<SEC-DOCUMENT>0000910612-14-000044.txt : 20141006
<SEC-HEADER>0000910612-14-000044.hdr.sgml : 20141006
<ACCEPTANCE-DATETIME>20140904094744
<PRIVATE-TO-PUBLIC>
ACCESSION NUMBER:		0000910612-14-000044
CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE:	CORRESP
PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT:		1
FILED AS OF DATE:		20140904

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			CBL & ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES INC
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000910612
		STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION:	REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS [6798]
		IRS NUMBER:				621545718
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			DE
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1231

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2030 HAMILTON PLACE BVLD, SUITE 500
		STREET 2:		CBL CENTER
		CITY:			CHATTANOOGA
		STATE:			TN
		ZIP:			37421
		BUSINESS PHONE:		4238550001

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2030 HAMILTON PLACE BVLD, SUITE 500
		STREET 2:		CBL CENTER
		CITY:			CHATTANOOGA
		STATE:			TN
		ZIP:			37421

FILER:

	COMPANY DATA:	
		COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:			CBL & ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
		CENTRAL INDEX KEY:			0000915140
		IRS NUMBER:				621542285
		STATE OF INCORPORATION:			DE
		FISCAL YEAR END:			1231

	FILING VALUES:
		FORM TYPE:		CORRESP

	BUSINESS ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2030 HAMILTON PLACE BVLD
		STREET 2:		SUITE 500
		CITY:			CHATTANOOGA
		STATE:			TN
		ZIP:			37421
		BUSINESS PHONE:		(423)855-0001

	MAIL ADDRESS:	
		STREET 1:		2030  HAMILTON PLACE BVLD
		STREET 2:		SUITE 500
		CITY:			CHATTANOOGA
		STATE:			TN
		ZIP:			37421
</SEC-HEADER>
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.htm
<TEXT>
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		<title>CBL Response to 8-21-14 SEC Comment Letter</title>
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<a name="sb2890eee747c497da684bce5306beb91"></a><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div><br><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:13px;padding-top:13px;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">CBL &amp; ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES, INC.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">CBL Center </font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">2030 Hamilton Place Blvd., Suite 500</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Chattanooga, Tennessee  37421</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">September 4, 2014</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Ms. Angela McHale</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Attorney-Advisor</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Division of Corporation Finance</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">100 F Street, NE</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:24px;text-indent:-24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Washington, DC  20549-3561</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;text-indent:24px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">RE: </font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">CBL &amp; Associates Properties, Inc. (herein &#8220;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">CBL</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#8221;)</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Filed March 3, 2014</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">SEC File No. 001-12494</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">CBL &amp; Associates Limited Partnership (herein the &#8220;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Operating Partnership</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#8221;)</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Filed March 3, 2014</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">SEC File No. 333-182515-01</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;text-indent:48px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Dear Ms. McHale:</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:justify;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">In reference to your comment letter of August 21, 2014 and with respect to your review of our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, filed March 3, 2014, this letter sets forth CBL's and the Operating Partnership&#8217;s (collectively, the &#8220;</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Company</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#8221;) responses to each comment, numbered to correspond to the Staff's letter.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">Same-Center Net Operating Income, page 54</font></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:48px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:12pt;padding-left:0px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">1.</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">In future Exchange Act periodic reports, in your discussion of changes in same-center NOI, please address the relative impact of occupancy and rent rate changes.</font></div></td></tr></table><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;padding-left:48px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:justify;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">We acknowledge the Staff&#8217;s comment regarding expanded disclosure of the relative impact of occupancy and rent rate changes on same-center NOI.  The Company does not analyze the impact of occupancy and rent rate changes for a reporting period for the same-center portfolio or each property type within the same-center portfolio.  However, we do analyze such metrics determined as of the end of each reporting period for our same-center stabilized malls category (a subset of our same-center mall category) which generates the majority of our same-center NOI.  Please note that the Company disclosed the occupancy and average annual base rents as of December 31, 2013 and 2012 for same-center stabilized malls on page 56 of the Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013.  While we cannot meaningfully relate changes in occupancy and rental rates to changes in same-center NOI on an absolute dollar basis for the reason described above, we will expand our disclosure of the changes in same-center NOI in future filings to identify the relative impact of occupancy and rent rate changes.  The following is an example of the revised disclosure </font></div><br><div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">1</font></div></div><hr style="page-break-after:always"><a name="sb2890eee747c497da684bce5306beb91"></a><div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div></div><br><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">related to same-center net operating income, using the disclosure from our Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013 as an example, with the expanded disclosure underlined:</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:justify;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#8220;Same-center NOI increased $5.9 million for the year ended December&#160;31, 2013 compared to 2012. Our NOI growth of 0.9% for 2013 as compared to the prior year </font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">benefited from an increase of 10 basis points in the occupancy of our same-center stabilized mall portfolio combined with an increase in average annual base rents of 1.0% for our same-center stabilized mall portfolio compared to the prior-year period. These benefits were partially offset</font><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">&#32;by the impact of lower performing Properties, which we plan to continue to divest over time, subject to market conditions. Additionally, our strategy of upgrading our tenant mix impacted NOI as we saw longer downtimes between store closures and new store openings, which led to several months of lost rent. However, in the long term, the upgraded tenant mix is expected to contribute to stronger growth in sales and positively impact NOI in the future.&#8221;</font></div><div style="line-height:174%;text-align:justify;text-indent:48px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">In connection with these responses, the Company acknowledges that:</font></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:96px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:12pt;padding-left:72px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#9642;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">it is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filing;</font></div></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:96px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:12pt;padding-left:72px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#9642;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and</font></div></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="font-family:Times New Roman; font-size:10pt;"><tr><td style="width:96px;"></td><td></td></tr><tr><td style="vertical-align:top"><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:12pt;padding-left:72px;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">&#9642;</font></div></td><td style="vertical-align:top;"><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">it may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States.</font></div></td></tr></table><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:16px;text-align:left;text-indent:48px;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Should you have any questions or comments concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact Farzana Mitchell or the undersigned at (423) 855-0001.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Sincerely,</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">CBL &amp; ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES, INC.</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">_/s/ Andrew F. Cobb_________________</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Andrew F. Cobb</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Vice President and Director of Accounting </font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;font-weight:bold;">CBL &amp; ASSOCIATES LIMITED PARTNERSHIP</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;padding-bottom:8px;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">By:  CBL HOLDINGS I, INC., its general partner</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;text-decoration:underline;">_/s/ Andrew F. Cobb_________________</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Andrew F. Cobb</font></div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:left;font-size:12pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:12pt;">Vice President and Director of Accounting </font></div><div style="line-height:120%;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;"><br></font></div><br><div><div style="line-height:120%;text-align:center;font-size:10pt;"><font style="font-family:inherit;font-size:10pt;">2</font></div></div>	</body>
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