Liberty (LPT) Secures First Tenant For Landover Facility

Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) has secured the first tenant for its 216,000 square foot distribution facility at the Washington Gateway Logistics Center in Landover, MD. The new tenant, which has leased 129,600 square feet of space, is slated to occupy the warehouse space this month. Liberty Property has already completed the shell construction of the property.

Referred as 1200 Claybrick Road, this facility is strategically situated in a central location, which is less than two miles from Washington, DC, and enjoys immediate access to Rt. 50, I-295, I-495/I-95. Further, it is close to the Cheverly and Deanwood Metro Stations.

Additionally, per the company’s management, the property is in a market which enjoys solid demand for class A space for servicing a growing metropolitan population base. On the other hand, supply of such high quality properties in Washington D.C and Northern Virginia is rapidly falling. This paves the way for Liberty Property to grab attention for this building. It has a 200' depth, 36' clear height, 50' x 54' column spacing, 60' speed bay, up to 58 dock doors and an ESFR fire suppression system.

Notably, fundamentals of the overall U.S. industrial market remain solid, backed by rising demand for industrial properties amid manageable supply, which has led to strong rent growth, increased occupancy and development opportunities. Thus, given its premium quality industrial portfolio located in upscale locations, pro-business environment and consistent e-commerce demand, Liberty Property is poised for growth.

The company’s 98 million square foot portfolio includes over 558 properties which provide office, distribution and light manufacturing facilities to 1,200 tenants. Specifically, the company’s industrial portfolio, spanning 91.7 million square feet, was leased 96.6% at the end of first-quarter 2017. Also, industrial distribution rents escalated 17.8% on renewal and replacement leases during the reported quarter.

Currently, Liberty Property carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Moreover, over the past three months, shares of Liberty Property climbed 8.8% and outperformed the Zacks categorized REIT and Equity Trust – Other industry’s gain of 5.6%.



Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the REIT space include Prologis, Inc. (NYSE:PLD) , PS Business Parks, Inc. (NYSE:PSB) and Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) . All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Prologis’ estimates for second-quarter 2017 FFO per share moved north 4.0% to 78 cents, over the past 30 days.

PS Business Parks has a long-term growth rate of 5.0%.

Whitestone REIT’s FFO per share estimates for 2017 inched up 1.9% to $1.05, over the past 30 days.

Note: All EPS numbers presented in this write up represent funds from operations (“FFO”) per share. FFO, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.


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ProLogis, Inc. (PLD): Free Stock Analysis Report

PS Business Parks, Inc. (PSB): Free Stock Analysis Report

Whitestone REIT (WSR): Free Stock Analysis Report

Liberty Property Trust (LPT): Free Stock Analysis Report

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