The filing, anticipated for months, comes as cash-strapped consumers turn away from shopping as a favorite pastime and the role of the mall in American culture is losing its charm.

No One Wants To File For Bankruptcy But It May Be The Smartest Choice…

The real estate investment trust amassed $27 billion in debt during an ill-timed acquisition spree that turned the Chicago-based company with Iowa roots into the nation’s second-largest shopping mall company, behind Simon Property Group Inc.

But, the sudden downturn in the retail industry and the tight credit markets hurt General Growth’s attempt to restructure its debt and, after months of winning extensions, the company ultimately failed to convince enough debt holders to give it more to time.

General Growth said it intends to continue operating all of its shopping centers during the bankruptcy process. Those in Southern California include the Burbank Town Center, Fallbrook Center in West Hills, Northridge Fashion Center and the SouthBay Pavilion in Carson.

“While the retail environment didn’t help them, what did them in is they used way too much debt,” said Jim Sullivan, managing director of Green Street Advisors, a real estate investment research company in Newport Beach, Calif.

The bankruptcy filing could take two different paths, Sullivan said. General Growth could remain largely intact and restructure its debt in court. Or the mall operator cold be forced sell scores of malls, allowing its rivals to acquire trophy shopping centers–such as Tysons Galleria in McLean, Va., Faneuil Hall in Boston, Water Tower Place in Chicago and the South Street Seaport in Manhattan–on the cheap and the closing of less desirable malls.

Bankruptcy by the real estate investment trust had been widely anticipated since the fall, when the company warned it might have to seek protection if it didn’t get lenders to rework its debt terms. Efforts to negotiate with its unsecured and secured creditors ultimately fell short late last month.

“While we have worked tirelessly in the past several months to address our maturing debts, the collapse of the credit markets has made it impossible for us to refinance maturing debt outside of Chapter 11,” Chief Executive Adam Metz said in a statement.

Chapter 11 protection typically allows a company to hold off creditors and operate as normal while it develops a financial reorganization plan.

The company had about $29.6 billion in assets and more than $27 billion in liabilities as of Dec. 31, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The company noted that some subsidiaries, including its third-party management business and joint ventures, were not part of the bankruptcy petition. General Growth has a stake in more than 200 malls across 44 states. It included 158 of those shopping centers in the bankruptcy filing.

General Growth said it intends to reorganize with the aim of cutting its corporate debt and extending the terms of its mortgage maturities.

The company said it received a financing commitment from Pershing Square Capital Management LP of about $375 million that General Growth expects to use to operate during the bankruptcy process. Activist investor William Ackman runs Pershing Square, a New York hedge fund that has been building a stake in General Growth in recent months.

John Bucksbaum, a second-generation member of the family that founded the company, stepped down as chief executive late last year in the wake of an escalating crisis. The prominent Chicago family, which had much of its wealth tied up in the company, has seen billions of dollars of its fortune erased.

smjones@tribune.com

Associated Press contributed to this report