“…and the whole clientele changed to really scary gangter-looking people. I stopped going, so did a lot of people who were scared by the new crowd shopping there. That’s probably part of the reasons it went under.”

Having been on the receiving end of some very serious anti-Semitism in my neighborhood just last week, with absolutely no rationale to even try to mitigate why anyone would feel the way the individual did, I’m going to be blunt:

Either describe what scary is to you and what you’ve experienced at the Beachwood Mall that would cause people to be scared, or don’t leave comments in thin racist code.

I’ve been there plenty before and after your five year mark, and I haven’t seen anything I’d call “really scary gangster-looking people” nor have I been “scared by the new crowd shopping there.”

Who is the “new crowd?” If they’re shopping there, then why would they be a reason for the mall to go under – the mall went under because people are NOT shopping there.

I’m happy to get contributions and if you’ve got stats or anecdotes that demonstrate an increase in crime of any type, then let it rip.

But do not use this post as a racist launching pad.

The Jewish gangsters in Vegas were scary – you’ve been seeing them in the Beachwood Mall? Some sub-prime mortgage brokers are crazy scary to me – are you talking about them?

Don’t do it. Just do not do it. Start your own blog if you want to spread prejudice-based fears.

And again, if you want to comment here, great, but you need to stop taking things out of context and putting words and thoughts into this post and what you think I’ve written ie:

“It has nothing to do with Beachwood Mall or no women officers (not necessarily no female members of the board or in upper management). How silly.”

Again, by writing that, you completely undermine giving people the idea that you can make a logical argument.

Due to the credit freeze, they were unable to refinance that debt.

Now, you claim, “No way, no how seven to eight months since the first bailouts in late Sept. that that’s the case with these malls – nuh-uh.”

Yes way. GGP had $27.3 billion in debt that came due. The timing of the bailouts months ago had nothing to do with it. Bank lenders are still very wary of lending to any corporation with large debt to equity ratios (92% in this case), even a huge REIT player like GGP that has billions in tangible real estate assets.

The credit markets had everything to do with this. It has nothing to do with Beachwood Mall or no women officers (not necessarily no female members of the board or in upper management). How silly.

My experiences indicate that the crunch is far from over. I just don’t happen to think that they had a ton to do with the bad decision-making that led to expanding the mall. Compound it, sure. Catalyst for it – nope. Not even close.

You sound rather defensive.

Uh huh…