Corporate Office Properties Trust

Corporate Office Properties Trust

Type	Real estate investment trust
Headquarters	Columbia, Maryland, United States of America[1]
Key people	Roger A. Waesche, Jr., President & Chief Executive Officer Stephen E. Budorick, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Holly G. Edington, Senior Vice President – Human Resources Wayne H. Lingafelter, President - COPT Development & Construction Services Anthony Mifsud, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Karen M. Singer, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary[2]
Website	copt.com

Corporate Office Properties Trust Inc. (COPT) (NYSE: OFC) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) corporation that specializes in office development, and describes itself as "a fully integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust that focuses on the acquisition, development, ownership, management and leasing of suburban office properties primarily in select Mid-Atlantic submarkets." Company headquarters is in Columbia, Maryland.

History

Founded in 1988, by Clay W. Hamlin III and Jay H. Shidler, the company was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Sept. 29, 1998, COPT merged with Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) a fortune 200 company and former subsidiary of Baltimore Gas and Electric. Following the merger, COPT focused aggressively on property in Howard County, Maryland.^[3]

COPT focus on Washington-Baltimore area

In 2005, the Washington Post named this company one of the "Top 125 Companies" in the Washington DC area.^[4]

COPT buys land in suburban areas and then develop and manage office properties. Many tenants are defense contractors. According to the Washington Post, the company said it has leased much of the almost 2 million square feet (180,000 m²) of space at its huge complex, the National Business Park in Anne Arundel County, to government contractors such as General Dynamics Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation. and Lockheed Martin Corporation.

In March 2015, COPT acquired 250 W Pratt St in Baltimore, Maryland for $63.5 million. The building's title tenant is Pandora Jewelry.^[5] In July 2015, COPT acquired 100 Light St, Baltimore's tallest building, known as the Transamerica Tower, for $121 million.^[6]

Recent expansion outside Washington-Baltimore

COPT owns property primarily in submarkets within the Greater Washington, DC region, but as of 2005 ^[7] has begun to invest in developments outside Baltimore-Washington to include Chesterfield County, Virginia, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and parts of New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In December 2006 COPT acquired a real estate portfolio from Towson-based Nottingham Properties for $362.5 million.^[8]

Officers and Trustees

According to the company's SEC filing,^[9] There are 8 members of the board of trustees. The officers, who are not members of the board, are as follows:

• Stephen E. Budorick—Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since September 2011.
• Wayne Lingafelter—President of COPT Development and Construction Services since 2008.
• Anthony Mifsud—Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2015.

References