ATLANTA & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Columbia Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CXP) today announced that it has exited the Houston market with the sale of three office properties to Spear Street Capital for $272 million in gross proceeds. The assets, which total approximately 1.2 million square feet, include 5 Houston Center, Energy Center I, and 515 Post Oak Boulevard.
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Columbia Property Trust has exited the Houston market with the sale of three office properties to Spear Street Capital, including 5 Houston Center. (Photo: Business Wire)
Columbia will use proceeds from the sale for reinvestment in its high-barrier target markets. The company has sold a total of $932.5 million in non-core assets since March 2016.
As one of the premier office towers in Houston’s central business district, 5 Houston Center includes 581,000 square feet of office space connected to the city’s skywalk system. Ernst & Young is one of the largest tenants at the award-winning, 27-story office tower, which was built in 2002 and has been owned and managed by Columbia since 2005. The building is located at 1401 McKinney Street.
Comprising 332,000 square feet, Energy Center I is located at 585 N. Dairy Ashford Road, right off Interstate 10 in Houston’s Energy Corridor. The building, which houses the Americas headquarters of Amec Foster Wheeler, a global engineering and construction contractor, was built in 2008 and purchased by Columbia in 2010.
515 Post Oak Boulevard is a 12-story, 274,000-square-foot office building located in Houston’s Galleria submarket. Columbia purchased the building in 2004 and extensively renovated the complex in 2013, helping to attract new tenants to the property including NetIQ Corporation and Rockwater Energy Solutions.
“While our Houston properties have been strong performers over the years, we have shifted our focus to select high-barrier markets as we continue to position Columbia as a top-performing office REIT,” said Nelson Mills, president and CEO of Columbia Property Trust. “We had solid demand from potential buyers for this portfolio, and this was a good opportunity to accelerate our core market strategy. With $932.5 million in disposition proceeds raised over the past year, we have made tremendous progress in unlocking the overall value of our portfolio as we redeploy capital into assets that meet our investment criteria, located in our target markets.”
About Columbia Property Trust
Columbia Property Trust (NYSE: CXP) owns and operates Class-A office buildings in competitive, primarily CBD locations, and over half our investments are in high-barrier-to-entry, primary markets. Our portfolio includes 18 office properties containing 9.5 million square feet and one hotel, concentrated in San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Columbia, which carries an investment-grade rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, please visit www.columbia.reit.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements contained in this press release other than historical facts may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. We intend for all such forward-looking statements to be covered by the applicable safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in those acts. Such statements include, in particular, statements about our plans, strategies, and prospects and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including known and unknown risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Therefore, such statements are not intended to be a guarantee of our performance in future periods. Such forward-looking statements can generally be identified by our use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "continue," or other similar words. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. We make no representations or warranties (express or implied) about the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements contained in this press release, and we do not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Any such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors and are based on a number of assumptions involving judgments with respect to, among other things, future economic, competitive, and market conditions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately. To the extent that our assumptions differ from actual conditions, our ability to accurately anticipate results expressed in such forward-looking statements, including our ability to generate positive cash flow from operations, make distributions to stockholders, and maintain the value of our real estate properties, may be significantly hindered. See Item 1A in the Company's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, for a discussion of some of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those presented in our forward-looking statements. The risk factors described in our Annual Report are not the only ones we face, but do represent those risks and uncertainties that we believe are material to us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also harm our business.
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