Embarks on Phase Two of Vision 2010 Strategic Plan to Achieve Growth on Irreplaceable Corners™

AmREIT (NYX:AMY), a Houston-based real estate company that has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, today announced that its Board of Trust Managers has approved the privatization of the Company through withdrawal of its Class A common shares from listing on the NYSE Euronext Exchange (“NYX”, formerly the American Stock Exchange). The company has filed with the NYX its notice of withdrawal of listing of its shares and intends to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission a Notification of Removal from Listing on or after December 11, 2008. The company expects trading on the NYX to cease on or after December 19, 2008. At the time its Class A common shares discontinue trading, all AmREIT share classes will be non-traded and AmREIT will remain an SEC reporting company. The Company expects to continue paying dividends on all classes of its shares.

Commenting on the Company’s decision, H. Kerr Taylor, AmREIT’s Chief Executive Officer commented: “For several years we believe there has been a substantial disconnect between the underlying value of our portfolio of Irreplaceable Corner properties and the market price of our stock. As the founder and chairman of this company and a client with my own assets here at AmREIT and within our funds, I feel positive about our long-term future. We own some of the highest quality real estate in 3 of the top 7 job growth markets in the US. As previously announced, we have launched Vision 2010, a strategic plan that will allow us to create value for our shareholders. Phase one of the plan has been to make our platform more efficient by eliminating those areas in the company that have led to volatility. The goal of phase two is to simplify our capital structure and phase three will be to prepare our company for growth as the country emerges from the current financial crisis. During the past six months we took some difficult but necessary steps to become more efficient by eliminating two businesses within our company. Through these “phase one” steps we have cut our overhead by 50% and dramatically reduced our need for transactional income. This restructuring has created a more stable company with less volatile earnings and cash flow.”

Taylor further stated: “Now we must simplify our capital structure so we can access capital to fund growth and provide superior long-term returns to our investors.