Boca Raton’s Mizner Park Cinema has shuttered for a renovation and retrofit project and will reopen in the fall, owner General Growth Properties told the Palm Beach Post. The theater’s operations were most recently in the hands of Frank Theatres, which took over from Sunrise Cinemas after it was hit with an eviction lawsuit in March for over $90,000 in allegedly overdue rent payments. Mizner Park’s general manager said the theater closed at the end of December. [Palm Beach Post]

General Growth Properties, owner of Mizner Park mall in Boca Raton, will file its Chapter 11 reorganization plan on or around July 9, Crain’s reported. General Growth asked for one extension until Oct. 18 to file the plan and another extension until Dec. 16 to solicit acceptances of any plan. The extra time would allow them to explore all financing options. The company, which also owns about 200 shopping malls nationwide, filed for Chapter 11 last April, the biggest real estate bankruptcy case in U.S. history. [Crain's]

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Still hoping that bankrupt mall owner General Growth Properties will have a change of heart, rival Simon Property Group has upped its takeover plan by $1.1 billion and added four financial backers to its proposal. General Growth, which balked at Simon’s $10 billion February buyout offer, has since backed a proposal by Brookfield Asset Management. The additional investment by Simon, which said last week it would match the terms of Brookfield’s proposal, comes on top of the $2.5 billion the company has already pledged, plus $1 billion from New York hedge fund Paulson & Co. ING Clarion Real Estate Securities, Taconic Capital Advisors, Oak Hill Advisors and Deutsche Bank AG’s RREEF unit will also join the plan. Critics have said a Simon takeover would raise antitrust issues. “Would Pepsi allow Coke to become its largest shareholder?” asked Cryus Madon, Brookfield’s senior managing partner. CEO David Simon is reportedly scheduled to meet with General Growth officials today in Chicago. [Bloomberg]

Simon Property Group topped the list of the biggest retail property owners with total U.S. holdings at 245 million square feet, according to a ranking by Retail Traffic Magazine. General Growth Properties, the owner of South Street Seaport in New York City and Mizner Park in Boca Raton, which has been fielding reorganization options to exit bankruptcy, ranked second with approximately 182.6 million square feet of retail space in its portfolio. Developers Diversified Realty, Kimco Realty and Centro Properties Group were the fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. TRD

As Simon Property Group prepares to step up its game in its bid to take over bankrupt mall owner General Growth Properties, Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to bring two new hedge funds into its competing plan. Elliott Associates and Paulson & Co. are reportedly in talks to join Brookfield in its bankruptcy exit plan for General Growth, either as replacements for or additions to Fairholme Capital Management and Pershing Square Capital Management, which have already committed to their involvement. Luxor Capital Group and other funds may also be involved, sources told Bloomberg. “Even with Brookfield-Fairholme-Pershing’s commitment, [General Growth] management has been seeking to raise additional capital at more attractive terms,” said analyst Benjamin Yang of Keefe Bruyette & Woods, who was not surprised by reports of the latest negotiations. General Growth, which owns Mizner Park in Boca Raton, rejected a $10 million buyout offer by competitor Simon Property Group last month that amounted to $9 per share, and Simon is said to be prepping another offer. As it stands, the Brookfield deal, which is pending bankruptcy court approval, would result in $15 per share for equity holders. [Bloomberg]

Simon Property Group is reportedly ready to up the ante in its bid to buy out rival shopping mall owner General Growth Properties over its competitors. General Growth, which owns Mizner Park in Boca Raton, filed for the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history last year with $27 billion in debt. Simon had offered
$10 billion, or $9 per share, to buy out its bankrupt rival last month, but General Growth reportedly balked at what it said was a low-ball offer. Meanwhile, General Growth has praised another $2.5 billion offer from Brookfield Asset Management
that amounts to $15 per share. The deal, which is pending bankruptcy court approval, would also split the company in two and give Brookfield a 30 percent stake. Simon’s new offer for more than $15 per share could come as early as this week, the Associated Press reported. [AP via Crain’s]

Bankrupt mall owner General Growth Properties is weighing its options amid what’s turning out to be a heated battle over the company’s future. After rejecting outright an buyout offer from Simon Property Group, General Growth is now pushing for a deal in principle with Brookfield Asset Management that would split the company in two. There may still be more offers yet to come: General Growth president and COO Thomas Nolan testified in bankruptcy court this week that “four or five” non-disclosure agreements have been signed by potential bidders who want to look at the company’s numbers. In the video above, the Wall Street Journal chats with Nolan about the offers and what’s next for General Growth.

Mizer Park, the Boca Raton mall owned by bankrupt General Growth Properties, has filed a lawsuit to evict Sunrise Cinemas from its eight-theater house on the property. The Broward-based company, which has been operating at Mizner Park since 2000, is almost $90,000 behind on its rent, the suit alleges. Sunrise Cinemas owns seven movie theaters in South Florida. [Sun Sentinel]

General Growth Properties, one of the largest mall property managers in the country and owner of Mizner Park in Boca Raton, is planning to launch an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, according to the Associated Press. GGP had filed for bankruptcy protection last April — the largest real estate bankruptcy case ever recorded in the U.S. — and has recently been the target of investment and buyout offers from other companies. Simon Property Group offered to buy the company outright in February for $10 billion, but was turned down. Canadian group Brookfield Asset Management, however, saw its $2.5 billion investment offer last week accepted, a move that allowed GGP to exit Chapter 11 protection.

General Growth Properties is receiving a $2.5 billion shot in the arm from Canadian property manager Brookfield Asset Management that will allow the shopping mall giant to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced today. Brookfield will invest the funds in exchange for a 30 percent stake in General Growth, the second largest mall owner in the country, whose portfolio includes the Mizner Park mall in Boca Raton. General Growth, which filed for the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history last year with $27 billion in debt, said shareholders would receive $15 per share in the deal, which is pending bankruptcy court approval. The company also plans to raise up to $5.8 billion in cash to repay its creditors and to create a new company for some of its existing assets. Last week, Indianapolis-based competitor Simon Property Group  offered to buy out General Growth for $10 billion, or $9 per share, including $9 billion in cash. General Growth dismissed the offer as low-ball. [AP via Crain's]