CBL Sells 3 Malls in the Southeast for $176M

By Anna Spiewak, News Editor

Rivergate Mall, Nashville

CBL & Associates Properties Inc. has closed on the sale of a three-mall portfolio in the Southeast for a gross sale price of $176 million in cash.

Offshore investor with an Atlanta-based partner, Hendon Properties, bought the Georgia Square Mall and Georgia Square Theater in Athens, Ga., the Panama City Mall & The Shoppes at Panama City in Panama City, Fla., and Rivergate Mall & Village at Rivergate in Nasville, Tenn from CBL.

“We’ve had a long strategy of disposing of non-core assets and have been successful in doing so over the years, so this is consistent with that strategy,” Katie Reinsmidt, CBL’s senior vice president of Investor Relations & Corporate Investments told Commercial Property Executive. “We like to sell major assets at the right pricing and we’re able to achieve that with this disposition.”

Net proceeds from the disposition were used to minimize outstanding balances on the company’s unsecured lines of credit. CBL expects a net impact of about $0.02 per share to 2013 funds from operations from the sale of the properties. Managing directors Margaret Caldwell and Kris Cooper of Jones Lang LaSalle Retail Investment Sales team represented CBL in the transaction.

“They’re mature malls and well positioned in their respective markets, and this is an opportunity for CBL to harvest some capital and maybe pay down some debt, and strengthen the company’s position in the market, and position them to redeploy capital on other strategies going forward,” Carl Storey, Principal at Baker Storey McDonald Properties, specializing in retail real estate told CPE.

CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. is a REIT based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The fourth largest shopping mall REIT in the United States, it owns, holds interests in, or manages 130 properties including 79 market-dominant enclosed malls and open-air centers. CBL is an active developer of new regional malls, open-air centers, and lifestyle and community centers. The company’s growth strategy also comes from acquisitions of regional malls.