NEW YORK -- The company that owns Beachwood Place in Beachwood, as well as more than 200 other shopping malls across the U.S., could be filing for bankruptcy. Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. stock fell more than 68 percent Tuesday.

That's the most ever in New York trading after saying it may seek creditor protection if plans to refinance $958 million in debt by Dec. 1 do not succeed, according to financial Web site Bloomberg.com

GGP may not be able to refinance or reschedule the loans because of the crisis in the credit markets, according to a filing the Chicago-based company made after the close of regular trading Monday.

It may also fail to rearrange $3.07 billion in debt maturing next year, General Growth said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, according to Bloomberg.com.

Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden does not believe Beachwood Place is going anywhere. He says it is a premier location for General Growth Properties.

"Beachwood Mall has approximately 150 retail locations in the mall and as far as I know they are doing exceptionally well," he says.

"Fortunately the City of Beachwood is very stable even though in a trying economy when everyone else is having issues we haven't faced those issues and I'm very proud of it." 

Besides Beachwood Place, GGP is the parent company of three other Ohio malls as well as the Galleria in Dallas and more than 200 other malls nationwide.

General Growth is the largest U.S. shopping-mall owner after Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group inc.

General Growth said last week that its third-quarter net loss widened to $15.4 million, or 6 cents a share, from $9.4 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier.

Bloomberg also reported Tuesday that GGP stock fell 93 cents, or 68 percent, to 44 cents at 11:26 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

It traded as low as 33 cents Tuesday morning. Tuesday's decline was the biggest for General Growth since its April, 1993 initial public offering of shares.

GGP has lost more than 98 percent of its market value this year alone.

General Growth's problems stem from its $11.3 billion purchase of Rouse Co. in 2004, financed almost completely with debt, leaving the company highly leveraged ever since, according to Bloomberg quoting Rich Moore, managing director at RBC Capital Markets in Cleveland.

General Growth owns, develops, operates, and/or manages shopping malls in 44 states, as well as Master Planned Communities in three states, including Summerlin in Nevada, The Woodlands and Bridgeland in Texas, and Columbia in Maryland.