RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust And The Forzani Group Limited Announce New Store Openings
11:59 EDT Wednesday, July 24, 2002
TORONTO, ONTARIO--RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust ("RioCan") (TSX: REI.UN) and The Forzani Group Ltd. ("Forzani") (TSX:FGL) today announced that they have entered into lease agreements for Forzani to open six new stores comprising 75,000 square feet in shopping centres owned by RioCan.
The six new stores will operate under the following banners and be located as follows:
Clarkson Village, Mississauga, Ontario-Sport Mart
Elgin Mall, St. Thomas, Ontario- Sport Mart
RioCan Durham Centre, Ajax, Ontario-Sport Chek
Shoppers World Brampton, Brampton, Ontario- Sport Mart
Timmins Square Shopping Centre, Timmins, Ontario-Sport Chek
Vernon Square Shopping Centre, Vernon, British Colombia- Sport Mart
RioCan, together with its joint venture partners, is also currently finalizing negotiations with Forzani for three additional new stores totaling 30,000 square feet in Ontario as well as a 5,000 square foot expansion of an existing store in Prince George, British Colombia.
Edward Sonshine, Q.C., President & CEO of RioCan, said, " We are extremely pleased to be expanding our relationship with Canada's leading retailer of sporting goods. This is a prime example of how RioCan's direct relationships with retailers enable it to maximize the revenues from its shopping centre portfolio while serving our customers, Canada's best retailers."
John Forzani, President & CEO of Forzani, said, "RioCan understands retail and, more importantly, they understand our business. These deals are great for both of us and we are very excited about our new store openings. We have only scratched the surface with RioCan and we look forward to continuing and expanding our long-standing business partnership."
About RioCan
RioCan's purpose is to deliver to its unitholders stable and reliable cash distributions, which continuously increase over time.
RioCan is Canada's largest real estate investment trust. RioCan has total assets of approximately $3 billion consisting of ownership interests in a portfolio of 151 retail properties across Canada containing an aggregate of over 23 million square feet of gross leasable area. RioCan derives over 77% of its gross revenue from national and anchor tenants, with no one tenant providing more than 5.5% of gross revenue. RioCan's largest tenant is Wal-Mart and 14.2% of RioCan's revenue is provided by food supermarkets.
About Forzani
The Forzani Group is Canada's largest retailer of sporting goods, operating stores from coast to coast, under four corporate banners: Sport Chek, Coast Mountain Sports, Sport Mart and Forzani's and on-line at www.sportchek.ca and www.sportmart.ca . The Forzani Group is also a franchisor under the banners Sports Experts, Intersport, RnR, Atmosphere and Econosports.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust, Edward Sonshine, Q.C, President & CEO, (416) 866-3018, riocan.com, or, The Forzani Group Ltd., John M. Forzani, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, (403) 717-1341, jforzani@forzani.com
© 2002 CCNMatthews |
