Tag Archives: Century Plaza

Yeah, Century Plaza is closed

The Birmingham News recently shared the news that Century Plaza had officially closed (save for the Sears location which will still be open through June 14) effective Sunday evening.

NBC 13 provided visitors to their website the chance to read the press release from the mall’s owner, General Growth Properties, distributed yesterday morning while Fox 6 garnered comments from city councilmember Carol Duncan and others, leading us to today’s Magic City Question,

What should happen with Century Plaza?

Owner of Century Plaza files for bankruptcy

General Growth Properties (GGP) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early this morning, as first reported by The New York Times and as announced via press release on GGP’s website. The release states that day to day operations will not be affected by the filing in New York. The New York Times’ blog post also speculates about the company looking to sell off properties to help emerge out of bankruptcy as soon as possible. It is reportedly the largest real estate bankruptcy filing in the nation’s history at $27 billion.

Birmingham’s Century Plaza is on the list of properties included in the filing. GGP also operates the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, however it was not included in the list of properties since the company only serves as a management agent for one of Alabama’s top shopping destinations.

In February it was announced that the last anchor store at Century Plaza, Sears, had planned to close at the end of May – its already done so.

Century Plaza losing last anchor store

The Birmingham News is reporting that Sears Holdings, Inc. has announced plans to close the Sears location at Century Plaza this spring, citing “business reasons.”

The department store was the last of the major anchor stores that once called the 34-year old mall home. 

The announcement was made one day after it was reported that Century Plaza’s owner, Chicago’s General Growth Properties, owes more than $1.2 billion in debt and that they are investigating alternative financing solutions. If they cannot find one, the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

The location is tentatively set to close on May 31, after which you may find some of the 79 employees at the other Birmingham area locations in Fairfield and at The Galleria.