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Colonial Properties Trust Sells Retail Asset

^{Published on 2009-12-21 08:25:06 - Market Wire}
 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP) (the "Company") today announced it has sold the Colonial Promenade Winter Haven.

"Simplifying the business has been a priority for us all year"

The Company sold Colonial Promenade Winter Haven, a wholly-owned 286,000-square-foot retail asset located in Orlando, Florida, for $20.7 million. The 23-year-old property was unencumbered and had an occupancy rate of 93.2% at September 30, 2009. The proceeds from the transaction totaled $20.7 million and were used to reduce the Company's outstanding balance on its unsecured line of credit.

"Simplifying the business has been a priority for us all year," stated Thomas H. Lowder, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "This transaction, together with the recently announced exits of the OZ/CLP joint venture, the DRA/CRT joint venture and the Mansell Joint Venture, have greatly reduced the number of joint venture-owned commercial assets in our portfolio. The benefits of this strategy have extended well beyond day-to-day operations and more simplified financial reporting to include eliminating near-term debt maturities, strengthening the balance sheet, reducing our overhead and preparing us for future growth opportunities. We will continue our efforts on this front in 2010."

Colonial Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that creates value for its shareholders through a Sunbelt-focused multifamily portfolio and the management, development and acquisition of select commercial assets. As of September 30, 2009, the Company owned or managed 34,644 apartment units and 21.5 million square feet of commercial space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, please visit the Company's website at [ www.colonialprop.com ].

Safe Harbor Statement

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release may constitute, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results, performance, achievements or transactions to be materially different from the results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets, including recent deterioration in the multifamily market and the strength or duration of the current recession or recovery; increased exposure, as a multifamily-focused REIT, to risks inherent in investments in a single industry; ability to obtain financing on reasonable rates, if at all; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; higher than expected construction costs; uncertainties associated with the timing and amount of real estate dispositions, including our existing inventory of condominium and for-sale residential assets; legislative or regulatory decisions; our ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; price volatility, dislocations and liquidity disruptions in the financial markets and the resulting impact on availability of financing; the effect of any rating agency action on the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.

The Company refers you to the documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as may be updated or supplemented in the company's Form 10-Q filings, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the company's results.