they tend to vote no. I do the same thing."

Josh Kleinbaum More than 19 months after purchasing the Glendale Galleria, General Growth Properties has not provided the county assessor's office with information necessary to determine the property's tax value, possibly delaying transfer of as much as $2.5 million to the city. Officials from the assessor's office said they have sent multiple letters to General Growth Properties, requesting information including the date General Growth purchased the mall from Donahue Schriber, the exact parcels transferred, and how much stock was included in the deal.

Gretchen Hoffman The sale of the Glendale Galleria signals a changing of the guard in more ways than one. The sale to Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. for $415 million was finalized last week, and the new owners are already making changes: They've hired Advanced Tech to provide security guards for the 1.3-million-square-foot mall. Since the mall was developed in 1976, security had been an in-house affair -- all guards were employees of the Galleria.

Josh Kleinbaum General Growth Properties, which owns the Glendale Galleria, is providing most of the funding for a referendum effort to overturn the City Council's approval of a $264.2-million retail and residential development in downtown Glendale. General Growth formed Glendale Citizens for a Well-Planned Town Center on Monday. The committee is trying to gather 8,117 signatures from local registered voters to bring the Town Center issue to a citywide vote.

Sears Holdings Corp.said Thursday that it will spin off its smaller Hometown and Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores in a deal expected to raise $400 million to $500 million as it seeks to regain profitability and market share. The operator of Sears and Kmart also says will sell 11 stores to the real estate company General Growth Properties for $270 million. The moves drove Sears' stock up more than 13 percent in premarket trading. The disclosures of the store plans came as the Hoffman Estates , Ill.-based company reported it swung to a loss in the fourth-quarter while revenue fell 4 percent to $12.48 billion.

The owner of the Glendale Galleria emerged from bankruptcy protection Tuesday with a new operating plan that officials said would have little immediate impact on local consumers. A spokeswoman for the Galleria's owner, Chicago-based General Growth Properties, said there were no immediate plans for changes at the Glendale mega-mall. General Growth owns or operates more than 200 malls. Under the plan, the company restructured roughly $15 billion of project-level debt, and obtained $6.8 billion in new capital, according to an announcement.

The Glendale Galleria has a new leader. General Growth Properties Inc. last week named Chris Bilotto as the new senior general manager at the landmark shopping center with 250 specialty stores and anchors including Nordstrom, Macy's JCPenney and Target. Bilotto previously managed General Growth's Arizona Center, a 250,000-square-foot shopping, entertainment and office complex in Phoenix. Bilotto takes over one of the largest centers in Southern California and one that some Glendale business leaders hope will get a bit of a makeover.

The owner of the Glendale Galleria plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as two companies in October, officials announced Monday. General Growth Properties Inc., which filed for bankruptcy last year, also announced that it had received assurances for as much as $8.5 billion in new capital, which would pay its debts in full. Out of the two-firm split, one called the "New GGP," would continue to own and operate shopping malls. The other, Spinco, would oversee master-planned and mixed-use communities, as well as mall development projects.

The owner of the Glendale Galleria plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as two companies in October, the company announced Monday. General Growth Properties Inc., which filed for bankruptcy last year, announced it has received assurances for as much as $8.5 billion in new capital and will split into two firms. One, called the “New GGP,” would remain focused on owning and operating shopping malls. The other, Spinco, would control master-planned and mixed-use communities, as well as mall development projects.

General Growth Properties Inc., the operator of the Glendale Galleria and the Burbank Town Center, reported on Monday that its first-quarter revenues were down from their already depressed levels of a year ago. The announcement came as the company worked to restructure its debt and emerge from bankruptcy protection. The Chicago-based firm’s revenues fell about 6.5%, to $761 million, compared with the first quarter of 2009. The tenant occupancy rate at its more than 200 regional malls slipped to 90.5%, down from 90.9% in the first three months of 2009, according to the company.

Americana at Brand developer Rick Caruso on Tuesday said he would be interested in using a new joint $750-million investment fund to buy the rival Glendale Galleria. Caruso, a billionaire who also developed the Grove in Los Angeles, announced the joint venture with global investment firm TPG Capital on Tuesday, saying it would be tapped to buy and transform distressed properties into retail and mixed-use destinations. Although Caruso plans to spread his new investments along the West Coast, he said he was specifically interested in adding to his 475,000 square feet of commercial and retail property in Glendale and to his other developments in the Los Angeles region.

An aggressive bidding war for the operator of the Burbank Town Center and Glendale Galleria may be in the works after the company filed a reorganization plan last week in bankruptcy court, a move that has brought the local malls a step closer to full health, experts said. The plan from General Growth Properties Inc. would allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as two independent companies with the backing of $6.55 billion from three investors, the firm said. But more than establishing its own restructuring plan, the filing sets the stage for other firms, like rival Simon Properties Inc., to make takeover bids.

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge this week extended a deadline for the debt-ridden operator of the Burbank Town Center and Glendale Galleria to finalize plans to emerge from Chapter 11 protection, likely delaying any deal, experts said. General Growth Properties Inc., of Chicago, which owns the Galleria and runs the local malls, will have until Sept. 15 to finalize its plans as it also considers at least four potential suitors, the company said. News of the extension and the company’s annual financial results this week boosted stocks Friday, the first day the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange since it filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2009 in what experts considered the largest real estate failure in national history.