Brandywine Realty Buys Office Park in Austin - Analyst Blog

On Tuesday, Brandywine Realty Trust BDN, the Radnor, PA-based real estate investment trust (REIT), announced its plan to purchase a 54-acre, Encino Trace office park project from San Antonio, TX-based real estate developer Koontz McCombs.

This office park, located at Southwest Parkway, southwest Austin, has attracted ARM Holdings PLC, a British multinational semiconductor and software design company, as the lead tenant. Presently, ARM Holdings is a tenant in Brandywine Park, located in Barton Creek campus. However, it has zeroed in on Encino Trace as the new location for its Austin engineering design center and is slated to shift to the new building in spring 2015.

This premier park offers 320,000 square feet of Class A office space with a parking garage. It also includes multi-purpose sports field, basketball court and an on-site fitness center. Besides, the park features expansive outdoor amenities including a 1.5 mile hiking and running trail.

In order to minimize the environmental impact, less than 8 acres of the 54-acre park has been utilized for the building. For this feature, the park is set to win a three-star rating from Austin Energy's Green Building Program.

Brandywine Realty Trust is a self-administered and fully integrated REIT, engaged in acquiring, developing, redeveloping, leasing and managing suburban office and industrial properties.

Brandywine Realty currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked equity REITs worth considering include The GEO Group, Inc. GEO, W. P. Carey Inc. WPC and Terreno Realty Corp. TRNO. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).