by John Beagle
CBL Properties, the owner of Middletown's Towne Mall, recently completed a Billion Dollar deal to take control over four leading regional malls. According to their press release dated October 17, 2007, "CBL is one of the largest and most active owners and developers of malls and shopping centers in the United States."
CBL's President, Stephen Lebovitz, commented, "The completion of these transactions will expand our presence... The centers are well located, with each respective trade area providing above-average business, population and income growth trends. In addition, each mall offers numerous opportunities for near and long-term value creation with leasing, development, and management plans already in progress. With such strong profiles, we expect these malls to make a solid contribution to CBL's future growth."
CBL has no plans for the Towne Mall at this time. Additionally, Towne Mall's General Manager Rachel Olszewski had this to say, "While the redevelopment is on hold, we are going ahead with actively leasing spaces within the mall as well as adjustments to the interior of the mall including but not limited to lighting changes, soft seating and carpeting replacement and painting."