Mary Ellen Fowler, the REIT's VP of investor relations, declined to disclose the identity of the buyer and tells GlobeSt.com, "it is a private group." Neither would she identify the lender, which provided the buyer with two loans totaling $66.6 million in non-recourse, 10-year loans at a blended fixed rate of 5.81% to fund the acquisition.
The properties are: Commerce Park, which has two buildings aggregating 144,867 sf; Gateway Corporate Center with an aggregate of 409,680 sf; and Rossmoyne Business Center with three buildings aggregating 117,212 sf. COPT acquired the properties between 1997 and 2000 and it will continue to manage them.
Because the buildings are "now substantially under different ownership," Fowler says, she also declined to tell GlobeSt.com the occupancy of the portfolio, the names of significant tenants or the average rental rate. On condition of anonymity, a metro-area office broker tells GlobeSt.com that the region's overall office vacancy rate is below 10% and asking rates typically range between $16 per sf and $21 per sf. He declined to speculate on the buyer or vacancy in this portfolio.
This transaction pares down Corporate Office's Pennsylvania portfolio to four properties, aggregating 960,349 sf in Blue Bell. Randall M. Griffin, president and CEO, says, "the sale into this joint venture will allow the company to re-deploy the proceeds into acquisitions and development in our core and expanding markets." It is a major owner of suburban office properties in the Greater Washington, DC region. Fowler tells GlobeSt.com targets for expansion include San Antonio and Colorado Springs.
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