Inside the shopping center, most of the store space is filled with able retail tenants. The owner, General Growth Properties, is the nation's second largest owner of shopping malls.
Some are not doing so well.
After months of juggling $27 billion in debt, General Growth has filed for bankruptcy. Retail experts say that does not mean Southpoint will close.
However, there is a question about property taxes.
Durham County collects a total of about $200 million a year in property taxes. Southpoint mall makes up one percent of the county's property tax budget. That adds up to more than $2 million a year in revenue for Durham County -- just from Southpoint.
With a bankruptcy, those payments to a county, which is already making cuts, could now be stalled.
