A report released Wednesday criticizes national mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP) for receiving millions of dollars from public subsidies and tax appeals, but the firm maintains it stirs economic development in the Baltimore area.
In 2006, GGP, with about $1.5 billion in property in the Baltimore area, received a $15 million tax subsidy from Baltimore City and a $1.8 million grant from Maryland?s Department of Business and Economic Development, according to the report, released by Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research center based in Washington.
The tax subsidy will fund redevelopment of GGP?s Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore.
“Big sums of money shouldn?t be flowing to big companies like GGP,” said Philip Mattera, research director with Good Jobs First. “GGP should be paying for its own expenses and renovations and not take money away from vital public services like education and safety.”
Mondawmin Mall generates $700,000 in property tax revenue and $3.5 million in sales-tax revenue per year, said Jim Graham, spokesman for GGP. The mall employs about 1,000 people.
Baltimore City had to approve the tax subsidy for GGP, Graham said.
“We are a thriving economic engine for the community of Baltimore,” Graham said.
Community and Service Employees International Union members rallied against companies like GGP in McKeldin Square on Wednesday.
“Companies like General Growth need to do more than build malls,” said Jaime Contreras, district chairman of the SEIU. “They need to be partners in building communities.”
“No one here is against development, but we must demand that development benefits everyone in the city,” said Song Merchant-Jones, chairwoman of the Baltimore City Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. “The inner city must benefit from this development.”
In addition to Mondawmin Mall, GGP, the nation?s second-largest mall owner, owns Towson Town Center, Owings Mills Mall, Harborplace and The Gallery, White Marsh Mall and The Mall in Columbia.
