Colonial Properties Trust Exits DRA/CRT Office Joint Venture

2009-11-30 22:37:58 -

Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP) (the “Company”) announced further progress in simplifying its business and eliminating near-term debt maturity exposure through the disposition of the Company’s 15% ownership interest in the 17-asset DRA/CRT office joint venture with DRA Advisors LLC (the “Joint Venture”).

Pursuant to the transaction, which closed on November 25th, the Company transferred its membership interest back to the

Joint Venture. As part of this transaction, the Company acquired 100% ownership of one of the Joint Venture’s properties, Three Ravinia, an 813,000-square-foot, Class A office building located in Atlanta, Georgia and made a cash payment of $24.7 million. The transaction resulted in the Company’s release from $141.1 million of mortgage debt, which represents the Company’s pro rata share of debt on the Joint Venture. Of this amount, $7.0 million matured in 2009 and $117.8 million was scheduled to mature in 2010. As part of the transaction, the existing indebtedness on Three Ravinia was repaid, which consisted of $106.3 million of loans secured by the Three Ravinia property that were scheduled to mature in January 2010, and the corresponding $17.0 million loan guaranty provided by the Company on Three Ravinia was terminated. The total cash payment of $131.0 million made by the Company to acquire Three Ravinia and to repay the outstanding indebtedness was made through borrowings under the Company’s unsecured credit facility. The Company continues to manage all of the remaining properties in the Joint Venture under the existing management agreements.

“This transaction is a major step in the ongoing simplification of our business,” stated Thomas H. Lowder, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We were able to exit another joint venture on favorable terms, eliminate $124.8 million of near term debt maturities, and acquire 100% ownership of an iconic Atlanta office property.”


Colonial Properties Trust is a multifamily real estate investment trust (REIT) that creates additional value for its shareholders by managing commercial assets through joint venture investments and pursuing development opportunities. As of September 30, 2009, the Company owned or managed 34,644 apartment units, and 21.5 million square feet of office and retail space located in key Sunbelt states from Virginia to Nevada. Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.colonialprop.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .



Safe Harbor Statement

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding, the ability of the company’s joint venture partners to refinance and/or replace outstanding joint venture indebtedness, may constitute, “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company’s actual results, performance, achievements or transactions to be materially different from the results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets, including recent deterioration in the multifamily market and the strength or duration of the current recession or recovery; increased exposure, as a multifamily focused REIT, to risks inherent in investments in a single industry; ability to obtain financing on reasonable rates, if at all; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; higher than expected construction costs; uncertainties associated with the timing and amount of real estate dispositions, including our existing inventory of condominium and for-sale residential assets; legislative or regulatory decisions; our ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; price volatility, dislocations and liquidity disruptions in the financial markets and the resulting impact on availability of financing; the effect of any rating agency action on the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.


The company refers you to the documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, as may be updated or supplemented in the company’s Form 10-Q filings, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the company’s results.


Colonial Properties TrustJerry A. BrewerExecutive Vice

President, Finance800-645-3917