The locally based company currently has 14 US projects aggregating 2.9 million sf under construction. They include Pearland Town Center near Houston, Settlers Ridge in Pittsburgh, and CBL Center II here along with two lifestyle centers and nine mall expansions and redevelopments. The ground-up developments are all in joint ventures.

This month CBL also announced the acquisition of a 60% partnership with Tenco Realty for a retail development in Macae, Brazil. Under its agreement with Tenco, CBL also has the option to buy a minimum 51% stake in any future Tenco developments in that country.

Asked why now, Lebovitz said, "we've been looking at international expansion for a couple of years," noting it had entered China a year ago. "International stuff takes quite awhile to develop," he added. "We'll look at other acquisitions, but I can't project a certain amount. We're encouraged by Brazil, but we're going to be cautious."