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Prime Group Realty Trusts Continental Towers Named BOMAs SuburbanChicago Outstanding Building for the Fourth Time.

^{Published on 2008-11-19 16:13:11 - Market Wire}
 

CHICAGO--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Prime Group Realty Trust (NYSE:PGEPRB)(The "Company"), a Chicago-based real estate investment trust (REIT), announced today that the premier, Class A, 975,000 square-foot Continental Towers office complex in Rolling Meadows, IL, controlled and managed by Prime Group Realty Trust, was recently named "The Outstanding Building of the Year" (TOBY) for the Chicago Suburban market by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Suburban Chicago. This is the fourth time in the last five years that Continental Towers has won this prestigious award. Continental Towers has also won the five-state North Central Region TOBY award two times and will be competing for a third Regional TOBY Award later this year.

Continental Towers, which houses 40 businesses employing more than 1,450 people, was selected as the association's 2008-2009 winner in the 500,000 SF to 1,000,000 SF category. The judges described the complex as a "very well run building and it shows" and the dedicated building staff as "a key reason why the buildings continue to win awards."

The "TOBY" award program, now in its twenty-third year, is the most prestigious and comprehensive program of its kind in the commercial real estate industry, recognizing quality in office buildings and awarding excellence in office-building management. The judging process includes a building inspection and a thorough evaluation of the selection criteria, which include a review of building standards, community involvement, tenant relations, energy-management systems and procedures, environment and regulatory compliance, emergency preparedness and security standards, and building-personnel training programs.

"The Continental Towers property management team is very proud to have received this award from our peers," said Catherine A. Carlson, RPA, General Manager of the complex. "We believe that winning this award and the recent arrival of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. to the complex are evidence of how dedicated we are to managing and operating the complex in a state of the art tenant friendly manner."

In September, Prime Group Realty Trust announced that Continental Towers had been awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's prestigious ENERGY STAR, the national symbol for protecting the environment through superior energy performance.

Continental Towers is located on a professionally landscaped 34-acre site in the Woodfield neighborhood at the southeast corner of the Northwest Tollway (I-90) and Golf Road (Route 58) just east of Route 53. The complex features three 12-story office towers of approximately 280,000 square feet per tower. Above-ground and underground walkways connect all three buildings with the Commercium, a three-story, glass-enclosed 133,487 square-foot retail concourse. Its amenities include a private health club, a travel agency, sundry shop, flower shop, hair and nail salon, full-service banking facility, deli, white-tablecloth restaurant, print shop, dry cleaner, and banquet and conference center.

The Continental Towers complex is located 30 miles northwest of Chicago's Loop and 10 miles northwest of O'Hare International Airport. It has convenient access to the interstate system via I-90, I-294, I-290, and I-355. The precast composite, cast-in-place concrete structures have white Wyoming quartz aggregate curtainwalls and gray solar reflective windows.

The office buildings feature typical floorplates of approximately 23,682 square feet, white marble lobbies, 25-foot by 25-foot bays, 24-hour staffed centralized security station, closed-circuit-television monitoring system, 24/7 card-key access, state-of-the-art telecommunications systems and Internet connectivity, and surface and executive underground parking for 2,949 cars.

BOMA/Suburban Chicago was founded in 1970 to represent owners, managers and designated representatives of office properties in the greater Chicago suburban area including Cook, DuPage, Kane and Lake Counties; Rockford, IL; and Merrillville, IN. The association's 340 members currently represent more than 63 million square feet of office space in commercial office buildings, government buildings, medical facilities and corporate headquarters. The organization is an affiliate of BOMA International, which was founded in 1907 and currently has approximately 17,000 plus members in 100 local associations representing nine billion square feet of quality commercial space globally. For more information, visit [ www.bomasuburbanchicago.com ] or [ www.boma.org ].

About the Company

Owned by one of the largest private real estate owners in the country, The Lightstone Group, Prime Group Realty Trust is a fully-integrated, self-administered, and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns, manages, leases, develops, and redevelops office and industrial real estate, primarily in metropolitan Chicago. The Company currently owns 9 office properties containing an aggregate of 3.4 million net rentable square feet, a joint venture interest in one office property comprised of approximately 101,000 net rentable square feet and a membership interest in an unconsolidated entity which owns 552 extended-stay hotel properties in operation in 43 U.S. states consisting of approximately 59,000 rooms and three hotels in operation in Canada consisting of 500 rooms. It leases and manages approximately 3.4 million square feet comprising all of the wholly-owned properties. In addition, the Company is also the managing and leasing agent for the approximately 959,000 square foot property known as The United Building located at 77 West Wacker Drive in Chicago, Illinois, and the approximately 1.5 million square foot Citadel Center office building located at 131 South Dearborn Street in Chicago, Illinois. For more information about Prime Group Realty Trust, contact the company's Chicago headquarters at (312) 917-1300 or visit its website at [ www.pgrt.com ].

About The Lightstone Group

The Lightstone Group is one of the country's largest privately held real estate companies with interests in residential, office, retail, hospitality, and industrial real estate assets. The company, principally through its related operating entities, Prime Retail, Extended Stay Hotels, and Prime Group Realty Trust, owns a diversified portfolio of over 687 hotels, 18,000 residential units and approximately 29 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Puerto Rico. Headquartered in New York, The Lightstone Group employs approximately 14,000 staff and professionals and maintains regional offices in Maryland, South Carolina, Illinois and New Jersey. For more information on The Lightstone Group, call 800-347-4078 or visit [ www.lightstonegroup.com ].

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. The words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", and similar words or expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those expected because of various risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in general economic conditions, adverse changes in real estate markets as well as other risks and uncertainties included from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.