The South Portlander

Maine Mall owner General Growth Properties has hired bankruptcy counsel, MarketWatch is reporting.
Chicago-based General Growth disclosed last week that it may be forced to file for bankruptcy, because it has been unable to refinance $900 million in debt that is due Nov. 28, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The law firm Sidley Austin has been retained.
The company—which owns 200 shopping malls—has been trying to extend the deadline to allow for time to sell some assets or renegotiate its debt. Goldman Sachs is overseeing GGP’s efforts to sell some of its malls to raise cash.
The Journal described the potential failure of GGP—a real estate trust—as the largest of its kind in recent retail history. The Maine Mall would continue to stay open and operate, should GGP file for bankruptcy.

Local historian Kathy DiPhilippo sent the following press release:
On Thursday, November 20th, the South Portland Historical Society will conclude its 2008 Evening Chat series with a program entitled, “The Sardine Industry of Portland and South Portland in the 1900s.” In earlier days, the sardine factory horns were part of everyday life.  These whistles would alert workers that the herring boat had come in with its catch and it was time to come to work.  Indeed, sardine canning factories once abounded along the Maine coast, and have gradually closed over the years leaving only one factory still in operation in Maine today.
Evening Chats are oral history discussion events that are taped by SPC-TV for preservation and for broadcast at a later date. This event will take place at South Portland City Hall in the Council Chambers.  Participants are welcome to arrive at 6:15pm for light refreshments and actories. Whether you have a first-hand account to share, or if you just want to come and listen, everyone is welcome to attend. chance to meet other participants; the Chat will begin promptly at 6:30pm with a documentary film about the early sardine industry and the Brawn Company, a sardine canning factory in Portland owned and operated by the Brawn family of Cushing’s Point, South Portland.
The film will be followed by a slide show of images of South Portland’s sardine factories in Ferry Village, followed by open discussion among participants who either worked in, or lived near, the local sardine factories.
The 2008 Evening Chat Series is a program of the South Portland Historical Society, made possible with the support of the Maine Humanities Council, and in collaboration with South Portland Community Television.

City Manager Jim Gailey (right) and Councilor Jim Hughes present the West End Trails Committee with a gift: a sign to mark the beginning of the new Clark’s Pond Trail. Gailey and Hughes presented the gift during the group’s meeting at the Western Avenue Fire Station. Councilor-elect Tom Coward and planning board member Mark Gandolfo also attended the meeting, which was run by city councilor and trail committee member Tom Blake and South Portland Land Trust head Richard Rottkov. During the meeting, the West End group presented a slide show summarizing its accomplishments over the past three years and discussed its plans for future development of hiking and walking trails and bike trails in the city’s West End, near the Maine Mall. Gailey said the city will give six more signs to the group to help mark the trail.

As if South Portland needs more grim news about shutdowns in the local economy… IntelliCare Inc. has announced it will close early next year. The company, which is owned by New Jersey-based Medco Health Solutions, employs 250 people, including 100 at its South Portland office. The rest tele-commute from Maine and across the nation.
IntelliCare offers phone consultations from trained nurses, as well as other types of medical-related call services.
The company’s Web site states that IntelliCare’s “24 x 7 nurse advice line and non-clinical health call center services allow healthcare companies to intelligently connect, communicate and empower their patients with the right health information.”
About two dozen of Intellicare’s workers will have the opportunity to work for Medco in similar positions.

Maine Mall owner General Growth Properties has warned it may be forced to file for bankruptcy, as it faces a Dec. 1 deadline on $1 billion worth of debt and struggles to refinance payments in the tight credit market.
But the Maine Mall owner did just meet its latest South Portland property tax payment.
This week, the city received a GGP check for $828,000 to cover the quarterly property tax bill on the shopping mall. The company also paid SoPo property taxes on other mall-area properties it owns. The payments cover the second quarter of the 2008-09 tax year.