MALVERN, PA-Liberty Property Trust's third-quarter net income reached $51.9 million, up from $39.5 million for the same quarter a year ago. Year-to-date 2005 income reached $142 million, up from $115.5 million for the same period of 2004. The locally based REIT's revenues for the first three quarter of this year reached $518.2 million, up from $478.4 million.
During a conference call, William Hankowsky, chairman, said Liberty would "take advantage of the investment market's demand for product by recycling capital through asset sales." While "pruning where it makes sense to prune," he also said there are more large tenants in the industrial market, while larger office space deals are rare. "The office activity is among smaller tenants," he said.
Regarding the office market, he cited strength in Florida, Minnesota and Virginia Beach/Norfolk and, on the downside, softness in the Philadelphia suburbs, Detroit and the Carolinas. Meanwhile, the company will continue the focus on its development pipeline, as it did during third quarter. During the quarter it began construction of five projects totaling 1.9 million sf at an investment of $124 million.
As of Sept. 30, the company had 27 projects, aggregating 6.1 million sf over 17 markets, in the pipeline. The total investment is $850 million, and this pipeline is 55% preleased, according to Liberty. Included are six build-to-suits under construction, another out for bid, and six additional ones currently under consideration.
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