A.D. Pruitt Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP) said Tuesday it is under contract to buy Plaza Frontenac, a 500,000-square-foot luxury mall in St. Louis. The property, built in 1974, had been put on the block by Perlmutter Investment Co.'s Davis Street Land Co. and Verizon Communications Inc.'s (VZ) pension fund. General Growth's chief executive, Sandeep Mathrani, said during the company's earnings call that it plans to pursue a joint venture with an institutional investor for the mall. General Growth, the nation's second-largest mall owner behind Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG), owns and has a management interest in 166 malls in 43 states. The company's portfolio totals 169 million square feet of space. -By A.D. Pruitt, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2197; angela.pruitt@dowjones.com
