Counter Culture

An article in the Wall Street Journal (via Reuters) reports that General Growth Properties is looking at placing some of its marquee malls in joint-venture deals to pay off the REIT’s $18.7 billion of debt.

High-end assets that the company owns outright, such as Fashion Show Mall and the Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas and Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, could end up as candidates, the article says. Bernie Friedbaum, General Growth’s CFO is quoted saying that the firm is approaching life-insurance companies and pension funds.
Continue reading ‘General Growth Looking At JV Sales?’

Ah, the 1950s. Those were simpler times. (If you don’t count the Cold War, McCarthyism and crazy movies). One not-so-crazy movie that we’ve found, courtesy of the people at the Malls of America blog, is a PR spot entitled “Shopping Can Be Fun” from 1957 about Hillsdale Shopping Center, in San Mateo, CA.

According to Wikipedia, the center was built by Bohannon Development Co., which still owns it, in 1954. Hillsdale was built as an open-air center, then converted into a mall in 1982. Kind of the opposite of what is going on now, huh?

After the jump, check out the film, which nicely illustrates the time period.
Continue reading ‘Weekend Viewing: Shopping Can Be Fun’