MALVERN, PA-Liberty Property Trust accelerated its disposition plan during the opening quarter and will continue on that path. "It's a good time to be a seller," said Bill Hankowsky, chairman and CEO, during a conference call.

The sale of two acres of land and 13 properties aggregating 1.9 million sf for a total of $157 million yielded a gain of $59.6 million during first quarter. The gain took the locally based REIT's earnings to $90.4 million, up 98% from earnings of $45.6 million in the first quarter of 2005.

Going forward, Hankowsky said another $131-million in properties are under contract to sell, an additional $188 million are listed with brokers, and yet another $190 million have been identified for potential sale. "We now expect our 2006 sales activity to be nearly double previous projections."

Development is also continuing at a vigorous pace. As of March 31, the company had five million sf under development at a total investment of $814.1 million. The properties were 37.8% leased, and Liberty expects a 9% return. The company also acquired six properties for $33.8 million during the quarter. They aggregate 610,000 sf and are 97.1% leased with a current yield of 8.7% and a projected yield of 9.1%.

Of product under development, Hankowsky said the split between build-to-suits and inventory averages 25% built-to-suit and 75% inventory. Five build-to-suit properties are under construction, three more are signed, five others are out for signature, six are in proposal states, "and about 40 prospects are sniffing around in markets where we will pursue them."

Same store growth turned slightly positive during the quarter, "but this progress is clearly slow," Hankowsky said. He predicts it "will only begin contributing to earnings in a meaningful way toward the end of the year."