Prime Group Realty Trust (OTC PINK: PMGEP) (the "Company" or "PGRT") announced today that SmithBucklin Corporation has executed a lease agreement and will relocate its Chicago headquarters to 330 North Wabash Avenue in January 2013. SmithBucklin is leasing approximately 111,081 rentable square feet in the building.
SmithBucklin is the world's largest association management and professional services company. Founded in 1949, the company provides full-service management and outsourcing services to trade associations, professional societies, technology user groups, corporations, government institutes/agencies and other nonprofit organizations. The company is 100 percent employee owned.
"We are proud to announce that SmithBucklin has chosen 330 North Wabash for its headquarters relocation in Chicago," said Jeff Patterson, Prime Group Realty Trust's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The high quality of the original construction of the building together with the extensive renovations that the building has recently undergone to equip it with modern amenities to support tenants' operations have made 330 North Wabash as attractive to Class A tenants as new construction at a lower occupancy cost," Mr. Patterson said.
The building that will serve as SmithBucklin's new headquarters was designed by famed architect Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1971. It was designated with landmark status by the City of Chicago in 2008. The owner of 330 North Wabash Avenue is a joint venture between subsidiaries of Prime Group Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust headquartered in Chicago, and Five Mile Capital Partners LLC, a Connecticut-based commercial real estate and alternative investment firm. PGRT is the property manager and leasing agent for the property. SmithBucklin was assisted in its search by Howard Ecker of Howard Ecker + Company, and PGRT was represented by its Executive Vice President of Leasing, Steven R. Baron.
The initial term of the lease is 15 years. The lease terms include expansion, contraction and renewal options for the Tenant consistent with those negotiated in the market for lease transactions of this size and nature. Including SmithBucklin and the recently announced American Medical Association lease at the building, the office portion of the 330 North Wabash property is now approximately 75% leased.
In addition to the foregoing, a new five-star Langham Chicago Hotel on floors 2-13 of 330 North Wabash is scheduled to be open in the second quarter of 2013. The hotel will feature approximately 320 rooms and suites and will include a full service restaurant (including private dining facilities), elegant and sophisticated meeting and conference facilities, as well as a fitness facility and the hotel's award-winning wellness retreat, Chuan Spa.
About Prime Group Realty Trust
Prime Group Realty Trust is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns, manages, leases, develops and redevelops office and industrial real estate in metropolitan Chicago. The Company currently owns 1 office property containing an aggregate of 167,756 net rentable square feet and interests in two joint ventures that own two office properties comprised of approximately 1.24 million net rentable square feet. The Company leases and manages approximately 1.31 million square feet comprising all of its wholly-owned properties and its 330 North Wabash Avenue joint venture property. For more information about Prime Group Realty Trust, contact the Company's Chicago headquarters at (312) 917-1300 or visit its website at www.pgrt.com.
Prime Group Realty Trust's Series B Preferred Shares (OTC Pink: PMGEP) trade on the OTC Pink tier of the OTC market. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com.
About Five Mile Capital Partners
Five Mile Capital Partners LLC is a commercial real estate and alternative investment firm established in 2003 and based in Stamford, Connecticut. The firm specializes in investment opportunities in real estate, debt products, structured finance, asset-based lending and financial services private equity. Five Mile Capital Partners has executed numerous transactions involving distressed and non performing first mortgage, mezzanine loans, equity and high yield structured products. Five Mile Capital Partners' principals have significant experience, knowledge and skills relevant to the financial services industry and believe the cyclical and dynamic nature of the sector continually provides a broad opportunity for investments across the capital structure. Five Mile Capital Partners currently manages approximately $2 billion of capital. For more information, visit www.fivemilecapital.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements which involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors not under the Company's control which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
Prime Group Realty Trust
Jeffrey Patterson
President and CEO
312-917-1300
or
Five
Mile Capital Partners LLC
James Glasgow
Managing Director
203-905-0950