ORLANDO, FL—Darden Restaurants Inc. has named board member Bill Lenehan to serve as CEO of the REIT that Darden expects to create later this year through a spin-off, split-off or similar transaction. He'll resign from the Darden board if and when the separation of what will be known as Four Corners Property Trust Inc., occurs.

“The board and I have been incredibly impressed with Bill's leadership, knowledge, and skill related to the Four Corners transaction,” says Darden CEO Gene Lee. “We have also been impressed with his vision and capability, which gives us confidence he will be able to lead and transform Four Corners into a leading growth company.”

Lenehan's real estate track record includes two years as special advisor to the board of directors at Evoq Properties Inc., which at the time was one of the largest property owners in Downtown Los Angeles.  Prior to that, he served as interim CEO of MI Developments, now named Granite REIT, an owner of net leased industrial and manufacturing real estate. He also spent approximately 10 years as an investment professional in the real estate group of Farallon Capital Management LLC.

Along with serving on the Darden board, Lenehan also sits on the board of net lease REIT Gramercy Capital Corp. For that REIT, he is chairman of the investment committee and a member of the nominating committee.

Darden announced plans in June to create the separate company, which would ultimately become an independent, publicly traded REIT. Under the plan, the owner of the Olive Garden brand will transfer approximately 420 of its owned restaurant properties to Four Corners, which will lease those properties back to Darden. Four Corners filed an initial registration statement with the SEC on August 11.