Corporate Office Properties Trust Announces 240,000 Square Feet of Leasing

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE: OFC) announced today the execution of three leases, one in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and the other two in College Park, Maryland. The first is a direct lease with Merck, Inc. to continue occupancy of the entire 219,000 square foot property located at 785 Jolly Road on the Unisys Campus in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The lease renewal will be effective July 1, 2009.

The other two leases are for space at 5825 University Research Court on the University of Maryland's M Square Research Park in College Park, Maryland. The first is for 12,000 square feet with Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a collaboration of Battelle Pacific Northwest Division and the University of Maryland. The second is for 9,000 square feet with Fraunhofer USA's Center for Experimental Software Engineering, affiliated with the University of Maryland and the Fraunhofer Institute for Software Engineering in Kaiserslautern, Germany. M Square Research Park will contain 750,000 square feet of new office space and is located near the University of Maryland campus and adjacent to the College Park/University of Maryland Metro Station and Paint Branch Parkway.

JGCRI houses an interdisciplinary team dedicated to understanding the problems of global climate change and their potential solutions. Fraunhofer USA performs applied research which is done under contract to government and industry with customers such as federal and state governments, multi-national corporations as well as small to medium-sized companies.

"We are pleased to announce that Merck has agreed to continue occupancy of their space on a direct basis. This is the first significant step towards mitigating any potential rollover exposure due to the Unisys lease maturity in 2009," stated Randall M. Griffin, President and Chief Executive Officer for Corporate Office Properties Trust. "We are also excited to announce our third and fourth lease in M Square, bringing our first two buildings to 77% leased. These leases represent continued strong activity in our pipeline of construction and development projects," he added.

Company Information

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE: OFC) is a specialty office real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on strategic customer relationships and specialized tenant requirements in the U.S. Government, Defense Information Technology and Data sectors. The Company acquires, develops, manages and leases properties which are typically concentrated in large office parks primarily located adjacent to government demand drivers and/or in growth corridors. As of June 30, 2008, the Company owned 253 office and data properties totaling 19.1 million rentable square feet, which includes 19 properties totaling 847,000 square feet held through joint ventures. The Company's portfolio primarily consists of technically sophisticated buildings in visually appealing settings that are environmentally sensitive, sustainable and meet unique customer requirements. More information on COPT can be found at www.copt.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "estimate" or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate. Accordingly, the Company can give no assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Important factors that may affect these expectations, estimates, and projections include, but are not limited to:

    --  the Company's ability to borrow on favorable terms;

    --  general economic and business conditions, which will, among
        other things, affect office property demand and rents, tenant
        creditworthiness, interest rates and financing availability;

    --  adverse changes in the real estate markets including, among
        other things, increased competition with other companies;

    --  risk of real estate acquisition and development, including,
        among other things, risks that development projects may not be
        completed on schedule, that tenants may not take occupancy or
        pay rent or that development or operating costs may be greater
        than anticipated;

    --  risks of investing through joint venture structures, including
        risks that the Company's joint venture partners may not
        fulfill their financial obligations as investors or may take
        actions that are inconsistent with the Company's objectives;

    --  our ability to satisfy and operate effectively under federal
        income tax rules relating to real estate investment trusts and
        partnerships;

    --  governmental actions and initiatives; and

    --  environmental requirements.

The Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements. For further information, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Item 1 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.

Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust

Released September 12, 2008