Imperial Valley Mall features four department stores includingJCPenney and Sears, plus two making their debut in the market,Dillard's and Robinsons-May. Other tenants include approximately100 national retailers, a 14-screen Ultrastar Theater and a 10-unitfood court. specialty retailers joining Imperial Valley Mall in ElCentro, California. Among the specialty retailers are MotherhoodMaternity, Gamestop, Gromitz and KB Toys. The mall is located on157 acres at State Route 31 and Chick Road, just south of I-8 in ElCentro, approximately 10 miles north of Mexicali, Mexico, and 120miles east of San Diego. In addition to the enclosed mall,peripheral property has been earmarked for freestanding businessesincluding restaurants, hotels and other mall-relatedoperations.

Stephen D. Lebovitz, CBL's president, said the company chose thelocation because the Imperial Valley "continues to see tremendousgrowth" that supports retail development. Buddy Herring, presidentof the MGHerring Group, notes that the development is ImperialValley's largest retail complex.

The new mall underscores the growth in the Imperial Valley,which is one of the regions that Newport Beach-based developer CTRealty Corp. cited recently when it opened a San Diego office toidentify projects both in San Diego and in surrounding areas. CThas already acquired the 25-acre Valley Plaza Town Center at thesouthwest corner of Imperial Avenue and Main Street in El Centroand plans a $4 million renovation of the center, which currentlycomprises 315,034 sf of office and retail space. CT plans toredevelop the site into a "town center" that will includeentertainment, restaurants, a health club and smaller retail shopscombined with an office campus. The company sees potential inretail projects because of rapid growth in the Imperial Valley,where the population is increasing much faster than that ofCalifornia as a whole. The most recent statistics show thatpopulation grew by 36% between 1990 and 2000 while California'spopulation grew by 13.6% during the same time. The housing growthhas attracted national and regional retailers that formerly did nothave locations in the Imperial Valley, including Wal Mart, Costco,Albertsons, Staples, Sears and Home Depot.