CBL & Associates is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that develops and buys shopping centers and malls. CBL (CBL) traces its origins to 1961, but the CBL name goes back to 1978 — around the time when the company developed its first shopping mall, Plaza del Sol in Del Rio, Texas. The mall opened in March 1979. CBL went public in 1993. It began acquiring properties in 1995 with the purchase of the WestGate Mall in Spartanburg, S.C.