Wojtecki and his team worked directly with Kohl's on the lease,which fills one of 25 Mervyns vacancies in properties owned byInland. In addition to the seven sites that Inland Western hasleased to new tenants, it has an additional 12 of the 25 Mervynsvacancies in active negotiations. The lease in Hanford comes on theheels of Inland's recent re-leasing of 10 former CircuitCity/Linens 'N Things spaces.

Among the other Mervyns spaces that Inland Western has leasedare three in California totaling 233,022 square feet that the OakBrook-based REIT leased to Burlington Coat Factory. Those threeinclude 77,192 square feet in Moreno Valley, 77,936 square feet inVacaville and 77,874 square feet in Elk Grove.

Inland Western acquired the 25 Mervyns department stores, 23 inCalifornia and two in Texas, in 2005 for nearly $222 million,according to a company announcement at the time. The real estatetotaled almost two million square feet of retail space.