GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American

commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...

company and the second-largest

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

and Maurice Bucksbaum in

Cedar Rapids Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

in 1954, and was headquartered in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

from 2000. It was subject to the largest real estate bankruptcy in American history at the time of its filing in 2009. GGP was acquired by

Brookfield Property Partners Brookfield Property Partners L.P. is a global commercial real estate firm that is a publicly traded limited partnership and a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, an alternative asset management company. Its portfolio includes properties ...

, and management of its portfolio was transferred to

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of commercial real estate company Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of alternative asset management company Brookfield Asset Management. It is responsible for the pro ...

, in 2018. Its portfolio included 125 properties comprising approximately in 40 U.S. states at the time of its acquisition, ranking behind only

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

in total square footage.

History

20th century

General Growth was founded in

by three brothers,

and Maurice Bucksbaum, in 1954 as General Management. That year, they borrowed $1.2 million to develop their first shopping center, Town & Country Shopping Center in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, in order to open a fourth location for the grocery store founded by their father. By 1964, the company owned 5 malls and moved its headquarters to

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. In 1970, General Management became General Growth Properties (GGP) and became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. In 1984, the company sold its holdings to Equitable Real Estate Investment Management for $800 million in the largest-ever single-asset real estate transaction to date, but retained the property management of the assets. In 1989, the company acquired Center Companies, creating the fourth-largest shopping center management company in the United States. In 1993, the company once again became a

via an

, raising $400 million. In 1994, the company purchased a 40% interest in Centermark Properties from

Prudential Financial Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers t ...

. In 1995, the company sold 25% of its 40% stake, yielding a profit of over $100 million. In 1995, the company also purchased the Homart Development Company from Sears for $1.85 billion. In 1995, co-founder and CEO Martin Bucksbaum died and the company moved its headquarters from Des Moines to Chicago. In 1999, John Bucksbaum succeeded his father as CEO.

21st century

In 2000, the company moved its headquarters from Des Moines to Chicago. The company occupied a historic building on North

Wacker Drive Wacker Drive is a major multilevel street in Chicago, Illinois, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River in the Loop.Hayner, Don and Tom McNamee, ''Streetwise Chicago'', "Wacker D ...

designed by architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, that was later demolished. In 2004, the company acquired

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company, founded by Hunter Moss and James W. Rouse in 1939, was a publicly held shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. Beginnings - Moss-Rouse Company T ...

, which owned 37 regional shopping malls and

Howard Hughes Corporation The Howard Hughes Corporation is a real estate development and management company based in The Woodlands, Texas. It was formed in 2010 as a spin-off from General Growth Properties (GGP). Most of its holdings are focused on several master-planned ...

, a land development company, for $7.2 billion in cash. By 2008, the company had taken on $25 billion in debt and the company was facing required debt payments. John Bucksbaum was ousted as CEO, though he remained

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

, and Adam Metz was named CEO. In December 2008,

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

manager Bill Ackman disclosed a 25% ownership stake in the company. In 2009, the company missed a deadline to repay $900 million in loans backed by two Las Vegas properties, putting the company in danger of filing for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

protection. At that point, the stock price was down 98% in 12 months. The Bucksbaum family's stake in the firm, which was worth $2.5 billion in 2005, had declined in value by a similar amount. On April 16, 2009, the company filed one of the largest real estate bankruptcies ever and received $375 million in debtor-in-possession financing from Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge fund managed by Bill Ackman. In February 2010, Brookfield Asset Management made a $2.625 billion equity investment in the company. In November 2010, the company exited bankruptcy protection. Creditors were paid in full and equity holders made a "substantial" recovery of their investment, both of which are unusual in bankruptcy filings. In conjunction with the reorganization, the company spun off

to its shareholders. In December 2010, CEO Adam Metz and President and COO Thomas Nolan left the company and Sandeep Mathrani, formerly the head of the retail division of Vornado Realty Trust, was named CEO. In 2011, the company sold

Faneuil Hall Faneuil Hall ( or ; previously ) is a marketplace and meeting hall located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts. Opened in 1742, it was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others ...

for $140 million. In January 2012, the company completed the spin off of

Rouse Properties Rouse Properties was a real estate investment trust headquartered in New York City. The company owned 35 shopping malls in 22 states encompassing approximately 24.5 million square feet of retail space. History In 2011, General Growth Properties a ...

to its shareholders. In 2013, co-founder Matthew Bucksbaum died. In February 2014, Bill Ackman sold his remaining shares in the company back to the company for $556 million. In April 2015, the company acquired the

Crown Building The Crown Buildings ( cy, Adeiladau y Goron), which are also known as the Cathays Park Buildings, are the Welsh Government's main offices in Cardiff, Wales. The buildings were formerly used by the Welsh Office and are situated in Cathays Park ...

for $1.78 billion. In January 2017, the company changed its name to GGP Inc.

2018 acquisition by Brookfield Property Partners

On August 28, 2018, GGP was acquired by

and management of its former portfolio was transferred to its

subsidiary for $9 billion in cash. The transaction reunited the malls spun off in the Rouse Properties spinoff with the GGP malls. Upon closing the acquisition, Brookfield immediately sold a 49% interest in each of three former GGP super-regional malls to CBRE Group, and a 49% interest in three other former GGP malls to

TIAA The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA, formerly TIAA-CREF), is a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, ...

subsidiary Nuveen, seeking additional joint ventures for its newly-acquired malls.

References

External links