WASHINGTON, DC-Corporate Office Properties Trust has secured a $1-billion new line of credit that will be effective September 1, 2011. The line will replace the REIT’s existing an $800-million credit line, which was due to mature at the end of September. The new line matures on September 1, 2014, and may be extended one year.

COPT has also entered into a $400-million term loan agreement, with a four-year initial term and a one-year extension option. The new loan will replace its existing $225-million revolving construction facility, due to mature in May 2012.

As is usual for REITs, these lines will be used as temporary financing for general corporate purchases, acquisitions and development, a company spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com. “We are more of a development-oriented REIT,” she adds, “so the lines will be used more along those lines.”

COPT’s core focus is on government-oriented properties, with both its acquisition and development strategies geared in that direction. It redoubled its efforts in the past year along these lines when it embarked on a plan to increase its concentration of buildings serving the government and defense industries, as well as the data center sector, from 59% to 67% at the end of 2013, according to CEO Randall Griffin. 

Indeed the company may be finding it more advantageous to develop now than build, given the high price points in the DC area. In comments during the REIT’s most recent earnings call last month, Griffin told listeners that “while we competed for several buildings, we were outbid by aggressive buyers.”

Its leasing activity, by contrast, is faring better. Griffin says that during Q2 2011 the company leased just over one million square feet, “despite the lingering effects of the delayed passage of the 2011 federal budget.”