Business & Finance
Business and Finance
Business and Finance
Mon, January 10, 2011 First Potomac Realty Trust Purchases 7458 Candlewood Road in Hanover, MD
WASHINGTON--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--First Potomac Realty Trust (NYSE:FPO), a leading owner of office and industrial properties in the greater Washington, D.C. region, today announced that it acquired 7458 Candlewood Road in Hanover, Maryland, on December 29, 2010 for a purchase price of $22.6 million. The 295,673-square-foot warehouse facility is located in close proximity to Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport.
"We are pleased to add this warehouse facility in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington Corridor to our portfolio"
The original 184,862-square-foot building was developed in 1985 by Mercedes-Benz and was expanded by 110,811 square feet in 2009. The acquisition was financed through the assumption of a $14.7 million first mortgage loan and a draw on the Companya™s revolving credit facility.
First Potomac recently signed a 5-year, 21,000-square-foot lease with J.B. Hunt, a transportation logistics company, and the property is now 100 percent leased to four tenants. On January 6, 2011, Frank Parsons Paper, which occupies nearly three-quarters of the building as its corporate headquarters facility, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Company has been working with Frank Parsons to reduce the amount of space it occupies and has identified tenants to potentially backfill a portion of Frank Parsonsa™ space.
aWe are pleased to add this warehouse facility in the heart of the Baltimore-Washington Corridor to our portfolio,a stated Douglas J. Donatelli, Chairman and CEO of First Potomac Realty Trust. aGiven the quality of the asset and our basis in the property, we are confident we will be able to re-tenant any space that we get back from the lead tenant and generate attractive returns for our shareholders.a
The property enjoys easy access to MD Route 100, a major east-west artery in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. It is located within minutes of I-95, I-97, I-295 and the Baltimore Beltway. The property also allows for convenient access to BWI Airport and the deep-water inland Port of Baltimore.
Aviation Business Park
Additionally, First Potomac Realty Trust announced that on December 29, 2010, it acquired, through a 50-50 joint venture with AEW Capital Management, L.P, title to Aviation Business Park, a three-building office park totaling 121,000 square-feet adjacent to BWI Airport. The Company previously announced that it had acquired the first mortgage loan secured by the property for $8.0 million.
For more information on the Company please visit [ www.first-potomac.com ].
Forward Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that its expectations will be achieved. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Companya™s expectations include changes in general or regional economic conditions; the Companya™s ability to timely lease or re-lease space at current or anticipated rents, or at all (including in connection with tenant bankruptcies and the resulting vacated space); changes in interest rates; increases in operating costs; the Companya™s ability to complete acquisitions on acceptable terms and successfully integrate such acquisitions into the Companya™s portfolio; the Companya™s ability to manage its current debt levels (including the ability to service mortgage debt at properties with significant vacancies caused by tenant bankruptcies or otherwise) and repay or refinance its indebtedness upon maturity or other required payment dates; the Companya™s ability to obtain debt and/or financing on attractive terms, or at all; changes in the assumptions underlying the Companya™s expected rates of return on acquisitions and other risks detailed in the Companya™s Annual Report on Form 10-K and described from time to time in the Companya™s filings with the SEC. Many of these factors are beyond the Companya™s ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. For forward-looking statements herein, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.
About First Potomac Realty Trust
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., First Potomac Realty Trust is a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that focuses on owning, operating, developing and redeveloping office and industrial properties in the greater Washington, D.C. region. The Company's portfolio totals approximately 13 million square feet. The Company's largest tenant is the U.S. Government, which along with government contractors, accounts for more than 20 percent of the Company's revenue. For more information, please visit [ http://www.first-potomac.com ].
