When Walt Petrie bought out his development partners two years ago to become the sole owner of City Place Mall in Silver Spring, he had a vision to revive the 27-year-old mall, which suffered from vacant or temporarily leased storefronts and dwindling shoppers.

As part of that vision, a 210,000-square-foot, nine story office tower would finally be built on top of the mall, after years of delay. A prominent new façade on the corner of Fenton Street and Colesville Road would welcome shoppers inside, an upgrade over the drab, concealed façade that currently goes unnoticed by the thousands of rush-hour drivers that crawl past it. Read more...

Carolina Place mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. has received proposals to receive $3.9 billion from two investment firms. The company hopes a capital infusion will help speed its exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Pershing Square Capital Management of New York, one of General Growth’s largest equity holders, and Fairholme Capital Management of New Jersey, one of its largest unsecured creditors, offered the funds at a value of $15 per share. Read more...

Benton Township - The Overflow Church wants to move its worship services and community outreach programs into the old Sears store at the Orchards Mall.

But the mall owner is trying to stop the move. Read more...

Giant banners, kites, beach balls and photographs hang suspended over the heads of shoppers at Lenox Square mall. Their message is consistent and insistent: Come spend money in South Carolina.

With unemployment in double digits, Georgia officials would prefer that state residents opt for “stay-cations” and keep their money inside the border. Read more...

Atlanta - The local retail sector presents opportunities for investors, especially those from outside Georgia and, for that matter, the US. Continued declines in job and population growth, along with weak consumer sentiment, will likely mean minimal development of new centers plus the possibility of more distressed properties coming to market.

Once a beacon of the booming national economy, Atlanta is now expected to lag many of the nation’s major metropolitan markets in the expected recovery. Besides weak housing conditions and severe job losses, the local population grew at its slowest rate in the past 30 years, according to a research report by Marcus & Millichap. Read more...

Shopping malls, those bastions of American consumerism, have not been immune to the recent economic downturn. In a recent piece by our own Greg Lindsay, we looked at the impending decline of the mall, which is part of the "single-use environment" category of real estate development that will slowly disappear over the next thirty years, according to one developer. But what will replace these environments, and more importantly, what will happen to the massive malls of today? Read more...

San Francisco - Online retail sales in the United States could reach $248.7 billion by 2014, growing 60 percent from 2009, according to a study released on Monday.

Driven by a 10 percent compound annual growth rate, the projected $248.7 billion is expected to account for 8 percent of total U.S. retail sales within five years, according to Forrester Research, which authored the study. Read more...

Mankato — Pat Rist’s latest piece of jewelry is so much more than a fashion statement.

It’s a fundraiser, a conversation starter and a reminder — of her 5-year-old autistic grandson who is among the estimated one of out 150 Americans affected by autism spectrum disorders.

“We are so amazed at the progress he’s made,” Rist said. “And a lot of people don’t know the help that’s out there.” Read more...

Niles - It was wrapping around center court, snaking down the concourse past dozens of in-line stores all the way to the Dillard's Department Store, where it broke off only to begin again down an adjacent corridor to the doors leading outside. The line contained thousands of people gathered inside Eastwood Mall waiting for their chance to be part of something they love. Read more...

Knoxville, Tenn. – The first week of March will be a busy one for the Knox County School System.

It kicked off Monday morning with the first day of meetings for the newly formed Safety Review Committee. The 16 member panel will meet at times over 48 hours in an effort to review, analyze and assess Knox County’s school security protocols and human resource procedures. Read more...