Northern Virginia Office, Industrial Portfolio Commands $90.5M

By Bogdan Odagescu, Associate Editor

Hernon Corporate Center, Hernon, Va.

Bethesda, Md.—First Potomac Realty Trust, a D.C.-area owner and operator of office properties, recently announced it has sold its Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio, a set of eight office, flex and warehouse assets comprising 26 buildings and totaling 946,000 square feet. The REIT first announced its intention to sell the portfolio last year, with its first transaction reported this January.

The new owner is an affiliate of Finmarc Management and the total transaction price was $90.5 million. The aggregate occupancy rate of the eight properties, as of Dec. 31, 2015, was approximately 78 percent. James Meisel and Bruce Strasburg of HFF represented the seller. Finmarc was represented by Joseph Hoffman and Aaron Rosenfeld with law firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, according to rebusinessonline.com.

Here is the complete list of properties:

• Enterprise Center in Chantilly – four flex/office buildings totaling almost 190,000 square feet. The asset sits just south of Dulles International Airport and last traded hands in 2005, for $29.5 million.
• Gateway Center in Manassas is a three-building, 100,000-square-foot asset offering flex/industrial space. First Potomac acquired the Gateway Centre in mid-2005, for $10.3 million.
• Linden Business Center in Manassas saw completion in 2004 and consists of three multi-tenant office/light industrial buildings totaling almost 110,000 square feet of rentable space. The D.C. REIT bought the business center in 2005, for $15.2 million.
• Windsor at Battlefield, sitting on 12.3 acres within Manassas’ Battlefield Business Park, is a 155,000-square-foot flex/office asset that First Potomac acquired in 2004, for $15.3 million. Like both other Manassas properties mentioned above, the Windsor at Battlefield sits close to the I-66 corridor.

Van Buren Office Park, Herndon, Va.

• The Herndon Corporate Center in Herndon consists of four single-story, flex/office buildings totaling in excess of 125,000 square feet. Located in close vicinity of the Dulles Toll Road, the asset commanded $20.5 million in April 2004.
• Van Buren Office Park in Herndon consists of five single-story office/light industrial buildings totaling almost 110,000 square feet. The office park was completed in 1985 and, according to Yardi Matrix, saw cosmetic renovations in 2008.
• Prosperity Business Center is a 71,572-square-foot industrial property located in Merrifield, close to the I-66, Route 50 and Capital Beltway intersection. First Potomac acquired the center in 2005, as part of a two-property bundle commanding $17.5 million, with the Owing Mills Business Center in Owing Mills, Va., being the second property.
• The Reston Business Campus in Reston consists of four single-story office/flex buildings with a total surface of 83,000 square feet. The property last changed hands in 2005, for $11.65 million.

“The sale of the Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio represents continued execution of our plan to dispose of $350 million of assets,” said Robert Milkovich, CEO of First Potomac, in a prepared statement. “As we’ve discussed previously, the proceeds will be utilized to redeem a portion of our outstanding Preferred Shares, as we work to strengthen our balance sheet and improve our liquidity,” he continued.

Images courtesy of Yardi Matrix