COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) announces the formation of GI-COPT DC Partnership LLC, a 50/50 joint venture with an affiliate of GI Partners, a leading private investment firm. The venture acquired six of COPT’s existing, single-tenant, data center properties that contain a total of 962,000 square feet. The unconsolidated venture raised $60 million of 10-year mortgages that bear interest at 3.4% to finance approximately 40% of the value of the properties. GI Partners’ affiliate purchased its interest in the venture for approximately $44 million. COPT realized $104 million in proceeds from these transactions.
“We are excited and honored to embark on this new relationship with GI Partners,” stated Stephen E. Budorick, COPT’s President & Chief Executive Officer. “This venture demonstrates the strength of demand for strategically located data center properties leased to high credit tenants, as well as the value creation inherent in our Defense/IT development business.”
About GI Partners
Founded in 2001, GI Partners is a leading private investment firm managing over $12 billion in capital commitments through private equity and real estate strategies for recognized institutional investors across the globe. GI Partners’ real estate team invests across a number of property types and investment strategies, including data centers, corporate campuses, industrial buildings, multi-family residential, and senior living facilities. For more information on GI Partners, please visitwww.gipartners.com.
Company Information
COPT is an office REIT that owns, manages, develops and selectively acquires office and data center properties in locations that support United States Government agencies and their contractors, most of whom are engaged in national security, defense and information technology (“IT”) related activities servicing priority missions (“Defense/IT Locations”). COPT also owns a complementary portfolio of traditional Class-A office properties located in select urban/urban-like submarkets within its regional footprint (“Regional Office Properties”). As of March 31, 2016, COPT derived 86% of core portfolio annualized revenue from Defense/IT Locations and 14% from its Regional Office Properties. As of March 31, 2016, COPT’s core portfolio of 153 office properties encompassed 16.6 million square feet and was 93.3% leased.
