Brandywine Realty Trust Announces Lease with 'Iron Chef' Jose Garces at Cira Centre

RADNOR, Pa., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) announced today that it has signed a lease with the Garces Restaurant Group at its highly-acclaimed Cira Centre office tower adjacent to Amtrak's 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Renowned Chef Jose Garces will open his yet-to-be-named "farm-to-table" concept in early spring of 2010. The Cira Centre location will be Garces' sixth restaurant in Philadelphia and will focus on lunch, dinner, and a full-service cocktail bar. "We are very excited about bringing a high quality restaurant to the tenants of the building and the larger community of University City," said Chef Garces. Cira Centre re-established the architectural standard in the City when it opened in 2005 with its highly-dynamic Cesar Peli design. The building initiated a multi-phased redevelopment of the area by Brandywine which in August will see the completed conversion of the U.S. Post Office Building into a fully leased and 100% occupied 862,692 square foot LEED-Certified office building. "We are delighted to welcome an experienced and talented entrepreneur to Cira Centre and believe that the high-quality product and service offered by Chef Garces will be the perfect complement to the building and the entire area," said Gerard H. Sweeney, President & Chief Executive Officer of Brandywine Realty Trust.

Garces Restaurant Group was represented by Tim Duffy and Laurence Steinberg of Michael Salove & Co. Brandywine Realty Trust was represented by Steve Rush.

About Chef Garces

Since opening his first restaurant, Amada, in 2005, Chef Jose Garces has emerged as an enormous talent and one of the nation's most gifted young chefs.  He has authored a cookbook, Latin Evolution (Lake Isle Press, September 2008); won the James Beard Foundation's prestigious "Best Chef Mid-Atlantic" award 2009; appeared on Food Network's Iron Chef America; and won the most recent season of The Next Iron Chef, making him one of just six chefs in the country to hold the prestigious title of Iron Chef America.  He is the owner and executive chef of five highly acclaimed restaurants in Philadelphia: Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa, and Village Whiskey. Chef Garces is also the executive chef at Chicago's much-praised Catalan restaurant Mercat a la Planxa, where he works in collaboration with Sage Restaurant Group.

About Brandywine Realty Trust

Brandywine Realty Trust is one of the largest, publicly traded, full-service, integrated real estate companies in the United States. Organized as a real estate investment trust and operating in select markets, Brandywine owns, develops and manages a primarily Class A, suburban and urban office portfolio aggregating approximately 34.9 million square feet, including 25.6 million square feet which it currently owns on a consolidated basis.  For more information, visit our website at www.brandywinerealty.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, achievements or transactions of the Company and its affiliates or industry results to be materially different from any future results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Such risks, uncertainties and other factors relate to, among others, the Company's ability to lease vacant space and to renew or relet space under expiring leases at expected levels, the potential loss of major tenants, interest rate levels, the availability and terms of debt and equity financing, competition with other real estate companies for tenants and acquisitions, risks of real estate acquisitions, dispositions and developments, including cost overruns and construction delays, unanticipated operating costs and the effects of general and local economic and real estate conditions.  Additional information or factors which could impact the Company and the forward-looking statements contained herein are included in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

SOURCE Brandywine Realty Trust