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WORK BEGINS ON SUPER-REGIONAL

CBL & Associates Properties broke ground last month on Coastal Grand-Myrtle Beach (S.C.), a 1.4 million-square-foot super-regional mall that is scheduled to open in March 2004. Coastal Grand-Myrtle Beach, which the company had initially dubbed The Mall of South Carolina, is one of the few new malls currently in the pipeline. Besides traditional mall anchors, including Belk, Dillard’s and Sears, there will be big-box stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

HOUSTON GALLERIA EXPANSION COMPLETED

The $144 million renovation and expansion of The Galleria, Houston, was completed at the end of March. The owners — California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Simon Property Group and Walton Street Capital — have added 700,000 square feet of retail space, consisting of Houston’s first Nordstrom, a Foley’s and more than 50 additional stores. The mall, which now totals 2.4 million square feet, opened in November 1970.

RENOVATION PLANNED FOR L.A. CENTER

Encino, Calif.-based Hager Pacific Properties plans to renovate the 820,000-square-foot Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Los Angeles. The company bought the mall on March 31 from Pan Pacific Retail Properties for $68 million. Located near the city’s South Central district, the center opened in 1947 with a Broadway department store as an anchor and 500,000 square feet of additional stores. In January the first ever three-story urban Wal-Mart opened on the site of the former Broadway store. Other anchors at the center, which has sales per square foot of $350, include Albertsons and Robinsons-May.

LAWSUIT FILED OVER N.J. MEADOWLANDS

The Mills Corp. still expects to break ground on its Meadowlands Xanadu project by year-end, the company says, despite a lawsuit filed by a competing finalist in the bid to redevelop the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. The suit was filed March 27 by Hartz Mountain Industries, whose proposal with partner Forest City Enterprises was not chosen for the site, which is just west of New York City. The suit names Mills; its development partner, Mack-Cali Realty Corp.; and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which owns the site and chose the winner.

PHILLIPS EDISON CLOSES ON AEGIS REALTY DEAL

Phillips Edison & Co., a Cincinnati-based owner of grocery-anchored centers, has closed on the 27-center portfolio of Aegis Realty, New York City, for $175 million. The acquisition, which gives Aegis shareholders $11.52 per share for the company, expands Phillips Edison’s portfolio to 67 centers across the United States, comprising a total of 8 million square feet. The Aegis portfolio spans 14 states.

SIMON, WESTFIELD EXTEND TAUBMAN TENDER OFFER

Simon Property Group and Westfield America Trust extended the tender offer in their $1.74 billion ($20 per share) bid for Taubman Centers to midnight EST on May 30. The previous deadline was March 28. The two suitors have also named candidates that they want to have elected to Taubman’s board at the next meeting of shareholders.