CapLease Unveils Stellar Q4 Earnings

NEW YORK CITY-CapLease released its fourth quarter earnings on Friday and, by several measures, the REIT had a banner 2012. Part of the company’s success can be attributed to the turnaround of the global economy and to the REIT’s good fortune in having both debt obligations and large leases come to an end, but some of the positive results can be tied to a change in strategy, Paul McDowell, chairman and CEO, tells GlobeSt.com.

“We modestly adjusted our acquisition criteria but we stayed true to our core mission: to own commercial real estate subject to long term leases with very high credit quality tenants; most of them are investment grade,” he says. So how did CapLease change its criteria? “We generally buy single tenant assets but now we may—from time to time—buy an asset with two tenants, or one with tenants that are less than investment grade.”