With the close of two transactions with Sydney's The Westfield Group, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc. has added four suburban St. Louis regional malls to its portfolio at a total cost of $1 billion. The properties account for an aggregate 4.6 million square feet.

One of the two transactions allowed CBL to come into control of three malls--the 1.3 million-square-foot West County Center in Des Peres, the 1 million-square-foot South County Center in Mehlville, and the 1 million-square-foot Mid-Rivers Mall in St. Peters. Terms of the agreement called for Westfield to contribute the properties to CW Joint Venture L.L.C., an investment vehicle controlled by CBL and partially owned by Westfield. With the second transaction, CBL came into possession of the 1.3 million-square-foot Chesterfield Mall in Chesterfield. CBL is now overseeing management, leasing and any development activities for all four properties.

CBL, already the owner of the 1 million-square-foot St. Clair Square shopping center in Fairview Heights, is now the dominant player in the St. Louis retail market, which continues to maintain vacancy levels below 10 percent. The average occupancy level at the four properties involved in CBL's transactions with Westfield is approximately 85 percent. "Brokers have noticed that leasing activity has remained steady," Sarah Dwiggins, research coordinator with real estate services firm Grubb & Ellis Co., told CPN today. "And absorption ebbs and flows, but it never seems to go way up or way down."

CBL owns, holds interests and manages 134 properties totaling 79.7 million square feet across 26 states. Additionally, the company presently has 15 developments under construction, which will add 2.7 million square feet to its portfolio. Company stock opened today at $34.05. Westfield is a vertically integrated shopping center group that owns, develops, funds, manages and leases shopping centers in Australia, the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Westfield presently has interests in 119 shopping centers valued at an aggregate $53.2 billion in four countries.