Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Contracts

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) (NYSE: WRE), a leading owner of commercial and multifamily properties in the Washington, DC area, today announced that it has entered into four separate contracts with a single buyer.

The deal is to sell a 100% interest in its medical office portfolio and two office assets (both of which have significant medical office tenancy) comprising a total of approximately 1.5 million square feet. The combined sale price is $500,750,000 ($500.75 million), or $329 per square foot.

The portfolio consists of 17 medical office assets and two suburban office buildings, 6565 Arlington Boulevard and Woodholme Center, as well as a land parcel located in Alexandria, Virginia which is being utilized as off-site/overflow parking for one of the medical office buildings in the portfolio.

The sale will be structured as four independent transactions, each of which will close pursuant to a separate purchase and sale agreement.

The projected closing date for the first two transactions is Nov. 12, 2013 and the outside closing date for the second two transactions is Jan. 31, 2014.

WRIT plans to use proceeds from the medical office sale to reinvest into high-quality downtown or metro-centric office buildings and well-located retail and multifamily assets. In addition to acquisition opportunities, WRIT has the ability to use proceeds to pay down existing outstanding debt.

Lastly, if acquisition opportunities that satisfy WRIT’s investment criteria are not available, WRIT may consider distributing a portion of the proceeds as capital gains to its shareholders.

A small portion of the proceeds will also be used to reimburse WRIT for costs associated with defeasance and repaying $23 million of existing loans on the medical office portfolio.

WRIT is a self-administered, self-managed, equity real estate investment trust investing in income-producing properties in the greater Washington metro region.

Photo courtesy: WRIT