ROCKFORD, IL-CBL & Associates Properties Inc. plans to add new value to its 786,000-sf, 33-year-old CherryVale Mall here by building an 82,000-sf, open-air lifestyle center near the mall's main entrance off Perryville Road. Construction is slated to start in early 2007 with completion expected by fall, says Stephen Lebovitz, president of the Chattanooga, TN-based firm.

The project on the southwest quadrant of the mall "demonstrates CBL's ongoing dedication to growing our lifestyle development pipeline and redeveloping our mall properties with the goal of increasing shareholder value," Lebovitz says. He didn't disclose the project's development cost in a prepared statement. However, area construction sources tell GlobeSt.com the venture will probably have a hard construction cost of about $150 per sf or an estimated total of $12.3 million.

Lebovitz says the tenant roll will include fashion retailer Coldwater Creek, Granite City Food & Brewery, a national bookstore and about 10 additional stores and restaurants to complement the 99%-leased mall. CBL acquired the mall in 2001. Bergner's, JC Penney, Marshall Field's and Sears anchor the mall which includes about 130 national, regional and local specialty stores and restaurants. The mall has a work force of 2,000 and generates more than $160 million annually in retail sales, says Lebovitz. It is at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Perryville Road, near Interstate 90 and the US Bypass 20.

Cleveland-based ka Architecture Inc. is designing the District at CherryVale which will have extensive landscaping and curbside parking. EMJ Corp. of Chattanooga is the project's general contractor. CBL owns and manages four regional malls in Illinois. Besides CherryVale, the others are Eastland Mall in Bloomington, Hickory Point Mall in Decatur and St. Clair Square in Fairview Heights, St. Louis.