Weingarten Realty Investors was a

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

that invested in shopping centers, primarily in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

and primarily with

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s as the anchor stores. In August 2021, the company was acquired by Kimco Realty. 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 (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (si ...

(what was then

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

), 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 Inc., Safeway in 1983. J. Weingarten, Inc. had its headquarters in what is now the East End, Houston, East End in Houston, Texas. History Hersch H ...

. 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 is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

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 stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...

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 investme ...

. 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, Kimco Realty 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