Hey Buddy, Wanna Buy A Maul?

As expected, America's second-largest mall owner, General Growth Properties, has filed for bankruptcy.

General Growth, which owns more than 200 shopping malls in the U.S., sought Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The company listed $29.5 billion in total assets and debts of about $27.3 billion, making it the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.

“While we have worked tirelessly in the past several months to address our maturing debts, the collapse of the credit markets has made it impossible for us to refinance maturing debt outside of Chapter 11,” Chief Executive Officer Adam Metz said in a statement today.

The filing lists Eurohypo AG, a unit of Commerzbank AG, as General Growth’s largest unsecured creditor with claims totaling $2.6 billion under two loans. Noteholders are owed about $4 billion in total. Much of the company’s debt can be traced to its $11.3 billion purchase of commercial-property developer Rouse Co. in 2004.

The Chicago-based company lost 81 percent of its market value in six months after saying repeatedly it may have to file for bankruptcy. General Growth closed at $1.05 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, valuing the company at $329 million. The shares traded as high as $67 in March 2007.

In order to satisfy creditors, how many mall properties will GGP have to sell? How many will have to close, and how many thousands of jobs will be lost? Remember, GGP had to declare bankruptcy due to debt from purchasing another mall developer company. The commercial real estate market is a disaster right now, and it's only getting started.

Who will get GGP's property? With values dropping nationally, who would want them? How many of those 200 malls will end up shuttered for good?