COPT Defense Properties told investors on September 9 that it has already leased 408,000 square feet of vacant space this year, surpassing the 400,000 square feet it originally set out to fill with an entire quarter still remaining. The company executed 177,000 square feet of vacancy leasing in the third quarter alone, bringing the year-to-date total to 102% of its initial 400,000 square foot goal and 86% of its revised, higher target of 475,000 square feet. In August, COPT Defense signed a 75,000 square foot investment lease at 8500 Advanced Gateway in Huntsville, Alabama, part of its Redstone Gateway campus, bringing that 155,000 square foot building to 89% leased with just 17,000 square feet left to fill. Year to date, investment leasing across the portfolio has reached 490,000 square feet, and the 2.4 million square foot Redstone Gateway operating portfolio is already fully leased, prompting the company to break ground this quarter on two new projects there, RG 6300 and RG 2200, totaling 234,000 square feet and $88 million in capital. The update came just ahead of appearances at the Evercore Real Estate Conference on September 10-11 and the BofA Global Real Estate Conference on September 15, and follows the July 27 second-quarter report in which funds from operations per share rose 4.4% year over year to $0.71, two cents above guidance, with management raising its full-year FFO per share midpoint to $2.78.
COPT Defense PropertiesCOPT Defense leased 408,000 sq ft of vacant space, surpassing its 400,000 sq ft target, with strong investment leasing and fully leased Redstone Gateway portfolio.
