Weingarten Realty’s Construction of Ridgeway Trace Shopping Center is Well Underway and Target Will Be Opening in March 2009

  
    
  
  
    
      Weingarten Realty (NYSE:WRI) announced today that construction is well 
      underway at the new 312,000 square foot Ridgeway Trace Shopping Center. 
      Located on the former site of a 450-unit apartment project known as 
      Ridgeway Trace Apartments, the new center is designed to serve the 
      city’s densely populated retail corridor at the SEC of Poplar Avenue & 
      Interstate 240.
    
    
      Target will be the first to open of the four anchors in the center. 
      Target will be joined by three additional major retailers to be 
      announced at a later date. A portion of the center was sold to Target, 
      and construction of their new store will be completed in the first 
      quarter of 2009. The remaining stores will start opening in spring 2010.
    
    
      Brooke J. Harvey, Senior Leasing Director for Weingarten Realty, said, 
      “Weingarten is pleased that construction is well underway at Ridgeway 
      Trace Shopping Center, and we are looking forward to Target’s opening 
      early next year. Realizing the development potential of the site, 
      Weingarten Realty acquired the Ridgeway Trace apartments with the idea 
      of redeveloping the site into a retail shopping center anchored by 
      Target. Weingarten purchased the property in 2006 from Fogelman 
      Management Group, a large Memphis-based property owner, and has been 
      working on different layouts while negotiating with a number of tenants. 
      The final layout was approved by the City of Memphis in August 2008, and 
      we are delighted to report that Target’s exterior of their building is 
      nearly complete and most of the dirt work for the remaining part of the 
      site is nearly complete.”
    
    
      Ridgeway Trace may be a new project for Weingarten, but the company is 
      far from new to the Memphis market. Since the 1950s, Weingarten has 
      owned several shopping centers and grocery stores within the Memphis 
      metropolitan market. At present, the company owns and manages several 
      shopping centers which includes: Mendenhall Commons (located at S. 
      Mendenhall Road and Sanderlin Avenue), Summer Center (Summer Avenue and 
      Waring Road), Bartlett Towne Center (Bartlett Blvd and Stage Road), and 
      The Commons at Dexter Lake (North Germantown Parkway and Dexter Road).
    
    
      About Weingarten Realty Investors:
    
    
      As one of the largest real estate investment trusts listed on the New 
      York Stock Exchange, Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE: WRI) is 
      celebrating its 60th anniversary as a commercial real estate owner, 
      manager and developer, incorporated in 1948. Focused on 
      delivering solid returns to shareholders, Weingarten is actively 
      developing, acquiring, and intensively managing properties in 23 states 
      that span the United States from coast-to-coast. The Company's portfolio 
      of 415 properties includes 335 neighborhood and community shopping 
      centers and 80 industrial properties. Including tenant-owned square 
      footage, the Company's portfolio currently totals more than 72 million 
      square feet under management. Weingarten has one of the most 
      diversified tenant bases of any major REIT in its sector, with the 
      largest of its 5,700 tenants comprising less than 3% of its rental 
      revenues. To learn more about the Company's operations and growth 
      strategies, please visit http://www.weingarten.com.