Prominent Northeast Ohio shopping center developer John R. McGill, owner of Jupiter, Fla.-based McGill Property Group, is undergoing voluntary bankruptcy reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of South Florida, according to federal court records.

Personal guarantees by Mr. McGill for bank loans on shopping center developments in seven states account for much of the $140 million in debt that prompted the May 15 filing in the West Palm Beach, Fla., federal court.

Mr. McGill listed assets of $18 million in the filing. He asked the court to exempt a $5.5 million home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., from the bankruptcy.

Shopping centers in Amherst and Bainbridge are among those listed in the filings, as well as a $1.2 million judgment that the state of Ohio obtained in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court over environmental clean-up disputes at City View Center in Garfield Heights. McGill Property Group sold the shopping center in late 2007; the new owner has since defaulted on the $100 million purchase after the center lost several tenants.

Mr. McGill owes National City Bank, a part of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., $59 million, primarily from real estate ventures but also a $600,000 guaranty for a loan for the now-inactive McGill Motorsports racing team, and US Bank $43 million, according to court records. The filing described the debts as contingent and disputed.

Even in the wild and woolly Florida commercial realty market, the filing’s big dollar figures drew interest. The South Florida Business News on May 22 described it as one of the “largest recent personal bankruptcies” in the region. Chapter 11 most typically is used in corporate bankruptcies, but it also can be used in personal bankruptcies. Under Chapter 11, debtors generally are protected from legal action while they work out a plan to repay creditors.

Mr. McGill launched McGill Property Group in 2004 after dividing properties of the Heritage Development Co. with Iris Wolstein that he jointly developed with longtime mentor and partner Bertram Wolstein, who died five months earlier. Mr. McGill did a stint at Developers Diversified Realty Corp., the publicly traded Beachwood company spawned by the late Mr. Wolstein’s shopping centers, before going back into private development with the elder Mr. Wolstein.

McGill Property Group in 2007 moved its offices to Florida.

Saying he was returning a call on John McGill’s behalf, Chad Pugatch, a Fort Lauderdale attorney representing him, said the filing is an attempt to reorganize Mr. McGill’s business affairs because banks are not renegotiating loans as they become due.

Moreover, he said, bankruptcies by key retailers, such as Circuit City and Linens-N-Things, which are tenants in multiple McGill properties, have hampered cash flow and compounded problems associated with the recession.

“He’s going to try to save what he can save,” Mr. Pugatch said. Mr. McGill hopes to sell the properties and reap as much of the bank debt as possible for the banks, the attorney said.

The matter is a Chapter 11 voluntary filing for business reorganization due to the size of debts guaranteed by Mr. McGill individually. That is sometimes the case with real estate developers who sign personally for loans but rare for other types of businesses.