WashREIT to Sell Office Portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management for $766 Million
June 15 2021 - 6:50AM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Sebastian
Washington Real Estate Investment Trust said it has agreed to
sell substantially all its office portfolio to a Brookfield Asset
Management private real-estate fund for $766 million, a move
WashREIT is pursuing to become a multifamily property owner.
The REIT on Tuesday said the office portfolio sale comprises 12
office assets, consisting of 2.37 million square feet in the
Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
The company said it expects the deal to close in the third
quarter. WashREIT said it also signed a letter of intent to sell
its remaining eight retail assets and expects to complete the sale
in the third quarter.
WashREIT said it plans to use proceeds from the sale and future
retail sales to fund the expansion of its multifamily platform
through acquisitions in the Southeastern markets and to repay
outstanding debt.
"Completing this sale will allow us to strengthen our balance
sheet by eliminating near-term debt maturities until 2023," Chief
Executive Paul McDermott said.
With the transaction, WashREIT will own only one office asset,
Watergate 600, which is a 295,000-square-foot office in Washington.
It said it plans to dispose of the office to become a 100%
multifamily REIT.
WashREIT said its multifamily strategies focus on the midmarket
renter, which it sees as the deepest part of the demand curve. The
Southeastern markets it sees as high-growth are Atlanta,
Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte.
The company said the outlook it had provided on April 28 for
2021 general and administrative expense and interest expense is no
longer in effect, as it hasn't taken into account the proposed
transaction.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 15, 2021 06:36 ET (10:36 GMT)
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