Duke Realty Sells Asset - Analyst Blog

Duke Realty Corp. (DRE) recently sold a 7.6 acre land parcel in Pembroke Pines, Florida. The asset was sold to Demeter Pembroke Pines, a Fort Lauderdale-based developer and an affiliate of Keenan Properties Group, for $4.66 million.

 

The land will be used to construct a campus for Keiser University, a regionally accredited private university that provides educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in traditional, nontraditional, and online delivery formats. The campus is scheduled to be completed by July 2011. 

 

Duke Realty is one of the largest commercial real estate companies in the U.S. For over 35 years, the company has leveraged its local presence and its integrated platform to drive returns, establishing itself as a premier publicly traded real estate developer in the country.

 

Duke Realty is currently repositioning its portfolio and has exited certain markets in an attempt to concentrate in areas where it already has a strong presence. The company has temporarily closed its operations in some of its newest markets including Austin, San Antonio, Seattle and Newport Beach. The portfolio reshuffle is likely to improve Duke Reality’s internal growth metrics and position it to emerge stronger once the real estate markets fully recover.

 

Currently, we maintain our Neutral rating on Duke Realty with a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term ‘Hold’ recommendation and indicates that the stock is expected to perform in line with the overall U.S. equity market for the next 1-3 months.