{"id":1004236320,"date":"2018-06-20T03:33:23","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T11:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004236320"},"modified":"2019-05-30T03:25:25","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T11:25:25","slug":"easterly-to-pay-430m-for-us-government-leased-portfolio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/easterly-to-pay-430m-for-us-government-leased-portfolio\/","title":{"rendered":"Easterly to Pay $430M for US Government-Leased Portfolio"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gail Kalinoski<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Facility, San Jose, Calif.<\/p><\/div>\n

Easterly Government Properties has agreed to make its biggest acquisition so far this year\u2014a 14-property portfolio in 11 states for $430 million. The company expects to close the acquisitions between July and December.<\/p>\n

When combined with the pending purchase of a 90,085-square-foot Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in San Jose, Calif.<\/a>, and completed acquisition of a 56,753-square-foot VA facility in Golden, Colo., the REIT has announced deals totaling $514.9 million this year. The two VA purchases totaled $84.9 million.<\/p>\n

The REIT is set to acquire a 1.5 million-square-foot portfolio that is 94 percent leased to the United States government and 99 percent leased overall from affiliates of an independent third party. The seller or sellers were not identified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis acquisition is expected to grow our portfolio by approximately 39 percent on a rentable square foot basis, while still maintaining the same high-quality standard of assets Easterly is known for,\u201d<\/em> William Trimble III, Easterly CEO, said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Easterly announced its latest deal, it also released plans to begin a public offering of 15,500,000 shares of its common stock to help fund the portfolio acquisition. Citigroup, Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities are acting as joint book-runners for the offering.<\/p>\n

Portfolio particulars<\/h2>\n

The largest property is a 267,766-square-foot building in Buffalo, N.Y., that houses two federal agencies\u2014the VA and Internal Revenue Service\u2014and also has a National Labor Relations Board regional office. The U.S. government leases 94 percent of the fully-occupied building with a lease expected to expire in 2021.<\/p>\n

The smallest property is a 9,800-square-foot build-to-suit facility in Bakersfield, Calif., that provides offices, holding cells and secured rooms for weapons and drug storage for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Built in 2000, it is leased through 2021.<\/p>\n

The most unusual property is a historic courthouse in Charleston, S.C., that dates back to 1795. Known as the Josiah House, it is combined with two adjacent federally-owned buildings as part of the federal judicial complex in Charleston. It was fully renovated in 1999 when the annex was constructed.<\/p>\n

The other properties in the portfolio are:<\/p>\n