General Growth Properties, the nation's second-largest shopping mall operator, said it will consider selling one or more of its four Hawai'i properties (which include Ala Moana Center) as the company flirting with bankruptcy struggles for a way to pay off maturing debts.

The Chicago-based firm also said it has retained a real estate investment banking firm to find a development partner, or potentially a buyer, for Ward Centers as it pursues a 20-year redevelopment plan for the 60-acre property in Kaka'ako.

General Growth is grappling with how to retire about $3 billion in debt maturing next year and another $900 million that is already past due, after recent hemorrhaging in global financial markets made it unlikely the company can refinance mortgages on its malls.

Two Las Vegas shopping centers, Fashion Show Mall and the Shoppes at the Palazzo, are tied to $900 million in mortgage debt that came due Nov. 28 but received a two-week extension that expires today.

General Growth in October announced it will try to sell the two Las Vegas malls in an effort to retire the near-term debt. But more debt coming due next year has forced General Growth to consider the sale of anything in its portfolio.

"We haven't ruled any (property) out," said Jim Graham, a General Growth spokesman in Chicago.

General Growth owns close to 200 shopping malls, including four in Hawai'i — Ala Moana, Ward Centers, Prince Kuhio Plaza on the Big Island and Whaler's Village on Maui. The company also manages several other Hawai'i malls.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Eastdil Secured were retained by General Growth to broker a sale of the Las Vegas malls. Eastdil, according to Graham, also is trying to find a partner willing to co-develop the Ward Centers plan, which is envisioned as a mix of retail and as many as 20 residential high-rises.

"We still intend to move forward with that," he said. "It's a project we have worked hard to develop."

But Graham said Ward Centers, like other shopping complexes General Growth owns, is available for sale if someone makes an acceptable offer.

"It will be a big price tag and hard for a lot of people to afford," he said.

General Growth bought Ward Centers in 2002 for $250 million, and has completed some additions since then. The company bought Ala Moana Center in 1999 for $810 million and has significantly expanded the mall since then.

However, General Growth also carries significant debt on both centers — $217 million on Ward Centers and $1.5 billion on Ala Moana, according to the company's most recent annual report, filed in February.

Shares of General Growth closed down 18 cents yesterday at $1.44.

That was up from a recent low of 35 cents on Nov. 13 but far below the year-ago high of $45.43.