Atlanta-based REIT Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. is selling a three-building office portfolio occupied by the Government Services Administration (GSA) and Lockheed Martin in Rockville, Maryland. Piedmont has hired Jones Lang LaSalle to market the Class A office buildings located in the Shady Grove Executive Center, all of which are fully leased through 2014. The assets may be purchased as a portfolio or the GSA building may be purchased separately.
Leading the Jones Lang LaSalle team on this transaction are Managing Directors John Kevill and Collins Ege, along with Senior Vice President Jim Molloy and Vice President Sean McDermott.
The properties are located at 9200, 9211 & 9221 Corporate Boulevard, just minutes from the Capital Beltway, downtown Bethesda, and Washington D.C. Building V has four stories and 109,803 square feet. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has occupied it since 1994 and plans to transfer the newly created Center for Tobacco Products division to this asset in 2010. Buildings I & IV are also four stories and make up 115,282 square feet and 115,315 square feet, respectively. Lockheed Martin has occupied these assets since 1989, using the space for its Transportation and Security Solutions program under the Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services division.
"The sale of these three top quality buildings will allow Piedmont to monetize what may be the best located office park in the I-270 Corridor," said Kevill. "We expect this combination of investment-grade tenants, along with newly inked leases, will provide near term stability that investors currently desire as well as a significant discount to replacement cost. Investors will also have future upside opportunity as the submarket continues to evolve."
As of September 30, 2009, Piedmont owned 84 buildings, including 8 joint venture interests. The wholly-owned portfolio totals approximately 21 million square feet, in 22 states and Washington, D.C. Properties include the corporate headquarters of such organizations as U.S. Bancorp, NASA and Nestlé USA. Across the portfolio, Piedmont properties are approximately 90 percent leased. For more information, see www.piedmontreit.com.
Auth Road Associates has signed the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration to a lease extension for 137,004 square feet of office space at the World Weather Building, 5200 Auth Road in Suitland, Md.
Kurt Stout, senior vice president, Charles Dilks, vice president, and Keith Lavey, vice president, all members of the Grubb & Ellis Government Services Group, facilitated the transaction. The tenant was represented by the GSA.
The building has been the long-time home of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the National Weather Service.