City Center mall sales ‘terrible,’ expert says

By: Walker

11 Comments

• 

  honavery November 28, 2006 10:33 am

  More stores are pulling out everyday. Spencers is closing (I know, huge loss there). And the shoe store in the main plaza closed a few weeks ago.

  That being said, the food places continue to be busy at lunch. I hope whatever they do with it they keep some of the food there.
• 

  gsmittynd November 28, 2006 11:47 am

  So I was at City Center yesterday and they had signs posted advertising their holiday hours…which are the exact same as the normal operating hours. This mall is a joke and needs to be put out if its misery.
• 

  gramarye November 28, 2006 12:42 pm

  City Center mall sales ‘terrible,’ expert says

  It took an expert to say this?
• 

  Walker November 28, 2006 12:57 pm

  No. But it sounds more credited to say that an expert stated it instead of:

  City Center sales terrible, random average dude says

  Anyway, the more press this sort of thing gets the better. Time for a revamp!!!
• 

  Paul November 28, 2006 1:27 pm

  The only thing I got there for is to get my hair cut.

  Also, the attached hotel has a cool Dracula pinball game in its bar.
• 

  Walker November 28, 2006 1:43 pm

  I go there from time to time because it’s got an Express store in walking distance from home and I’m constantly bombared with free money in the mail from Express.

  Otherwise, I’m not in there much.
• 

  ddavis November 30, 2006 4:12 pm

  Yep, never go……
• 

  Ndcent November 30, 2006 4:20 pm

  Whats Citi Center?
• 

  The Hegemo January 9, 2007 1:31 pm

  Looks like Mills is really on the ropes. Not good news for getting something done with City Center (unless this forces them to finally sell it):

  COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Cincinnati Mills owner, The Mills Corp., warned today that a heavy debt load could force the mall developer into bankruptcy if it is unable to follow through with its plans to sell all or part of the company.

  The warning came in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that also detailed the results of an internal audit showing accounting errors and possible executive misconduct.

  Mills’ shares plunged almost 18 percent on the news.

  Chevy Chase-based Mills said it may not have enough cash to continue operating beyond March 31 and that it would be forced to sell all or part of the company to pay off a $1 billion loan that is due on that date.

  More here
• 

  gramarye January 9, 2007 6:07 pm

  They’ll either have to sell off some assets to avoid bankruptcy, or go into bankruptcy. However, the assets of Mills will only be sold off if they are forced into a Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy, not a Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy. Mills may yet be worth more as a going concern than as the sum of its parts (not that Mills seems to be worth much, but the sum of its parts doesn’t seem to be worth all that much, either), in which case its assets will not necessarily be put up for sale. All that generally happens in such a circumstance is that the current stockholders lose out, and the current creditors become the owners of the reorganized company. That’s a major event for the corporation but doesn’t necessarily mean anything for those of us interested in RiverSouth and City Center, rather than in investing in Mills Corp. or any of its creditors, so I say “all” that happens in that case. Obviously it’s a huge deal for the current stockholders, as well as the current bondholders (who might never have wanted to take charge of Mills but will take that over the alternative, i.e., nothing).

  Obviously, City Center being in Mills’ hands is not the best circumstance for Columbus. However, don’t be too optimistic about saying that Mills’ bankruptcy will make it better. A few other things would have to go right, too, and just reading the tea leaves and applying a little common sense, they might not.

  City Center is obviously not worth much; it’s a financial loser. Therefore, it wouldn’t take much for the land it sits on to be worth more than the mall itself as a going concern. If that were the case, an interested party (NRI, the city, whoever) could approach Mills with an unsolicited offer to buy it. Nothing of the sort has been reported, despite the fact that City Center has been hemhorraging for a long time now. That suggests that, worthless as City Center is in Mills’ hands, no one with real money to throw around considers it worth more in their own. Not a positive sign. Maybe interested buyers are just being patient and waiting for the value to bottom out, so they can get it as cheap as possible, but if that were true … well, how much lower can it get?
• 

  gramarye January 9, 2007 8:24 pm

  Wow, weird timing:

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