Weingarten Forms Retail Development JV

SAN FRANCISCO-The Houston-based RRIT Weingarten Realty Investors has formed a joint venture with a trio of local developers that will develop and redevelop retail properties in Northern California and explore similar opportunities throughout the Pacific Northwest. Weingarten’s fourth new development 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.Wiengarten’s partners are Rawson, Blum & Leon, Reininga Corp. and the Pratt Co., three companies that combined their offices on the 10th floor of 456 Montgomery St. in the city. The shared space is part of a strategic alliance the companies formed to invest in and develop shopping centers throughout the Western US. Rawson, Blum & Leon is a real estate organization specializing in the acquisition, development and management of commercial real estate, having acquired and managed more than 30 properties with an aggregate value in excess of $400 million. The company has had joint venture relationships with many financial institutions and life insurance companies and also raises equity internally from high net worth individuals. John H. Reininga Jr. is the president of Reininga Corp., which he founded in 1967, and a past president of the International Council of Shopping Centers. The company has developed more than three million sf of space in the western states, including Paseo Nuevo, a $100-million redevelopment project in Downtown Santa Barbara anchored by Nordstrom and Macy’s, and Corte Madera Town Center, a 425,000-sf mixed-use redevelopment. The Pratt Co. was founded in 1982 by Russell Pratt, who has completed more than 14 shopping centers totaling over two million sf of retail space. Weingarten owns 343 properties in 20 states that span the southern part of the US from coast to coast. Included in the portfolio are 281 neighborhood and community shopping centers and 62 industrial properties aggregating 46 million sf. A spokesperson for Weingarten could not immediately be reached for comment.”The joint venture with Weingarten Realty Investors is an integral part of our Strategic Business Plan,” says Reininga. “Weingarten’s financial strength…and desire for more West Coast properties gives us the ability to accelerate our shopping center development/redevelopment program.”