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MALL SEES MORE STORE CLOSURES; OWNER SAYS IT WILL REMAIN OPEN

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, February 14, 2009 11:39 PM CST

Kids Foot Locker and Lady Foot Locker are the latest stores to close at The Pines mall, following the closure of F.Y.E. last month. A spokesperson at Foot Locker Inc.’s New York headquarters did not return calls.

An employee who answered the phone at Footaction in The Pines on Wednesday confirmed that the store also is owned by Foot Locker Inc., but declined to comment on whether that store will close as well.

Footaction had a large sign out front on Friday advertising a clearance sale with up to 50 percent discounts. There were other stores in the mall with similar advertising.

A walk-through of the building Friday revealed 20 vacant retail spaces, which soon will be 21 when the Pine Bluff Police Department moves its patrol division out of the mall and into a new space at 511 Commerce Road.

“We’re just trying to find some better facilities,” Deputy Police Chief Danna S. Powell said at the Feb. 2 City Council meeting. “We actually have ample parking over there.”

Powell said sergeants who now share a desk would have their own desks and privacy, which she said is necessary during counseling sessions or for discipline.

The city will spend $16,873 more a year on the new space than it is spending at the mall. The patrol division plans to move into its new quarters in about three months.

Kandy White, mall local general manager, declined to comment on the mall’s status and referred questions to David Keating, spokesman for General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago, Ill., the owner and manager of The Pines.

“I’m sure that the nation’s economy is having an impact,” Keating said. “It’s affecting so many different industries.”

But Keating said he could not comment on the specific decisions made by retailers who have opted to leave The Pines.

General Growth, the second-largest U.S. mall company, has made news a lot lately after speculation by analysts that it could be forced into bankruptcy.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the company’s deadline to renegotiate a $900 million loan on two luxury malls in Las Vegas passed Thursday without a new agreement. However, the company is still talking with its lenders, led by Deutsche Bank AG, The Journal reported.

Keating declined to comment on the likelihood of a bankruptcy filing.

General Growth owns and manages more than 200 malls in 44 states. The company has struggled for the past year to refinance portions of its $27 billion in debt. Its stock has declined by 98 percent in the past year, closing Friday at 55 cents on the New York Stock Exchange (GGP).

The company announced on Feb. 6 that it would delay the release of its fourth-quarter and 2008 annual earnings report until Feb. 23. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday. General Growth said in a statement that the delay was “a result of its ongoing strategic review of alternatives.”

Despite the dismal economic outlook, Keating maintained that The Pines will be unaffected.

“Whatever we’re dealing with here at the corporate office, there really will be no impact on the properties,” Keating said. “People are continuing to shop; retailers are continuing to open their doors every day.

“The Pines isn’t going to close — none of our malls are going to close.”

However, Keating said that the company also has maintained “from the very beginning” that one of the options for paying down debt is the sale of “corporate and non-corporate assets.”

“Right now, The Pines is not on that list.”

There appeared to be at least one good sign there Friday.

A mall employee was placing plaster on the wall in the former Fathers & Sons Clothier store. He declined to comment on whether a new tenant was moving in.

General Growth owns one other mall in Arkansas, Pinnacle Hills Promenade in Rogers, which opened in 2006, according to its Web site. The Pines opened in 1986 and was renovated in 1990. Although it lists 100 retail stores, a list of tenants shows 61, three of which have closed in the last two months.

— Erin France of The Commercial staff contributed to this report.

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