First Potomac Realty Trust closes on $60 million sale of Richmond portfolio

 
First Potomac Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Bethesda, Md., has exited from the Richmond market with the sale of its Richmond portfolio for $60.3 million.
The portfolio of six business park properties, includes 19 single-story office, office/flex and industrial buildings totaling 827,925 square feet.  The Richmond buildings include Chesterfield Business Center, Airpark Business Center and Pine Glen in Chesterfield County and Virginia and Park Central, Virginia Technology Center and Hanover Business Center in Henrico and Hanover counties. First Potomac did not disclose the buyer.

According to a company press release, the sale of the Richmond portfolio is a continuation of First Potomac's capital recycling plan, which is focused on disposing of non-core properties and reinvesting in high-quality, multi-story office buildings in the Washington, D.C., region.

Since announcing the strategic and capital plan in January 2013, First Potomac has disposed of 33 properties for aggregate gross proceeds of $433 million. The REIT said it successfully redeployed $218 million of those proceeds to acquire well-located, core properties, with the remainder of the proceeds used to pay down debt.

“With the sale of the Richmond portfolio we are continuing to execute on our strategic plan of disposing of non-core assets and redeploying capital,” Douglas J. Donatelli, the company’s CEO said in a statement. “Our focus continues to be on growing the existing portfolio with well-located multi-story office buildings in the Washington, D.C. region.”
James Cassidy with DTZ represented First Potomac Realty Trust in the sale of the portfolio.