First Potomac buys Md. business center for $25.5M

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — First Potomac Realty Trust said on Thursday that it has bought a business park in Germantown, Md., for $25.5 million.

The company said the Cloverleaf Center is a 173,655 square-foot business park built in 2000, and includes four office buildings of one- and two stories. The property is currently 97 percent leased, mostly to government contractors and technology companies, with no major lease expirations scheduled until Aug. 2012.

First Potomac paid for the purchase with a combination of cash and a $17.5 million mortgage that runs for five years (plus two one-year extension options) at 6.75 percent.

The company also said that during the quarter that ended Sept. 30 it sold 1.63 million common shares through an offering, at an average of $10.68 each, generating about $17 million. It used $8.8 million of that for the cloverleaf purchase. It used another $7.5 million to retire $8.5 million of the outstanding balance on its exchangeable senior notes. The note repurchase resulted in a gain of $640,000, or 2 cents per share.

First Potomac shares fell 9 cents to close at $11.15.