"Our investment of this $48 million of equity will be accretive to current earnings. This equity strengthens WRIT's balance sheet, enabling us to make additional opportunistic investments while allowing us to maintain low leverage and high debt service coverage," WRIT president Edmund B. Cronin, Jr. says.

Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Legg Mason Wood Walker, and BB&T Capital Markets co-managed the offering.

WRIT is a real estate investment trust that invests in income-producing properties in the greater Washington-Baltimore region. Its 58-property portfolio includes 10 retail centers, 24 office properties, 15 industrial/flex properties and nine multi-family developments.