WRI Weingarten Realty Investors

Weingarten Realty Investors Forms Development Joint Venture With Rawson, Blum & Leon, Reininga Corporation & the Pratt Company HOUSTON, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) and Rawson, Blum & Leon, Reininga Corporation and the Pratt Company announced the formation of a strategic joint venture to develop and redevelop retail properties in Northern California, as well as to explore opportunities in the Pacific Northwest. The joint venture will focus primarily on the development of neighborhood and community shopping centers with supermarkets and major discount merchants as the primary anchor tenants. It represents Weingarten's fourth new development joint venture, the others being in Colorado, North Carolina and Texas. Drew Alexander, President and CEO of WRI stated, "Weingarten is excited about the formation of this development joint venture. Our new JV partners are well respected with extensive experience in ground-up development as well as the remerchandising and repositioning of existing properties. With WRI's existing presence in Northern California, this venture will also provide us an excellent opportunity to accelerate our growth strategy and presence in the market. We are confident that this relationship will prove to be successful, as our other development partnerships have been." John Reininga, President of Reininga Corporation stated, "The joint venture with Weingarten Realty Investors is an integral part of our Strategic Business Plan. Weingarten's financial strength, knowledge of the industry, and desire for more West Coast properties gives us the ability to accelerate our shopping center development/redevelopment program." Weingarten Realty Investors is a Houston, Texas, based real estate investment trust with 343 properties in 20 states that span the southern part of the United States from coast to coast. Included in the portfolio are 281 neighborhood and community shopping centers and 62 industrial properties aggregating 46.0 million square feet. Weingarten has one of the most diversified tenant bases of any major REIT in its sector, with the largest of its over 5,000 tenants comprising less than 3% of total rental revenues. The Company's common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol "WRI". Industry veterans, Russell R. Pratt, John H. Reininga, Jr. and the principals of Rawson, Blum & Leon (RBL), David Rawson, Joseph Blum and Jeffrey S. Leon, have formed a strategic alliance to invest in and develop shopping centers throughout the Western U.S. These individuals represent more than 100 years of collective experience in terms of developing and redeveloping neighborhood, promotional and power centers. Recently, RBL, Pratt and Reininga combined their offices on the 10th Floor of 456 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. Please visit Weingarten's web site at http://www.weingarten.com/ and Rawson, Blum & Leon's web site at http://www.rawsonblumleon.com/ . Statements included herein that state the Company's or Management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which by their nature, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Reference is made to the Company's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for information or factors, which may impact the Company's performance. Corporation; Pratt Company DATASOURCE: Weingarten Realty Investors; Rawson, Blum & Leon; Reininga CONTACT: investor relations, Tracy Pursell of Weingarten Realty Investors, +1-713-866-6050 Web site: http://www.weingarten.com/ http://www.rawsonblumleon.com/

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