For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.

JENKINTOWN, PA-Continuing its push to be the main clearinghouse for banks' real estate, locally based American Financial Realty Trust has closed on the acquisition of three new office properties net leased for 15 years by an affiliate of Citigroup Inc. The properties, which total 531,000 sf, were acquired for about $89 million. AFR financed its acquisition of the portfolio with $67 million in unsecured debt at an all-in fixed interest rate of 6.45%. The balance was paid in cash.

The properties are in Louisville, KY; Greensboro, NC and Boise, ID. Planned and priced one year ago, the three transactions are the first acquisitions under AFRT's "landlord-of-choice" program, wherein its bank clients pre-select AFRT to own new facilities they are having built by a third party developer. In this case, the developer was Dallas-based Koll Development.

AFRT chief executive Nicholas Schorsch tells GlobeSt.com the program is a natural extension of its other offerings, which have grown the company from $250 million in assets in 2002 to today's total of $4 billion in 120 markets. The offerings include arrangements whereby AFRT will purchase every vacant branch in a bank's portfolio, execute multiple sale-leaseback transactions, and acquire larger bank portfolios that include offices, operations centers and bank branches. Approximately 90% of the company's revenue is derived from financial institutions through net leases or bond leases.