CBL & Associates Hits Brazil In JV

MACAE, BRAZIL-Brazil is a hot place, as far as US shopping-center owners are concerned. Chattanooga-TN-based CBL & Assoc. is the second retail REIT to announce this week, after Kimco Realty, that it is developing an asset in the South American country.

CBL is a partnership to develop Plaza Macaé, a 220,000-sf open-air center here with Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based developer Tenco Realty. CBL is acquiring 60% of the development, to open next year, for $15.3 million, while Tenco will build and manage the center.

CBL has the option of purchasing a 51% interest in any future Tenco developments. “The returns on new developments in Brazil, which average in the low-to-mid teens, are extremely attractive and provide one of the best risk-reward scenarios available today,” says Stephen Lebovitz, CBL’s president.