Weingarten Realty Investors was a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...

that invested in

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

s, primarily in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

and primarily with

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

s as the

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

s. In August 2021, the company was acquired by

Kimco Realty Kimco Realty Corporation is a Jericho, New York-based real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in Commonwealth English (see spelling differences), shopping comple ...

. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 159 properties comprising 30.2 million square feet. In 2020, 20.6% of the company's revenues were generated from properties in the Houston area and 30.4% of the company's revenues were generated from properties in Texas.

History

In the 1880s, Hersch Harris Weingarten, a poor Jewish immigrant from

Łańcut Łańcut (, ; ; ) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), it is the Capital (political), capital of Łańcut County. History Archeological investigat ...

(what was then

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

), started a grocery business in Houston called

Weingarten's Weingarten's was a supermarket chain in the Southern United States until it was acquired by Safeway in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End in Houston, Texas. History Hersch Harris Weingarten, a poor Jewi ...

. In 1948, Joseph Joe Weingarten, the eldest son of Harris Weingarten founded Weingarten Realty to build stores for his father's business. In 1980,

Safeway Inc. Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

purchased the grocery operations. In 1985, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In 2002, the company acquired 3 shopping centers for $46.2 million. In 2012, the company sold all of its industrial assets for $382.4 million. In August 2021,

acquired the company.

References

{{Authority control 1948 establishments in Texas 2021 disestablishments in Texas 2021 mergers and acquisitions Real estate companies established in 1948 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange