Corporate Office Properties Trust Supports New Workforce Moving to Fort George G. Meade

Download as PDF

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

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE:OFC) is proud to announce that it will co-host a Fort Meade Alliance (FMA) event titled A Meeting of Minds: Building a Workforce for a Knowledge Economy at The National Business Park (NBP) on Tuesday, May 8, 2007. COPT is co-hosting the event with the Northrop Grumman Corporation and it will be held at Northrop Grumman's conference center located in NBP at 2691 Technology Drive, Annapolis Junction, Maryland.

The FMA is a nonprofit advocacy organization that supports Fort George G. Meade (Ft. Meade) as an economic asset and resource in the region. The purpose of the event is to identify and discuss current and future workforce needs related to the expansion of Ft. Meade.

"We are actively involved with the FMA because we recognize that the BRAC-induced growth at Ft. Meade will require cooperation between the government and the private sector. The infrastructure and space demands generated by the military and accompanying defense contractors will require a significant financial investment and necessitate thorough advanced planning," stated Randall M. Griffin, President and CEO, Corporate Office Properties Trust.

In July 2006, COPT announced the acquisition of 178 acres of land located adjacent to NBP known as Clarks Hundred. "We are beginning to work with Anne Arundel County to zone and develop Clarks Hundred to position the Company to be ready to absorb some of the coming growth at Ft. Meade. The acquisition of Clarks Hundred is essential to meet expected demand for Class A office space," added Mr. Griffin. Phase III of NBP will include an estimated 1.5 million square feet of office space, including secure space and retail services.

Company Information

Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) is a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on the ownership, management, leasing, acquisition and development of suburban office properties located primarily in submarkets within the Greater Washington, DC region. As of March 31, 2007, the Company owned 244 office properties totaling 18.2 million rentable square feet, which included 18 properties totaling 806,000 square feet held through joint ventures. The Company has implemented a core customer expansion strategy that is built around meeting, through acquisitions and development, the multi-location requirements of the Company's existing strategic tenants. The Company's property management services team provides comprehensive property and asset management to company owned properties and select third party clients. The Company's development and construction services team provides a wide range of development and construction management services for company owned properties, as well as land planning, design/build services, consulting, and merchant development to select third party clients. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OFC. More information on Corporate Office Properties Trust can be found on the Internet 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, 2006.

Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT)

Released May 8, 2007