COLUMBIA, MD-Corporate Office Properties Trust has announced it has secured more than one-million square feet of leases in the second quarter of 2013. More significantly, of that amount, 600,000 square feet were new leases – and 460,000 square feet were new leases for properties under development. The activity has resulted in a construction pipeline that is now 74% pre-leased as of June 30th. At the end of Q1, it was only 62% pre-leased.
Two deals of particular note were leases with strategic tenants for approximately 395,000 square feet in buildings currently under construction in Northern Virginia. Both buildings are now 100% leased, with anticipated move-in dates during the first quarter of 2014 and the first half of 2015.
Another key deal was COPT's purchase of I-66 Commerce Center, a 236,000 square foot property in Haymarket, VA, from First Potomac for $17.5 million. COPT purchased the building vacant with plans to invest $6 million in its renovation. Days after the deal closed, COPT reported that it has secured a tenant--a full-building lease with a subsidiary of an investment-grade Fortune 500 company. Redevelopment began in the second quarter of 2013, in anticipation of a first quarter 2014 lease start date.
"We are pleased to see development leasing outpacing our forecast for the year," says Roger A. Waesche, Jr., president and CEO of COPT in a prepared statement. "We believe that four consecutive quarters of better than expected demand for new development space illustrates how some of our strategic customers are regaining the confidence to make longer term space commitments."
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