SPRINGFIELD, VA—Corporate Office Properties Trust posted strong third quarter performance for shareholders—activity that is expected to continue as long-standing trends in which the REIT has invested continue to play out. One example: COPT expects to see leasing activity step up at Patriot Ridge, according to comments made by Stephen E. Budorick, EVP and COO of COPT during the earnings call.
During the first quarter COPT saw an increase in showing after the Bipartisan Budget Act was passed, he said.
"That's translated into some pretty significant awards out of various agencies around Fort Belvoir" totaling about $8 billion. "We have multiple groups now looking at planning, waiting for the actual task orders to be awarded under that new wave of contracts that got awarded. So we're feeling in another quarter or two that we should be in a position to start booking leases at Patriot Ridge."
COPT began developing Patriot Ridge in 2010. It was a new submarket for the REIT and the 15-acre project, which has development potential of between 800,000 and 980,000 square feet, is adjacent to the new National Geospatial Intelligence Agency headquarters at Fort Belvoir.
Fort Belvoir, of course, has been the beneficiary of the largest BRAC gain of any military installation in the country.
HGA is providing master planning, architectural design and engineering services for Patriot Ridge. The three-phase project includes Phase I, a 244,000-square-foot, 8-story Class A office building and 1,300-space parking facility. Phase II will consist of a 240,000-square-foot, eight-story Class A office building designed to comply with AT/FP low level blast criteria; and Phase III will be twin 8-story Class A office building totaling 240,000 square feet.
In 2011 COPT announced that an unidentified tenant is taking 103,000 square feet at the first building under construction.
In general COPT was full of good news for shareholders. Its third quarter FFO per share of 48 cents was on the high end of its guidance range. Also, as CEO Roger Waesche noted Q3 quarter results were 9% higher than the 44 cents it reported in the second quarter, "evidencing that our quarterly FFO per share did indeed bottom in the second quarter and is now rebuilding."
COPT's overall portfolio is 91.5% occupied and 93% leased.
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