The story
Founded by Howard Hughes in 1913.1
General Growth Properties filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009. The company proposed a reorganization plan that included spinning off a new company named General Growth Opportunities, which would include those properties that had long-term development potential but little or no income. The name of the proposed spin-off was later changed to The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC). The spin-off of HHC to GGP's shareholders was completed on November 9, 2010, when GGP exited bankruptcy. The new company held a portfolio that included GGP's master planned communities, mixed-use developments, and undeveloped land. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was appointed chairman of the new company.
In 2019, in response to investor disappointment with the company's stock price, HHC conducted a review of strategic options, including the possibility of selling the company. Ultimately, the company announced a "transformation plan", under which it would focus on its master-planned communities and sell off $2 billion of non-core assets. HHC moved its headquarters from Dallas to The Woodlands in 2020 as a cost-cutting measure under this plan.
The company acquired its sixth master-planned community in 2021, purchasing the 37,000-acre Douglas Ranch development in the Phoenix area (later renamed to Teravalis) for $600 million.
In 2023, HHC reorganized itself as a holding company named Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH), with the Howard Hughes Corporation as a subsidiary. It then moved its entertainment-related properties into a new division, Seaport Entertainment, which it planned to spin off to shareholders by the end of 2024. Seaport Entertainment's assets would include the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, the Las Vegas Aviators baseball team, the air rights to develop a casino at Fashion Show Mall on the Las Vegas Strip, and a minority stake in Jean-Georges Restaurants. The spinoff was completed in August 2024.
In May 2025, HHH agreed to a $900 million investment from Bill Ackman's company, Pershing Square Capital Management, raising Pershing's ownership stake to 47 percent. Ackman rejoined HHH as executive chairman and described plans to transform it into a diversified holding company, modeled on Berkshire Hathaway. In a step toward this strategy, HHH agreed later that year to acquire Vantage Group Holdings, a reinsurance and specialty insurance firm, for $2.1 billion. Ackman hoped that the finances of an insurance company would serve as a foundation for HHH to acquire controlling stakes in other smaller companies.
From Wikipedia’s article on Howard Hughes Holdings, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6