COPT Buys Baltimore Office Building for $64M

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), an office REIT that focuses primarily on serving the specialized requirements of U.S. Government agencies and defense contractors, announced this week that it had purchased 250 West Pratt Street in Baltimore for $63.5 million, or $172 per square foot. The building's seller, Dallas-based Tier REIT Inc., was represented by Cushman & Wakefield of Maryland Inc. in the transaction; Tier acquired the 24-story tower for $51.8 million in 2004.

"This acquisition enhances the quality of our regional office portfolio by increasing our ownership of urban, in-fill buildings in amenity- and transportation-rich submarkets," Roger Waesche, Jr., COPT's President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a press release.

Located in Maryland's Pratt Street Corridor near the Inner Harbor, the 368,200 square foot building has quick access to light rail, I-395, the MARC Train's Camden Yards station and is walking distance from the subway. The property was 95% leased at the time of sale and will soon become home to Pandora Jewelry LLC, which is moving its Americas headquarters and hundreds of workers to the property from Columbia in the next several weeks.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Silver Spring Office Building Sold for $21.3M

11800 Tech Road in Silver Spring, MD traded hands this month as Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), an office REIT, sold the property to a joint venture between Finmarc Management and the Goldstar Group, which previously owned the building. HFF marketed the property exclusively on behalf of the seller and closed the transaction free and clear of debt. COPT purchased the property in the fall of 2002 from the Goldstar Group for $27.3 million as its first building buy in Montgomery County according to a CoStar report.

The 228,179-square-foot flex office building was built in 1967 and renovated in 1997. The property was 82.5% leased at the time of sale to six tenants including the General Services Administration, Comcast Cable, Kaiser Foundation Health, BioCore Medical and Holy Cross Hospital. 11800 Tech Road is located in the North Silver Spring/Route 29 submarket of Silver Spring approximately 14 miles north of Washington, D.C.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.