Liberty Property Trust (LPT, Financial) has confirmed that it has signed an agreement with Uline to build two warehouses, which will double the shipping supply company's distribution space in Lehigh Valley.
Liberty Property Trust is an $8.9 billion real estate investment trust, which develops, acquires, leases and manages properties. Headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA, the American company was established in 1972. Liberty owns 106 million square feet of industrial and office space throughout the United States and the United Kingdom (as of December 31, 2014).
Uline at Liberty Business Center III
Liberty Property Trust has come to an agreement to construct two build-to-suit warehouses for Uline, and the company will be the only tenant of two buildings to be made in its new 200-acre Liberty Business Center III in Upper and Lower Macungie townships on Mill Creek Road between Hamilton Boulevard and the Route 222 Bypass. The two buildings will be of approximately two million square feet.
Uline is a distributor of shipping, industrial and packing materials to businesses all over North America. The company is headquartered in Wisconsin and was started in 1980.
Uline, which curently leases space in four other Liberty-managed buildings in the Lehigh Valley, will occupy both the new buildings, each 1 million square feet. It will be the only tenant, taking up the entire square footage of the business center.
The plans for the distribution centers have been already approved by the township supervisors. Groundbreaking for the two new buildings is expected to take place this summer of 2015.
How does 2015 look for Liberty Property Trust?
According to Robert Kiel, senior vice president and city manager for Liberty, “it is rewarding for the company to provide Uline, a long-term tenant of Liberty, with a first-class development solution, which in this case allows them to effectively combine their operations into a campus setting.”
According to the earnings announced by Liberty Property Trust, the company had revenue of $206.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $203.70 million. It has reported $31.8 million in first quarter net income, which was down 57% from $74.1 million in the first quarter of 2014. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2015, the net income per common share was $0.21 per share, compared to $0.49 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. The net income for the latest quarter shows a development on sales of $0.02 per share, compared with $0.31 per share for the year 2014. Liberty’s portfolio of 105 million square feet was 93.2% occupied on March 2015, compared to 93% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014.
Liberty Property Trust is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, which leased 6.7 million square feet, 5.8 million square feet in 203 transactions in the core portfolio and another 900,000 plus square feet in the development pipeline. According to Bill Hankowsky, president and CEO of Liberty property Trust, 70% of the company’s expiring leases have been renewed and this action raised general occupancy to 93.2%. And along with this, the company has also signed leases for two large industrial vacancies in the quarter.
This has led to an increase in rents and positive same-store performance. Keeping in mind the continued demand by tenants, the company is positive about its future performance and expects to yield 3% to 7% earnings growth in 2015.
Takeaway
Though the quarter may not have seemed very encouraging, Liberty is supposedly busy lining up activity for the remainder of 2015. The company expects to continue its long-term strategic objectives, with increased sales activity and a huge boost in development over the next three quarters.
