Vomado Realty Trust Purchases Market Square, Furniture Plaza, Hamilton Market and other High Point Properties:

Furniture World Magazine

Recently the owners of the Market Square Limited Partnership conducted an examination of the financial and ownership trends currently impacting commercial real estate. As a result of this study, it was decided that the proper way to ensure the Market Square properties' future growth was to access the public markets during 1998. The owners then considered how to do so. It was concluded that it was in everyone's best interest - owners, management, staff and tenants to identify a major REIT with a solid capital structure and outstanding management and negotiate. a merger into it. We have done so and are pleased to announce that the Market Square Limited Partnership (MSLP) has agreed to have its properties acquired by Vomado Realty Trust, one of the nation's leading real estate investment trusts (REIT). Vomado Realty Trust is a $4 billion NYSE company with a long history of providing outstanding investment returns to its investors. On August 18, 1998, a definitive contract was signed between Vomado and MSLP. After the transaction closes, the Market Square properties, which include Market Square, Furniture Plaza, Hamilton Market, Holiday Inn and the Sklar Peppler building, will be managed by Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI), a subsidiary of Vomado. The employees of Market Square properties will become employees of MMPI. Vomado's holdings include the Mendik division, the largest owner and manager of office buildings in New York City; a retail division which owns and manages retail shopping centers primarily located in the Northeast; and a cold storage division which is the nation's largest owner/operator of refrigerated warehouse buildings, Most recently Vomado has added design centers and merchandise marts to its portfolio, and it includes the Architects & Designers Building in New York; The Merchandise Mart and Apparel Center in Chicago; and the Washington Design Center in Washington, D.C. Together with the Market Square acquisition, these properties constitute the largest portfolio of showroom properties in the country. The design centers and merchandise marts are being managed by MMPI, the real estate management and trade show management company that Vomado acquired in conjunction with its acquisition of The Merchandise Mart. Jake Froelich continue as Market Square's general manager, and their 50- person staff will be retained. Linda Willard, Ann Pickering, Sylvia Passavant, Hazel Davis, Mike Ford and Lisa Shankle have agreed to join MMPI. Tom Mitchell of MMPI has been appointed Vice President of the Market Square Partner's Properties. Tom brings with him more than 20 years of experience managing marts and design centers. During his career, he has managed the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center, The Design Center of the Americas and the San Francisco Fashion Center.