General Growth Properties included Tucson Mall in its bankruptcy filings, but lenders say the mall is financially stable.
NEW YORK – A group of lenders accused shopping mall operator General Growth Properties of including eight properties in its bankruptcy filing that do not need court protection.
The shopping centers, including the Tucson Mall in Arizona and the Stonestown Mall in San Francisco, are financially stable and do not need to be rehabilitated through a Chapter 11 reorganization, according to a filing Monday by ING Clarion Capital Loan Services LLC, a loan administrator.
The creditors claimed General Growth had “swept” the properties into bankruptcy to benefit from their slightly better financial condition.
General Growth filed for protection from creditors last month in the largest U.S. real estate bankruptcy case in history. The Chicago-based real estate investment trust has $27 billion in debts.
Malls in other cities are in Bakersfield and Visalia, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Lancaster, Pa.; Bartlesville, Okla.; and Murray, Utah.
“When a debtor has no current need for relief under the bankruptcy code, its case should be dismissed under the rubric of a ‘bad faith’ filing,” court papers read.
General Growth Properties Inc. spokesman David Keating said he had no comment because he had not yet seen ING’s request.