While it was not a shock to General Growth Properties officials, Wilsons the Leather Experts Inc. announced it is closing 111 stores across the US, including the Ford City Mall on the city's Southwest Side. A joint venture team formed by Hilco Merchant Resources,LLC, Gordon Brothers Group LLC, and Hilco Real Estate, LLC are handling the store closings.

Just as February means the arrival of pitchers and catchers to major-league spring training camps in Arizona and Florida, the beginning of the year now seems to mean a round of store closings and bankruptcy filings. Among those waving white flags this year are FAO Schwarz, KB Toys and Illuminations, notes president and COO Robert Michaels.

And before the REIT makes a foray across the Atlantic Ocean, it has an opening of a 1.7-million-sf, $200-million Jordan Creek Town Center in West Des Moines, IA, coming up in August. The center is 90% pre-leased, with retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn set to open their first outlets in the state, which ensures the REIT will see double-digit returns from the project.

Meanwhile, the REIT hopes to land a major department store chain, big-box retailers and restaurants to its 750,000-sf the Shops at Gateway Crossings in Maumee, OH, which is scheduled to open in 2006. The lifestyle center outside Toledo is an open-air development.

After spending $2 billion on 17 malls last year, General Growth Properties sees the same amount of opportunities this year, suggests CEO John Bucksbaum, though he offers no prediction in Tuesday's earnings conference call. However, he did concede the REIT has explored overseas acquisitions.

"We've looked at a number of things. I think it's only a natural extension of our business," he says.