General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based company that owns Towson Towne Center, as well as White Marsh Mall and Owings Mills Mall, is the subject of a hostile takeover bid by the nation's largest shopping center operator, Simon Property Group of Indianapolis.

Simon announced that it was offering $10 billion for General Growth, which has been in bankruptcy proceedings to reorganize its debts on 160 of its 200 properties.

In Baltimore, General Growth owns Harborplace, The Gallery, Cross Keys and the Mondawmin shopping center.

In Howard County, General Growth owns much of the land in downtown Columbia and the Mall in Columbia.

An announcement on the Simon Property Group's Web site cited recent correspondence from Simon executives to General Growth's board of directors, urging them to respond to the bid.

"It has now been more than a week since we met with your lead director, your CEO and your financial advisors and formally proposed to acquire GGP," reads a Feb. 16 letter from David Simon, the company's CEO. "We have not received a substantive response to this offer from GGP or its advisers, nor any indication that you are prepared to enter into serious discussions so as to make our offer available to your shareholders and creditors.

"Accordingly, we are today making our offer public."

General Growth officials later released a statement regarding Simon's proposal, saying it's being considered among other options -- including "stand-alone restructuring funded with institutional equity capital as well as potential business combinations" -- as the company works to emerge from bankruptcy.

General Growth, based in Chicago and the nation's second-largest owner of malls, has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since April 2009. Officials had said the bankruptcy was to restructure debt and receive protection from creditors.

Simon's interest no surprise

The offer from Simon, which already owns Arundel Mills and Marley Station malls in Anne Arundel County and Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, comes on the heels of a change to Howard County's master plan that would allow General Growth to rebuild downtown Columbia over 30 years.

The legislation, approved this month, allows GGP -- or any successor -- to potentially bring 5,500 new residential units, 5 million square feet of office space and 1.25 million square feet of retail space to Columbia.

The opportunity to redevelop Columbia is seen as a likely trigger for the offer.

"Simon's interest in GGP has not been the world's best-kept secret," said David Yungmann, founder of the New City Alliance, a Howard County group that supports redevelopment.

"Simon was one of the potential buyers for (Columbia's original developer, the Rouse Co.)," he said, "and I think it's always bugged them that they didn't get it."

Staff writer Jennifer Broadwater contributed to this article.

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