The portfolio, which totals 704,000 square feet, is 88.1% leasedwith an average customer size of 15,900 square feet, according tothe Glendale, Calif.-based REIT, which was a spin-off from PublicStorage Inc. The acquisition adds three new business parks to thecompany's existing portfolio in Austin, while expanding itspresence in an existing business park.

With the acquisition, PS Business Parks' Austin portfolio totals1.5 million square feet of multi-tenant flex space in nine separatebusiness parks. It made another large acquisition in Austin in 1999when it acquired 12 buildings totaling 556,000 square feet of spacein the Northeast Austin area. The REIT also has a number of assetsin Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.

The recent Austin acquisition is the REIT's second majorpurchase this year. In January, PS Business Parks bought ShadyGrove Executive Center, a 350,000-square foot, multi-tenant officebusiness park in Rockville, Md. The park, which traded in anall-cash transaction for $60 million, was 80% leased to 17 tenantsin three separate four and five story buildings.