General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago-based owner of three of the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area's largest shopping malls, has taken dramatic steps in the last couple of weeks to try to ease a massive debt burden that analysts say is threatening the company.

General Growth is the second-largest U.S. mall owner, and its properties include the 1 million-square-foot NorthTown Mall, on Spokane's North Side; the 740,000-square-foot Spokane Valley Mall; and the 330,000-square-foot Silver Lake Mall, in Coeur d'Alene.

Late last month, the company replaced both its CEO and its president and put three luxury Las Vegas malls up for sale in an effort to reverse a downward slide that has caused its stock price to plummet by more than 90 percent, from more than $51 a share a year ago to less than $4 early this week.

General Growth, a real estate investment trust that's traded on the New York Stock Exchange, became owner of the three malls here in 2002 when it acquired Salt Lake City-based JP Realty Inc. in a $1.1 billion transaction that included 18 regional malls and 26 community shopping centers. Since then, the company has continued to pursue an aggressive expansion strategy, amassing more than 200 regional shopping centers in all with a total of more than 200 million square feet of retail space, but also accumulating more than $27 billion in debt.

As of June 30, that debt included $73.4 million owed on NorthTown Mall and $41.2 million owed on Spokane Valley Mall, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a corporate shakeup, the company announced last week that it was replacing CEO John Bucksbaum, a member of the founding Bucksbaum family, and President Robert Michaels with independent directors, serving in interim roles, though Bucksbaum and Michaels will remain as board chairman and chief operating officer, respectively.

It announced at the same time that it has put up for sale its portfolio of retail properties in Las Vegas in an effort to raise capital and pay down debt. Those properties include the 1.9 million-square-foot Fashion Show mall, the 510,000-square-foot Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian, and the 450,000-square-foot Shoppes at the Palazzo. The company claims on its Web site that Fashion Show is one of the top 10 malls in the U.S. both in size and sales volume and is the largest shopping center on busy Las Vegas Boulevard, also known as The Strip.

General Growth has $900 million in variable-rate mortgages coming due Nov. 28 on the Fashion Show and Palazzo malls, an SEC filing shows, and the company said in its news release last week that it is working with lenders to extend that date. Though it doesn't have the cash on hand to pay the debt, it said that it still is current on all of its debt obligations.

Along with the executive changes, the company said it had learned recently that an affiliate of a Bucksbaum trust had made unsecured loans of $90 million to former Chief Financial Officer Bernie Freibaum and $10 million to Michaels to help them pay personal margin loans they used to buy General Growth stock.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the discovery of those loans spurred the board to shuffle the company's executive ranks.

General Growth said the failure of those involved to disclose those loans to the company's board violated internal policy, but that no company assets or resources were involved in the loans, and no SEC rules were violated. It said in the latest news release that Freibaum still owes $80 million of his $90 million loan, but that Michaels has paid off his $10 million loan.

The company announced Oct. 3 that it was suspending the payment of common stock dividends due to uncertainty in the capital markets.

General Growth said that its board and management team, along with its financial and legal advisers, "continue to be fully engaged in a comprehensive evaluation of all financial and strategic alternatives for the company, including but not limited to, asset sales, joint ventures, corporate level capital infusions, and broader strategic business combinations."

John Bucksbaum, the ousted CEO, is the son of Matthew Bucksbaum, who together with his brother, Martin, started General Growth in 1954 with a single shopping center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The company's Web site says it employs about 4,200 people nationwide and that its malls include about 24,000 retail stores, as well as theaters, restaurants, and various forms of family entertainment.

The Web site shows that along with the properties here, General Growth owns five other malls in Washington, three other malls in Idaho, and five in Oregon.