General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago-based shopping-mall owner whose shares have fallen 95 percent this year, has replaced CEO John Bucksbaum with interim CEO Adam S. Metz.

Bucksbaum, 52, who resigned Sunday, will remain General Growth's chairman, the company said in a regulatory filing. Thomas H. Nolan Jr. will be interim president in place of Robert Michaels, who resigned yesterday. Michaels will remain General Growth's chief operating officer, and will gave up his seat on the company's board.

General Growth's shares have tumbled on concern that the firm won't be able to refinance about $1.2 billion of debt due this year. The debt stems partly from its $11.3 billion purchase of Rouse Co. in 2004.

General Growth said yesterday it hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Eastdil Secured to help sell its retail properties in Las Vegas: Fashion Show Mall, Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian and the Shoppes at the Palazzo. The company is reviewing "all financial and strategic alternatives," according to the filing.

General Growth's Hawai'i holdings include Ala Moana Center and Ward Centers.

"We recognize that we are facing unprecedented challenges in this economic environment, and we are committed to working with all our stakeholders to achieve a successful outcome to our strategic review process," Metz, 47, said in the filing.

General Growth shares fell 20 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $1.97 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. Its 95 percent decline this year compares with a 47 percent drop in the Bloomberg Real Estate Trust Index and the 42 percent decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.