Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Enters into Contracts to Sell Industrial Portfolio for $350M

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) WRE has entered into several contracts with a single buyer to dispose of its entire industrial portfolio as well as two office assets. The assets to be sold comprise a total of approximately 3.1 million square feet. The sales prices under the contracts aggregate to $350,000,000. The assets to be sold consist of 16 industrial assets (comprising the entirety of WRIT's industrial division) along with the Crescent and Albemarle office buildings. The contracts consist of five separate purchase and sale agreements, each covering one or more separate assets. Three of the contracts (which aggregate to $235.7 million of assets) are expected to close on or about September 1, 2011. An additional contract (representing $44.6 million of assets) is expected to close on or about October 3, 2011. The final contract (representing $69.7 million of assets) is expected to close on or about November 1, 2011. Each of the contracts represents a separate binding obligation to purchase the associated assets. The escrow deposits under the contracts aggregate to $20 million.