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GOES WITH THE TERRITORY

CBL BRINGS TIM LOWE ON BOARD AS PART OF ITS ST. LOUIS–AREA MALLS ACQUISITION

By Jennifer Hopfinger

When CBL & Associates Properties took over four of Westfield Group's St. Louis–area shopping centers last October, it snatched up Westfield's head of Midwest development in the process. This was history repeating itself, because that was much the manner in which Westfield had gotten Tim Lowe in the first place.

Lowe began his development career in 1985 at May Centers, the shopping center development and ownership division of the former May Department Stores Co. May Centers was renamed CenterMark Properties, and its portfolio of 19 regional malls, which included Mid-Rivers Mall, South County Center and West County Center, was sold for $1 billion in 1994 to a consortium led by Westfield. Lowe went to Westfield as development director along with the CenterMark malls.

Lowe's attractiveness to CBL is easy to understand. He has worked in shopping center development in the St. Louis market for over two decades and has been involved in the redevelopment of the acquired properties before. As executive vice president of development at Westfield, Lowe was responsible for development activity at 12 regional shopping centers.

Lowe joined Chattanooga, Tenn.–based CBL as its new senior vice president of development on the very day CBL closed the deal with Westfield for the St. Louis–area malls, which were valued at a total $1.03 billion. Under the terms, Westfield sold Chesterfield (Mo.) Mall to CBL and contributed the three other malls — West County Center, in Des Peres, South County Center, in Mehlville, and Mid-Rivers Mall, in St. Peters — to a joint venture with CBL. CBL contributed one mall in the St. Louis area — St. Clair Square, in Fairview Heights, Ill. — to the venture. The firm also contributed five malls located elsewhere: Chapel Hill Mall, in Akron, Ohio; Greenbriar Mall, in Chesapeake, Va.; Mall of Acadiana, in Lafayette, La.; Plaza Park, in Little Rock, Ark.; and Westmoreland Mall, in Pittsburgh. Westfield holds a minority interest in the venture, and CBL will be responsible for management, leasing and development of the properties.

This deal makes CBL a major mall owner in the region. “CBL has made a large investment in the St. Louis market, and I think I can help them grow that investment and make it worthwhile,” Lowe said.

CBL executives already knew Lowe had a great reputation in the industry, but they got to know him personally during the Westfield transaction, says Michael Lebovitz, CBL's chief development officer. “We had the opportunity to work with Tim during the due-diligence process, and we were very impressed by him and knew he'd make a great addition to the company,” Lebovitz said. “He has a tremendous amount of experience with the St. Louis malls and with redevelopment in general.”

Lowe, 47, is a native of St. Louis and a graduate of the University of Missouri, and he has 22 years of development experience around St. Louis. He works out of CBL's regional office at Chesterfield Mall. In his new position, he will focus on development and redevelopment, as well as the expansion of CBL properties in the Midwest and Southeast. One of his primary responsibilities will be coordinating redevelopment at the properties CBL acquired from his former employer.

Soon after joining Westfield, Lowe started the firm's airport retail and restaurant concession division, in 1994. He was involved with the division until 2001, when he was promoted to executive vice president of development and became responsible for all Westfield's development activity in the Midwest, including its St. Louis shopping centers.

Lowe proved to be a great teacher, recalls Jim Agliata, a Westfield vice president of development who is responsible for Maryland properties. Agliata worked in St. Louis on Westfield's Midwest properties until two years ago. He has known Lowe since the 1980s, when Lowe was at May Centers and Agliata worked for May Department Stores Co. In 1998 Lowe talked Agliata into joining him at Westfield. “Tim was a big part of the reason I switched over,” said Agliata. “I knew I'd learn a lot from him, and I did.”

Agliata and Lowe worked together on the 2001 redevelopment of West County Center, which involved transforming that one-level, two-anchor, 583,000-square-foot center into a multilevel, four-anchor, 1.2 million-square-foot property. At that time, Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor joined the original anchors — JCPenney and Famous-Barr, which is now Macy's.

Macy's is divesting its Lord & Taylor stores, having acquired Lord & Taylor when it bought May Department Stores Co. The chain closed the Lord & Taylor store at West County Center last year. That 140,000-square-foot vacated space creates a new redevelopment opportunity, and this will be Lowe's first order of business. Half of the existing space will become a lifestyle component containing a large book retailer on the upper level and some small-shop retail on the lower level, with a common area and a new exterior entrance. The other half will be torn down for four connected restaurants, each with its own exterior entrance facing an outdoor pedestrian plaza that will contain seating, fountains and landscaping. CBL is not ready to announce the names of the book retailer and restaurants but has received letters of intent for those spots. The redevelopment is slated for completion by November.

Lowe says the other St. Louis properties present redevelopment opportunities as well. “Every property is different, and not every property needs what West County needs, but I think there are opportunities to bring in similar elements, such as bookstores and restaurants,” Lowe said. “I think there are also opportunities at the other properties to bring in bigger retailers and big-box stores. We're looking at each property individually to determine the best course of action to improve value.”

Lowe says he was attracted to the job at CBL in part because it will be a continuation of his old responsibilities at Westfield and at May Centers. But CBL's redevelopment track record gave the opportunity added appeal. “When you take what CBL has already been doing successfully in the area of redevelopment and you add some of the things that I've been doing,” Lowe said, “I think the combination will create some spectacular projects in St. Louis.”

Lowe says he looks forward to expanding and redeveloping other existing CBL centers, but that he was drawn also by the chance to get more involved in new development. “I've done far more redevelopment than new development in my career, and CBL has a strong appetite for new development, so this gives me the opportunity to participate in new projects,” he said.

The job also gives Lowe a chance to broaden his experience to markets beyond St. Louis. “The biggest challenge for me will be learning new markets that I haven't worked in before and the CBL properties located there,” he said.

Lebovitz says the firm got a great deal of assurance that it had made the right move in bringing Lowe aboard. “I got numerous phone calls from department stores, from retailers, and from other developers,” said Lebovitz, “who told me we've got a great person joining us.”

The New York City–based Related Cos. appointed Kenneth Wong vice chairman and member of the senior executive team. He will be based in the Los Angeles office. Wong rejoins Related after leaving in 2003 for Westfield Group, where he was president of U.S. operations.• Columbus, Ohio–based Steiner + Associates named Anne Mastin executive vice president of leasing. She was West region vice president of retail real estate at Columbus-based Limited Brands.• Dallas-based Metropolitan Capital Advisors named Sasha Jovanovic senior director. Jovanovic held a similar position at NorthMarq Capital, a real estate investment bank based in Minneapolis.• Farmington, Conn.–based Konover Development Corp. promoted Jim Juliano to executive vice president and general counsel from senior vice president and general counsel. The firm also promoted Stanley C. Glantz to executive vice president from senior vice president and Deborah Kern to vice president of project management from director of project management. • Sidney, Neb.–based Cabela's appointed Charles Baldwin vice president and chief human resources officer. Baldwin was vice president of global talent management at Wal-Mart. • San Francisco–based Capital and Counties U.S.A. appointed Thomas Engberg and Scott Franklin to lead the new Capital and Counties Development Group division. The two joined the firm from Jacksonville, Fla.–based Regency Centers Corp., where Engberg was senior vice president and Franklin was vice president of investments and development. • Laurie Sneve joined Tustin, Calif.–based Coreland Cos. as CFO. Sneve was CFO of San Clemente, Calif.–based Argus Realty Investors. • Macerich named Charles McPhee senior vice president of development. McPhee was executive vice president of Catellus Development Corp., now Prologis. Macerich also named Ken Volk senior vice president of business development. Volk was senior vice president of marketing and communications at The Mills Corp., an arm of Simon Property Group.• Chattanooga, Tenn.–based CBL & Associates Properties promoted Katie Reinsmidt to director of corporate communications and investor relations. Dan Summerlin joins CBL as director of corporate relations. He was director of electronic marketing at Unum, a Chattanooga-based insurance firm. • Irvine, Calif.–based Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors named Carlos J. Lopez president of Urban Retail Advisors, a new division. Lopez was managing director of Irvine-based Reza Investment Group. • CB Richard Ellis Group, Los Angeles, promoted Kimberly Lord, CSM, CMD, to managing director of retail services in Hawaii from vice president of retail asset services. • El Segundo, Calif.–based Del Mar Equity Partners named Jason Beach director of acquisitions. Beach was acquisitions manager at San Francisco–based ATC Partners. • Houston-based PM Realty Group appointed Randi Smith leasing manager. Smith was on the senior agency retail leasing team at Chicago-based Grubb & Ellis.