WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

• Weingarten Closes $160M Joint Venture Deal With Jamestown

• Houston REIT Sells 4 Shopping Centers for $114M to New JV

• Second Phase will see 2 More Centers Sold to JV for $46M

• Germany-based Jamestown Will own 80% of the JV;    Weingarten, 20%

• Weingarten Sells 100,600-SF Houston Industrial Service Center to Jester Plaza Ltd. in separate deal

(HOUSTON, TX) -- One thing you can say about Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI), the REIT never stands still.  The company multi-tasks deal after deal.

In two new transactions, Weingarten cut a two-phase deal with German real estate fund manager Jamestown under which it sold four unencumbered shopping centers to a newly created joint venture for $114 million.

David Boyd

The second phase will see Weingarten selling two additional retail centers to the JV for $114 million. These properties have existing mortgages.  The JV is called Southeast Retail Joint Venture.

Jamestown will own 80% of the JV; Weingarten 20%. The partners are targeting 60% leverage on the deal.  Weingarten didn't identify the shopping centers involved.

Stanford Alexander

Stanford Alexander is Weingarten's chairman. Christopher A. Kahl co-founded Jamestown in 1983 with the late John W. Houser.  Jamestown's U.S. headquarters are in Atlanta. The parent firm's investors are in Cologne, Germany.

In a separate unrelated deal, Weingarten sold its 100,600-square-foot Jester Plaza Service Center near Northwest Houston to Jester Plaza Ltd. for an undisclosed price.  Houston industrial brokers speculate it was a multi-million-dollar transaction.

"The divestiture is consistent with Weingarten's ongoing corporate strategy to dispose of non-core real estate assets," says Kelly Landwermeyer, the REIT's vice president and director of industrial properties.

Christopher A. Kahl

Karen  P. Stumbough, who represented Jester Plaza Ltd., says her client "was attracted to Jester Plaza because the property was already 90 percent leased and is ideally located near a number of major highways."

The property sits on TC Jester Boulevard near Loop 610.

David M. Boyd, a principal with Boyd Commercial Real Estate Services, handled the transaction for Weingarten.

Weingarten Realty Investors' portfolio, as of Sept. 30, 2009, totaled about 72.3 million square feet.

Kelly Landwermeyer

The company owns or operated under long-term leases, either directly or through its interest in real estate joint ventures or partnerships, a total 385 developed income-producing properties and 13 properties under various stages of construction and development.

The total number of properties includes 315 neighborhood and community shopping centers located in 22 states .  The company also owns 80 industrial projects in California, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, along with three other operating properties in Arizona and Texas. 

Please see related articles:

• Weingarten Breaks Ground on 70,505-SF Shopping Center in North Carolina Tourist Spot , Sept. 25, 2009

• Brookfield Stock Issue Grosses $1.04B; Weingarten Offering Set at $100M; HPT Selling 8M Shares, Aug. 13, 2009

• Theater-Anchored Shopping Centers Paying Off for Weingarten in Florida. July 9, 2009

• PRU Lends Weingarten $103M on 4 Retail Centers in California and New Mexico , June 12, 2009

• Weingarten and Hines Doing $271 Million Deal, Nov. 18, 2008

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