First Potomac Realty Trust Provides Update On Previously Announced Plan To Sell At Least $200 Million Of Assets

BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- First Potomac Realty Trust FPO, a leading owner and operator of office and business park properties in the greater Washington D.C. region, today provided an update regarding its ongoing initiative to further improve performance and create additional shareholder value.

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Douglas J. Donatelli, Chief Executive Officer of First Potomac Realty Trust stated, "As we announced in late July, we are taking a number of specific steps to de-risk our portfolio, strengthen our balance sheet, and reduce our corporate overhead.  We remain committed to enhancing shareholder value through the monetization of assets and the redeployment of proceeds to repurchase shares, strengthen the balance sheet, and position the Company for long-term success."

As recently announced, the Company intends to accelerate the sale of certain assets, including non-core assets, assets where the Company feels that it has maximized value, as well as certain development assets.  To that end, the Company has engaged Holiday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P. to market the following assets in Northern Virginia:

To the extent the Company is able to achieve its pricing objectives, the sales of the Northern Virginia assets are anticipated to close by year-end or in the first quarter of 2016.

In addition, the Company has engaged Sage Capital Advisors to strategically monetize First Potomac's majority ownership interest in Storey Park, a development site located in the NoMa sub-market in Washington, D.C.  The site can accommodate up to 712,000 square feet of mixed-use development and is within walking distance of Union Station, a major transportation hub in the District.  There is no set timeline for monetizing Storey Park, as it will ultimately depend on the transaction structure and other considerations.

The Company believes that the assets being marketed are high-quality, and that low-cost financing for unencumbered real estate is readily available.  However, the Company can provide no assurances regarding the timing or pricing of dispositions, or that the sales will occur at all.

The Company has identified additional assets that it plans to divest in the near term, and intends to announce additional details once sales brokers have been engaged.  These assets, combined with the Northern Virginia assets and Storey Park, are anticipated to generate proceeds of at least $200 million.

As previously disclosed, the Company intends to utilize the proceeds from asset sales to repurchase common shares under its previously announced share repurchase program, redeem the Company's 7.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, in whole or in part beginning in late January 2016 and/or repay outstanding indebtedness.  To date, the Company has repurchased approximately 925,000 common shares at an average price of $10.99, utilizing proceeds from the sale of Rumsey Center, which closed in July of 2015.

About First Potomac Realty Trust

First Potomac Realty Trust is a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust that focuses on owning, operating, developing and redeveloping office and business park properties in the greater Washington, D.C. region. FPO common shares FPO and preferred shares FPO are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.  As of June 30, 2015, our consolidated portfolio totaled 8.0 million square feet. Based on annualized cash basis rent, our portfolio consists of 63% office properties and 37% business park and industrial properties. A key element of First Potomac's overarching strategy is its dedication to sustainability. Over one million square feet of First Potomac property is LEED Certified and approximately half of the portfolio's multi-story office square footage is LEED or Energy Star Certified.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including statements regarding potential dispositions and the timing and pricing of such dispositions and/or monetization, and the use of proceeds from such transactions, are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that our expectations will be achieved. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include changes in general or regional economic conditions; our ability to timely lease or re-lease space at current or anticipated rents; changes in interest rates; changes in operating costs; our ability to complete acquisitions on acceptable terms; our ability to manage our current debt levels and repay or refinance our indebtedness upon maturity or other required payment dates; our ability to maintain financial covenant compliance under our debt agreements; our ability to maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; any impact of the informal inquiry initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"); our ability to obtain debt and/or financing on attractive terms, or at all; changes in the assumptions underlying our earnings and Core FFO guidance and other risks detailed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and described from time to time in our filings with the SEC. Many of these factors are beyond our ability to control or predict. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. For forward-looking statements herein, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We assume no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

Contact:
Jaime N. Marcus
Director, Investor Relations
(240) 223-2735
jmarcus@first-potomac.com

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SOURCE First Potomac Realty Trust