Preferred Apartment Communities is selling a portfolio of seven office properties and one office real estate loan investment to Highwoods Properties for $717.5 million, including the assumption of debt.

Joel T. Murphy, Preferred Apartment Communities' president and CEO, says the sale continues a simplification strategy that began when the company sold its student housing portfolio in 2020. Once the Highwoods deal closes in Q3 2021, PAC's portfolio will be further focused on Class A suburban Sunbelt multifamily business and its 100% grocery-anchored Sunbelt retail investments.

The portfolio includes 150 Fayetteville, a 560,000 square foot office tower located in Raleigh, NC; Capitol Towers, a 479,000 square foot two-building office tower complex located in Charlotte, NC; CAPTRUST Tower, a 300,000 square foot office tower located in Raleigh; Morrocroft Centre, a 291,000 square foot three-building office complex located in Charlotte; Encore Center, a 111,000 square foot office complex located in Atlanta; 8 West (a real estate loan investment), a 195,000 square foot office property located in Atlanta; Armour Yards, a 187,000 square foot creative office complex in Atlanta; and 251 Armour, a 36,000 square foot creative office complex also in Atlanta. JLL marketed the sale.