MALVERN, PA-In the second part of a major move to sell off assets and raise capital for new projects, Liberty Property Trust has closed on the sale of 48 properties for $329.6 million.

The sold assets, including 24 properties in New Jersey, 23 in Maryland and one in Ft. Washington, PA, totaled 2.6 million square feet of space and 19 acres of land. Liberty did not specify the identity of buyers of the individual properties or individual purchase prices.

This sale is part of a mega-transaction involving a total of 97 properties that Malvern-based Liberty announced it would undertake in November. At that time, Liberty chairman and CEO William P. Hankowsky said the company strategy would be “to increase our portfolio allocation to industrial real estate and to concentrate our office portfolio in fewer focused markets."

The first closing on the trades of 49 properties occurred in December, for proceeds of $367.7 million. The second closing last week was for 2.1 million square feet of office properties and 468,000 square feet of flex properties:

• 1.37 million square feet in Maryland
• 1.19 million square feet in New Jersey
• 36,718 square feet in Pennsylvania

Last summer, Liberty began making some aggressive moves in Phoenix, buying up 75 acres targeted for 1.5 milion square feet of indusrial space and a vacant 600,000-square-foot warehouse for a total of $40 million.

Liberty operates in the United States and United Kingdom through the acquisition, ownership and management of high-quality office and industrial properties. Its 100 million square foot portfolio consists of 746 properties that serve as office, distribution and light manufacturing facilities to 1,800 tenants