A company that started in Iowa — and owns shopping malls in 44 states — is navigating troubled financial waters. In 1954 two brothers, Martin and Mathew Bucksbaum, turned the grocery store they owned in Cedar Rapids into a shopping mall, one of the first shopping centers in the Midwest.
It grew into General Growth Properties , a firm which owns more than two-hundred shopping malls in the U.S. The company is now a real estate investment trust, which means it sells its stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s chief financial officer was replaced earlier this month after he sold off lots of company stock and industry experts say the firm is ripe for a take-over.
General Growth owns three shopping malls in Iowa — the Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines, Cedar Ridge Mall in Coralville and Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs. It also manages the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids. General Growth has three "planned communities" in Texas, Nevada and Maryland — and it owns commercial office buildings, too.