CBL Properties’ chief executive said Wednesday that sales are higher than before the pandemic at the Chattanooga-based company’s malls and shopping centers and foot traffic is roughly back to 2019.
“If the pandemic proved anything, it’s that retailers need stores,” said Stephen Lebovitz, CEO of one of the nation’s largest mall operators, including Hamilton Place and Northgate Mall in Chattanooga. “Retailers need stores. Online is not the only way people shop. We’re social. We want to get out, eat out.”
Also, with the company’s exit from bankruptcy protection in late 2021, CBL is looking to grow and add personnel, he said in an interview at the company’s East Brainerd headquarters. The company employs 450 nationally and about half that number in Chattanooga, Lebovitz said.
After cutting back before the pandemic and with CBL’s restructuring, the company trimmed down to “a very thin staff,” he said.
But Lebovitz said CBL came through the bankruptcy with cash and a lot less debt and it has made progress since then to strengthen its finances to give it the opportunity to redevelop its properties and do more, Lebovitz said.