A long-standing national player in the Twin Cities office and industrial real estate markets has shed about $56 million worth of property locally, according to records filed with the Minnesota Department of Revenue.
An entity associated with Liberty Property Trust, an $8.4 billion real estate investment trust based outside of Philadelphia, closed on 10 "flex" properties throughout the Twin Cities suburbs, according to certificates of real estate value made public on Monday. Flex properties combine office and industrial components.
The buyers were LSOP 3C II LLC and LSOP 3 MN LLC, of Westport, Conn.
The sale of office, industrial and flex space is part of Liberty Property's broader strategy to focus more on pure industrial properties across the country, as well as office space in select markets, said Jeanne Leonard, the company's vice president of corporate communications.
The sale of 49 properties in five states for $368 million closed on Monday, with the balance of the portfolio queued up for a $330 million closing in late January 2014.
Liberty announced in November that it had entered into agreements to sell 97 properties nationally, 12 of them in the Twin Cities that span about 915,000 square feet.
The sales that were made public on Monday include five in Plymouth, three in Eden Prairie, and one each in Maple Grove and Minnetonka. Two properties that have not yet closed are located in Oakdale and Woodbury.
Liberty remains an active player in Twin Cities commercial real estate circles after entering the market 15 years ago with the development of One Liberty Corporate Center on W. 78th Street in Bloomington. The company currently owns about 3.4 million square feet of industrial space locally and is developing a multitenant industrial building at Liberty Industrial Park at Diamond Lake in Rogers.
Janet Moore • 612-673-7752
