PORTLAND (AP) – General Growth Properties, a Chicago-based company that owns or manages 163 malls in 39 states, is poised to add the Maine Mall in South Portland to its portfolio at a reported price of $270 million.

“It’s huge. It’s tremendously high,” said Donna Knipp, a senior writer for Real Estate Alert, the commercial real estate industry newsletter which reported the price for Maine’s largest retail property.

Tom DeSimone, executive vice president of S. R. Weiner, one of the owners of the 32-year-old mall, confirmed that General Growth is buying the property and said the closing is likely to take place during the first week of November. He declined to comment on the price.

A spokeswoman for General Growth declined to comment and said the company only confirms purchases after the sale is complete.

When the Maine Mall first went on the market in June, there was speculation that it could fetch up to $250 million. Knipp said the bidding between General Growth and Simon Property Group, the current manager of the mall, pushed the final sale price beyond that point.

General Growth and Simon Property are the two largest mall owners and managers in the country.

The Maine Mall is one of the crown jewels to come on the market in recent years, with 1.2 million square feet of selling space. Its sales per square foot of $465 are about 40 percent above the national average.

“We call them trophy malls,” Knipp said of the Maine Mall and a handful of other prime properties that have changed hands recently.

General Growth has been among the leaders in a wave of consolidation in the shopping center industry.

Since July, it has purchased major malls in St. Louis, Albuquerque, N.M., and Virginia Beach, Va.

General Growth owns or manages eight malls in New England. It manages the Auburn Mall, which has nearly 300,000 square feet of selling space.