The integration of Prentiss is on track, Gerard Sweeney, Brandywine's president and CEO, said during a conference call. The company reaffirmed its 2006 guidance, and Sweeney forecast progress on its "positive business plan through 2006 and into 2007."
With the exception of its Wilmington, DE asset, the company had positive absorption throughout the portfolio during first quarter, he said. Sweeney sees "positive dynamics" for the coming year and estimates that rent rates will climb in six markets: Central New Jersey, Metro DC, the Pennsylvania suburbs, Northern California, Austin and Richmond, VA.
The REIT expects to be a net seller this year, "recycling capital," Sweeney said, through the disposition of between $150 million and $200 million in assets. During first quarter, the company sold two Dallas assets. It has letters of intent to sell additional properties there for an aggregate $70 million. Other dispositions will be culled from other markets.
Meanwhile 960,000 sf are currently under development at a cost of $250 million. Three projects aggregating 400,000 sf are being rehabilitated at a cost of $43 million. Plans also call for approximately $600 million in acquisitions, primarily in Metro DC, Northern California, Austin and "core Philadelphia."
Sweeney also said he was "pleased to see the high-price-per-sf" for Malvern-based Liberty Property Trust's sale of an 80% share in Comcast Center. Brandywine has previously announced plans to sell a share of Cira Centre to a JV partner, but has not yet identified one. "We're talking to some of the same people and that transaction illustrates the increasing attractiveness of Center City Philadelphia." The Liberty transaction with CommerzLeasing und Immobilien AG valued Comcast Center at about $420.83 per sf.
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