General Growth Properties Switches Its Bankruptcy Counsel -- All politics is local

The Wall Street Journal reports that debt-laden mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. has changed bankruptcy counsel, parting with Sidley Austin LLP to hire Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

General Growth, which owns and manages more than 200 U.S. malls, is struggling to restructure or postpone payment on $27 billion in debt as large installments of it come due in the coming months. The Chicago company hasn't filed for bankruptcy protection but has warned that it might need to do so if it can't sell assets or win agreement on deadline extensions with its lenders.

The Journal reports that General Growth is the second-largest U.S. mall owner by number of properties, after Simon Property Group Inc., and that among General Growth's prominent holdings are Ala Moana Center in Honolulu, Water Tower Place in Chicago and Faneuil Hall in Boston.

What the Journal doesn't report are a couple of other holdings of General Growth Properties, such as Perimeter Mall and Cumberland Mall. Just as all politics is local, in this recession all bad news has been and will continue to be local also.