GlobeSt.com UPDATE: CBL Expanding Super-Regional Mall by 140,000 SF

LEXINGTON, KY-CBL & Associates Properties is expanding its 1.1-million-sf Fayette Mall here by 140,000 sf, in a deal that could cost around $14M, according to Al Isaac, president of locally based real estate services firm Isaac Commercial Properties. The expansion includes an 80,000-sf Dick’s Sporting Goods anchor store. Company officials expect work to begin on the center in January and to complete the project in October next year.The rest of the expansion will be made up of mall shop space, totaling about 15 new stores. The mall, 99.4% occupied, has annual sales of $270 million and counts Dillard’s, Lazarus-Macy’s and Sears as its current anchors.CBL officials would not release a specific cost of the expansion but say it will be in the “multiple millions” of dollars. The addition will allow the mall to “better accommodate retailers looking to enter the Lexington market or those seeking to increase the size of their existing stores,” says Michael Lebovitz, CBL’s SVP of mall projects, in a prepared statement.

The mall is the dominant retail property in the area, Isaac says. “It’s the only regional mall in the area,” he says. “They don’t really need to add anything, but this is their way of keeping up with the demand.”