"Each transaction we do will have at least one of these characteristics," Brennan says.
Meanwhile, the REIT has taken aggressive steps on a couple of expense items. First Industrial Realty Trust saw "a minimal increase" in insurance costs, CFO Michael Havala notes. However, that is "very rare" in the current environment, and the premiums would have likely been much higher had the company not solicited bids from 20 insurance carriers. Also, the company has challenged property tax increases by pointing to vacancies in buildings. "Protesting real estate taxes can be very lucrative when we have vacancies," Havala says.
The company began the year with an 89.5% occupancy rate. Net operating income across the 64-million-sf portfolio was down 1.2% in 2002, Havala reports.
First Industrial Realty Trust acquired 1.5 million sf in the fourth quarter of 2002 for $67.8 million. The capitalization rate on those acquisitions was 9.9%, says chief investment officer Johnnson Yap. Meanwhile, it sold properties for $149.8 million in the fourth quarter, selling at a 9.3% capitalization rate.
Chicago remains the REIT's largest market, with 5.2 million sf.
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