$271M JV Allows REIT To Recycle Capital

HOUSTON-The recent transaction involving a 1.5-million-square-foot shopping portfolio valued at $270 million is the first time local companies Weingarten Realty Investors and Hines Real Estate Investment Trust Inc. have joined forces. The transaction was part of an ongoing program by Weingarten to boost return on equity through strategic joint partnerships.

“This is the latest deal in our program,” explains Weingarten’s senior vice president, capital markets, Gary Greenberg. “This is allowing us to recycle capital while retaining interest in properties we believe have good long-term potential.”

The partners last week unveiled the conditions of the partnership in which a subsidiary of Hines REIT will acquire a 70% interest in the Weingarten portfolio of 12 supermarket-anchored shopping centers in Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina. An initial closing on eight centers took place Nov. 13, with closing on the other four to be complete by Q1 2009. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP senior managing director Trey Morsbach and executive managing director Mark Gibson, both with the company’s Dallas office, brokered the initial transaction and will work the final closing.