Struggling Prime Group REIT Sells Assets

CHICAGO-Struggling Prime Group Realty Trust, based here, has sold three industrial properties for $36.8 million after selling costs, according to the trust. The buyers were CenterPoint Properties, Chicago’s largest industrial developer, and the California State Teachers Retirement System.

The trust has been engaged in a strategic review of its options since this summer, which it says could involve a sale of all or part of its assets. In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week, Prime Group revealed that it has about two-thirds of its $850 million in debt coming due in the next two years.

The trust’s large indebtedness is starting to drag down the REIT’s results. For the first six months of the year, interest expense has soared 23%, by far the largest factor in the trust’s reporting a $471,000 loss for the second quarter. Net income was $7 million in the same period the year before. FFO declined by 11% in the first six months of the this year to $24.2 million.

Prime Group says it realized a gain of $3.3 million on the three industrial property sales. The property located in Munster, IN, a 450,000-sf facility leased to General Electric, was bought by CenterPoint Venture LLC, an affiliate of CenterPoint Properties REIT. Two Chicago suburban properties were purchased by CALSTERS for a total of $24.2 million.