HOUSTON, Nov. 3, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) today announced it has signed a 10-year lease with California Pizza Kitchen at the River Oaks Shopping Center. The location for the restaurant will be at the southeast corner of McDuffie and West Gray.
California Pizza Kitchen is a leading casual dining chain with 200 restaurants. The company features an imaginative line of hearth-baked pizzas, including the original BBQ Chicken Pizza, along with made-to-order pastas, creative salads, appetizers, soups, sandwiches and desserts. The new restaurant at River Oaks Shopping Center will be approximately 5,700 square feet and will open in 2007.
"The River Oaks Shopping Center is the hub of casual and fine dining for the River Oaks area," said John DeMeritt, Weingarten Realty Investors' vice president and regional director of leasing. "The addition of California Pizza Kitchen to the Center's already diverse portfolio of dining establishments allows us to continue to serve the needs of our customers and the surrounding neighborhoods."
"The esthetics and location of the River Oaks Shopping Center makes it ideally suited to attract diners from River Oaks, the Montrose, the Heights and other nearby neighborhoods," said Rick Rosenfield, co-founder and co-CEO of California Pizza Kitchen. "We're excited to build on our success across the nation and in the city by opening another location in Houston in the midst of a dynamic, bustling collection of shops, entertainment and dining establishments."
About Weingarten Realty Investors
As one of the largest real estate investment trust companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Weingarten Realty Investors (NYSE:WRI) is focused on delivering solid returns to shareholders. It actively develops, acquires and intensively manages properties in 21 states that span the southern portion of the United States from coast to coast. The company's portfolio of 373 properties includes 309 neighborhood and community shopping centers and 64 industrial properties, aggregating more than 47.5 million square feet. Weingarten has one of the most diversified tenant bases of any major REIT in its sector, with the largest of its 5,400 tenants comprising approximately 3 percent of its rental revenues. To learn more about the company's operations and growth strategies, please visit www.weingarten.com.