Finance REITs
COPT Wraps Acquisition of 3 Offices
July 2, 2008
By: Michael Fickes, Contributing Correspondent

In a $40.5 million transaction, Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) has acquired three office buildings, one in Colorado Springs, Colo., and two in San Antonio, Texas.

COPT has been an active buyer for much of its history. The company acquired $165 million worth of properties in 2003, $264 million in 2004, $364 million in 2005, $180 million in 2006 and $378.6 million last year.

These acquisitions--the company’s first of 2008--may mark a return to growth through acquisitions that characterized the firm from 2003 through 2007.

The 3-story, class A building in Colorado Springs cost $23.2 million. Northrop Grumman Corp. occupies 100 percent of the building, which is located in the Colorado Springs Airport Business Park, known as Cresterra, adjacent to the Peterson Air force Base. COPT is Cresterra’s master developer. Overall, COPT owns 15 office buildings in Colorado Springs. Three more are under construction and two are in development. All told, the company owns 192 acres of land that will support approximately 2.5 million square feet of development.

The two San Antonio buildings cost $17.3 million. Both are two stories tall and 100 percent leased, long-term, to Sears, Air Force Federal Credit Union and AFNI. COPT now owns four office buildings in San Antonio. Two more are under construction. Overall, the company owns 58 acres of land that will support about 725,000 square feet of development in the city.

Founded in 1988 as a REIT called Royale Investments, the company changed its name to Corporate Office Properties Trust, went public in 1998 and began to acquire office properties. Since then, COPT has acquired more than $4 billion of suburban office assets. 

 
Recent REITs Headlines
domaine Chartwell to Buy Out Seniors Housing JV
Residences Melior, an affiliate of Groupe Melior, of Montreal, has exercised its right under a joint venture agreement with Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT to sell to Chartwell the remaining 50 percent interest owned by Melior in seven assisted-living properties in the Province of Quebec.
General Growth Pays Down $391M in Short-Term Debt
As part of its ongoing effort to deal with some $18.4 billion in debt that's scheduled to come due over the next three-and-a-half years, Chicago-based General Growth Properties has completed the repayment of $391 million in near-term mortgage loans.
naperville north Health Care REIT Makes $643M Seniors Buy
Health Care REIT Inc. has agreed to acquire a 90 percent interest in a portfolio of 29 seniors housing properties from an affiliate of Arcapita Inc., an investment bank based in Atlanta, for $643.5 million.
Maguire Completes Second SoCal Office Sale in a Week
Maguire Properties Inc. has closed the books on the disposition of City Plaza, a 324,000-square-foot office building in Orange, Calif. An entity owned by Hudson Capital L.L.C. took the property off Maguire's hands.
U.S. Private Equity Firms Seek Bargains in Japanese REIT Market
Japanese REITs, which have lost more than 50 percent of their value on the Tokyo Stock Exchange since their peak last year, are increasingly attracting the attention of U.S.-based private equity firms like Oaktree Capital Management, which has launched the first tender offer for a REIT in Japan.