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BETHESDA, MD-In separate transactions totaling $60.2 million, locally based First Potomac Realty Trust takes three industrial properties. The multi-structure complexes account for a total of approximately one-million sf in Sterling, Chesapeake and Manassas, VA.

"We have been targeting the Northern Virginia market and have had success increasing rents and occupancies in properties that we have acquired in that market," says First Potomac chief investment officer Nicholas R. Smith. In Sterling, First Potomac spent $16 million--including the assumption of an $8.4 million debt--to purchase the two-structure property at 403 and 405 Glenn Dr. from Velsor Properties LLC. Located in the Dulles Corridor, the flex/industrial structures offer 197,200 sf and are 82% occupied by 16 tenants. Iron Mountain Inc. is the largest occupant at the facility, which was developed in 1987 and 1989.

First Potomac paid $29 million in cash for the four-structure industrial complex in Chesapeake known as Diamond Hill Distribution Center. With a 100% occupancy level, TDS Automotive Inc. is the lead tenant with 450,000 sf of the 715,000-sf property. The REIT also acquired the 108,000-sf Linden Business Center in Manassas, for which it paid $15.2 million. The three-building flex/office facility, developed in 2001, is 84% occupied and leased to nine businesses, including Automotive Resources and Novus Consulting Group.