Baird's latest report on COPT says that while theMilwaukee-based firm is "less bullish on office companiesgenerally," it believes the Columbia, MD-based REIT's focus on thefederal government and its contractors as its primary tenant base"insulates it from typical landlord concerns such as credit anddemand risk." Those factors might not be remarkable during boomtimes, but they are serving COPT well during this downturn.

The Baird report--authored by analysts Christopher R. Lucas, AviLerner and David S. Nebinski--says the factors underlying COPT'ssteadfast performance "position it to be among the industry leadersin earnings growth." The Baird team also anticipates thatdevelopment activity will accelerate over the next five years dueto BRAC demand from COPT's tenant base.

COPT already has a number of new projects under way despite adownturn that has throttled new development for many, if not most,in the industry. The REIT ended the quarter with 12 buildingstotaling 1.26 million square feet under construction at anestimated cost of $266 million. Those buildings were 41% preleased.COPT has an additional nine buildings under developmentrepresenting one million square feet at an estimated cost of $203.8million. It also is working two redevelopment projects, totaling493,000 square feet, at an estimated cost of $57 million.