COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) executed two, long-term leases with a Fortune 500 company for two, 100% pre-leased, 149,000-square foot build-to-suit developments in Northern Virginia at the end of December, 2017. Simultaneously, COPT completed the purchase of a land parcel to support these projects and, earlier in the fourth quarter, acquired land to support additional build-to-suit projects in its shadow development pipeline.
Funding. To fund the above activity, COPT issued 1.7 million common shares to withdraw $50 million of proceeds from the $285 million forward equity issuance executed in the fourth quarter of 2017. The issued shares reduce the number of shares sold short and funds held in escrow as part of the forward equity transaction, from the initial short amount of 9.2 million shares, to approximately 7.5 million shares sold short, which represents the shares for the remainder of the forward equity transaction.
Company Information
COPT is an office REIT that owns, manages, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties in locations that support the United States Government and its contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (“IT”) related activities servicing priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). The Company also owns a portfolio of office properties located in select urban/urban-like submarkets within its regional footprint with durable Class-A office fundamentals and characteristics (“Regional Office Properties”). As of September 30, 2017, the Company derived 87% of core portfolio annualized revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 13% from its Regional Office Properties. As of September 30, 2017 and including six buildings owned through an unconsolidated joint venture, COPT’s core portfolio of 153 office properties encompassed 16.7 million square feet and was 95.1% leased. As of the same date, the Company also owned one wholesale data center with a critical load of 19.25 megawatts.
