CBL Gears Up for 196-Acre Retail Development

SOUTHHAVEN, MS-CBL & Associates Properties Inc. is developing a 196-acre retail development in this Memphis suburb. The project is Southaven Towne Center, a 420,000-sf open-air shopping center that will be located in the southeast quadrant of the intersection of Interstate 55 and Goodman Road.Retailers committed to the development include JCPenney, Dillard’s, Circuit City, Pier 1 Imports and Linen n’ Things. The roster will be filled out with at least one other large specialty retailer, about 40 small shop retailers and several restaurants.Dillard’s will occupy a 140,000-sf building on the south side of the site with room to expand it to 200,000 sf. JCPenney will occupy a 97,444-sf building on the north side of the development, near a 33,800-sf Circuit City. Linens n’ Things will occupy a 28,000-sf building adjacent to Dillards and Pier 1 will be housed in a 10,800-sf building next to Linens n’ Things.The first phase of the center is scheduled to open with JCPenney and other small shop retailers in the fall of 2005. Dillard’s, which is being developed separately, will be complete at the same time or shortly thereafter. All told, the project is nearly 70% pre-leased.Chattanooga, TN-based CBL closed on the land purchase for the development this week. CBL officially declined to reveal the purchase price, but sources at CBL tell GlobeSt.com that the development cost for its portion of the project, inclusive of land costs, is $42 million. CBL, one of the largest owners of shopping malls in the nation, already owns and manages three enclosed regional malls in Mississippi.Southaven is not the only retail development in the works. The Southaven Board of Aldermen recently passed a resolution authorizing a tax increment financing plan for DeSoto Pointe, a 1.1-million-sf retail development also located on the east side of Interstate 55 north of Church Road. McRae’s Department store and Parisian will anchor the project.