Special Events Highlight WDC?s Fall Design House and Kitchen & Bath Collection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Special Open House Saturday October 23 Contact: Bethany Carter

10:00am – 2:00pm Director of Marketing

Special Events Highlight Washington Design Center’s Fall Design House and Kitchen & Bath Collection

Lectures, book signings, product demonstrations and shopping incentives during National Kitchen and Bath Month

[Washington, DC] – September 17, 2004 – On Saturday October 23, 2004 Washingtonians are invited to attend a special Open House at The Washington Design Center. In honor of October’s National Kitchen and Bath Month, the twelve showrooms of the building’s retail Kitchen, Bath & Building Design Center will come together with designers from the Center’s Gracious Room Fall Design House and special featured guests for a day dedicated to fine design.

HGTV’s Joan Kohn will launch her latest book, It’s Your Bed and Bath: Hundreds of Beautiful Design Ideas to the Washington area with a behind-the-scenes look into the pages of the inspirational new book. There will be an opportunity to meet Joan Kohn and purchase personalized copies of her books on kitchen and bath design after the featured 11:00am talk.

Participating design teams from the building’s Gracious Room Fall Design House will be available to visitors to discuss their spaces, new products available through the Design House and ways to purchase the items in the Southern Accents sponsored decorator showhouse.

The twelve retail showrooms of the Kitchen, Bath & Building Design Center will be open for regular shopping hours and will highlight their collections of the world’s most luxurious products for home building and renovation via special showroom offers, product and cooking demonstrations, and more.

“We’ve developed this unique day at The Washington Design Center for shoppers to celebrate great style with our special guests while enjoying in-shop events from our kitchen and bath collection” said Andrew Glasow, vice president of marketing, Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. “These one-of-a-kind showrooms offer the finest products available, and the special events bring this celebration of style to life.

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Shoppers here are offered something they won’t find at any other Design Center in the country – an inspirational designer showcase with direct access to the both the finest designers and the latest products from world-class manufacturers of premium home furnishings.”

The Washington Design Center is located at 300 D Street, SW in Washington, DC, above the Federal Center SW Metro Station served by the Orange and Blue lines. To learn more about The Washington Design Center, it’s special open house and available programs, call 202/646-6118 or visit online at merchandisemart.com/dcdesigncenter. The October 23 open house, the Design House and the showrooms of the Kitchen, Bath & Building Design Center offer press a compelling visual story. To obtain reproducible photography or to inquire about photographing any component of The Washington Design Center, contact Bethany Carter, Director of Marketing.

Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI) is a trade show and property management firm, specializing in managing buildings devoted to wholesale

showrooms and commercial office space. MMPI produces more than 300 tradeshows, market events and conferences each year.

MMPI manages The Merchandise Mart, Chicago Apparel Center, and 33 North Dearborn in Chicago; Market Square, the Suites at Market Square;

Hamilton Market, Plaza Suites, Furniture Plaza and the National Furniture Mart in High Point, NC; the Architects & Designers Building in

New York; the LA Mart in Los Angeles; and The Washington Design Center and Washington Office Center

in Washington, DC.

Vornado Realty Trust, owner of MMPI, based in New York City, is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust.

Vornado¹s common shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and are traded under the symbol VNO.