CBL & Associates Properties Inc. and joint venture partner The MGHerring Group have signed on 16 new retailers and restaurants for Imperial Valley Mall in El Centro, Calif. The 741,000-square-foot mall is slated to open in March 2005. Retailers include Anchor Blue, Baker's Shoes, Bamboo Bistro, California Nails, Dairy Queen, Foot Locker, Journeys, Kay Jewelers, Marble Slab Creamery, MasterCuts, Nextel Cellular, Pacific Sunwear, Patti's Hallmark, Payless Shoesource, Sports Image and Trade Secret… Opus West Corp. has proposed a retail and office development in North Natomas, near Sacramento. Likely tenants at the 751,000-square-foot retail center include Target, Sam's Club and Best Buy, according to the Sacramento Business Journal… Catlin Properties Inc., a Sacramento development company, plans to build 200,000 square feet of retail space in a mixed-use development near Sacramento called Parkway Plaza… Madison Marquette won the exclusive negotiating rights to buy four acres to expand its Bay Street retail and residential project in Emeryville, in its bid to better compete with the retail and entertainment part of Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso's proposed 600,00-square-foot to 800,000-square-foot mixed-use project at Golden Gate Fields in nearby Albany, according to the San Francisco Business Times… Oakland-based Crescent Jewelers, the state's largest retail jewelry chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It plans to keep the business open and restructure its debt… The state pays $86 million a year to subsidize Wal-Mart's lower wages and benefits, according to a study by the University of California at Berkeley's Institute for Industrial Relations and the school's Center for Labor Research and Education. California Wal-Mart employees earn about 31 percent less than workers employed at other large retailers, the study said… Eighteen new tenants have signed up at Victoria Gardens, the 1.3 million-square-foot lifestyle center opening October 28 in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. They include Borders, GapKids, Aldo Shoes and Johnny Rockets… The Los Angeles City Council has approved developer Alan Casden's $100 million Westwood Village project — Palazzo Westwood — that could help revive the deteriorating neighborhood. The final concession by Casden? He must provide two hours' free parking to the public for a year after the 446,700-square-foot project gets its occupancy permit… E.J. Plesko & Associates Inc., a Wisconsin-based developer, has proposed building a 361,000-suqare-foot center in Lincoln, near Sacramento. It could include a Wal-Mart supercenter… Newport Beach-based Steadfast Commercial Properties paid $50.2 million for a Washington state mall that it plans to expand. It also plans to replace Madison Marquette Retail Services as property manager, according to Los Angeles Business.