First Potomac Drops Richmond Portfolio

First Potomac Realty Trust, a DC-based self-managed real estate investment trust that focuses on owning, operating, developing and redeveloping office and business park properties, announced this week that it had closed on the sale of it's Richmond, VA portfolio for $60.3 million. James Cassidy with DTZ represented First Potomac Realty Trust in the sale of the portfolio; terms of the sale or the buyer's identity were not disclosed. The sale is a continuation of First Potomac's capital recycling plan, which is focused on disposing of non-core properties and reinvesting in high quality, multi-story office buildings in the Washington, D.C. region. Since announcing the strategic and capital plan in January 2013, First Potomac has successfully disposed of 33 properties for aggregate gross proceeds of $433 million.

"With the sale of the Richmond portfolio we are continuing to execute on our strategic plan of disposing of non-core assets and redeploying capital," said Douglas Donatelli, Chief Executive Officer of First Potomac Realty Trust. "Our focus continues to be on growing the existing portfolio with well-located multi-story office buildings in the Washington, D.C. region."

The Richmond portfolio includes six business park properties — Chesterfield Business Center, Airpark Business Center and Pine Glen in Chesterfield County, Virginia and Park Central, Virginia Technology Center and Hanover Business Center in Henrico/Hanover Counties, Virginia — comprised of 19 single-story office, office/flex and industrial buildings totaling 827,925 square feet.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.

Construction Dipped in Arlington Q2

A new article from the Washington Business Journal examines the slowdown in construction activity in Arlington, VA during the second quarter of 2012. Even though there is over 4 million square feet of office space planned and approved by the county, none of the projects are yet under construction, making the second quarter the first quarter in the past decade without any new commercial construction started. An excerpt from the article:

But Arlington doesn't consider a project as "started" until it's above ground, so work at The Penzance Cos.' office building in Clarendon or Virginia Square Towers, both of which were in the dig or demolition phase during the second quarter, wasn't counted.

Robert Ruiz, who leads Arlington's urban planning research team, said the slow quarter was "definitely an anomaly," though it may be the result of several factors: the recession, the lag between county approval and construction, or a delay-spurred rethinking of projects.

Projects under construction during the second quarter will eventually total 962,282 square feet of office space, 147,660 square feet of retail, 1,404 residential units, 183 hotel rooms and 929,828 square feet of "other" space (public facilities, school, health care, etc). Much of the work now underway is found in Rosslyn, at Monday Properties' 1812 N. Moore St., The JBG Cos.' Sedona and Slate residential project and Abdo Development LLC's Gaslight Square.

For more news and information visit Blumberg Capital Partners.