ATLANTA-Locally-based Columbia Property Trust Inc. reports that it completed 502,000 square feet of leasing activity in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The fourth quarter lease deals brought total leasing for the office REIT in 2013 to 1.8 million square feet. The company's portfolio of properties at year's end was 92.3% leased.

“One of our primary objectives for creating value and driving growth is the proactive management of the portfolio through strategic leasing,” notes Nelson Mills, president, CEO and director of Columbia Property Trust. “Over the past three years, we have signed a total of approximately 7.1 million square feet of new and renewal leases, while increasing the portfolio's average lease term and maintaining average credit ratings above BBB+. We are pleased to have sustained this momentum through 2013, and we're making good progress already in 2014 with leading tenants such as T. Rowe Price at our 100 East Pratt building in Baltimore.”

Among the company's more notable transactions in 2013 included Some of the company's leasing and portfolio management highlights for 2013 included new and renewal leases for almost half of the Key Tower building in Cleveland, OH that included a 15-year renewal of the anchor tenant, Key Bank, and a new lease with the law firm BakerHostetler for 115,615 square feet. Other deals of note were Bose Corp.'s 12-year lease renewal for the entire 9 Technology Drive building in Westborough, MA; new lease deals that brought University Circle in Palo Alto, CA from 68% to 96% leased, including new tenant Amazon Web Services; and after a full renovation of the building in the spring, new deals have brought 515 Post Oak in Houston to 39% leased, with significant activity reported in 2014. The company also noted that in 2013 the substantial majority of the retail vacancies at Market Square in Washington, DC were leased.

The REIT's $5-billion portfolio currently consists of 59 operational buildings in 13 states and the District of Columbia, totaling 16.8 million square feet.