Whitestone Buys $108M Area Assets in '12

PHOENIX-Houston-based Whitestone REIT has tallied up its 2012 local purchases. The company paid $108 million for the five community centers which offer value-add potential for the buyer.

“We are pleased to complete 2012 by announcing our 14th acquisition in the greater Phoenix market since September 2010, adding another solid year of value-add growth,” notes James C. Mastandrea, Whitestone’s chairman and CEO in a press release. “We have purchased properties in individual off-market transactions, where we believe that we have an opportunity to add value in a low inflation environment by increasing net operating income, which occurs as we increase occupancy, rent per square foot, and total square footage through expansion and development of adjacent parcels, and reduce property operating expenses.”