First Potomac Realty Trust Sells Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio

BETHESDA, Md., March 28, 2016 /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 announced the sale of a portfolio of eight non-core properties located in Northern Virginia (the "Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio"), to an affiliated company of Finmarc Management, Inc. for net proceeds of $90.5 million. The Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio is comprised of 26 buildings totaling 946,000 square feet and was approximately 78% leased at December 31, 2015. 

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The sale represents the continued execution of the Company's previously announced plan to dispose of $350 million of assets. Proceeds from the sale will be utilized to fund the redemption of a portion of the Company's remaining 7.75% Series A Preferred Shares. The sale of the Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio and the redemption of a portion of the Company's preferred shares represent a continued focus on strengthening the Company's balance sheet and enhancing the Company's portfolio composition.

"The sale of the Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio represents continued execution of our plan to dispose of $350 million of assets," said Robert Milkovich, CEO of First Potomac Realty Trust. "As we've discussed previously, the proceeds will be utilized to redeem a portion of our outstanding Preferred Shares, as we work to strengthen our balance sheet and improve our liquidity."

The eight properties in the Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio include:

• Enterprise Center in Chantilly, Virginia;
• Gateway Centre Manassas, Linden Business Center and Windsor at Battlefield, each located in Manassas, Virginia;
• Herndon Corporate Center and Van Buren Office Park, each located in Herndon, Virginia;
• Prosperity Business Center in Merrifield, Virginia; and
• Reston Business Campus in Reston, Virginia.

Mr. Jim Meisel and Mr. Bruce Strasburg of HFF represented First Potomac in the sale of the Northern Virginia Non-Core Portfolio. 

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 December 31, 2015, our consolidated portfolio totaled 7.5 million square feet. Based on annualized cash basis rent, our portfolio consists of 64% office properties and 36% 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.

About HFF

HFF and HFFS (HFF Securities L.P.) are owned by HFF, Inc. HFF operates out of 22 offices nationwide and is a leading provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry. HFF together with its affiliate HFFS offer clients a fully integrated national capital markets platform including debt placement, investment sales, equity placement, advisory services, loan sales and commercial loan servicing. For more information please visit hfflp.com or follow HFF on Twitter @HFF.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including statements regarding our plans and expectations with respect to the redemption of the Series A Preferred Shares, 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 and dispositions on attractive terms, or at all; 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 Securities and Exchange Commission; 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 the Company's 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.

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

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SOURCE First Potomac Realty Trust