Parkway Restructures Portfolio

In a bid to restructure its existing portfolio, Parkway Properties, Inc. (PKY - Snapshot Report) recently announced that it has acquired a property in Tampa namely The Pointe. Additionally, Parkway also completed the sale of 111 East Wacker Drive in Chicago and Falls Pointe in Atlanta. Parkway closed all the transaction on behalf of Parkway Properties Office Fund II, L.P.

The Pointe is a 252,000 square foot office building located within the Westshore submarket of Tampa, Florida, which includes a strong tenant base consisting of high-quality national and regional credit customers. Parkway is a 30% investor in Fund II, which is a $750.0 million discretionary fund formed with the purpose of acquiring high-quality, multi-tenant office properties.

The company is currently undertaking a portfolio repositioning strategy, under which it intends to dispose non-core assets and fund accretive acquisitions with the proceeds generated from the asset sale,thereby enhancing the quality of its portfolio. With the disposition of the highly leveraged 111 East Wacker Drive, Parkway's debt will reduce significantly and should facilitate better financial flexibility.

Parkway Properties is a self-administered real estate investment trust specializing in the ownership of office properties. Parkway has an interest in 57 office properties located in 11 states with an aggregate of approximately 11.7 million square feet of leasable space.

Parkway currently retains a Zacks #5 Rank, which translates into a short-term Strong Sell rating. We are also maintaining our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock. One of its competitors, Brandywine Realty Trust Common (BDN - Snapshot Report) also holds a Zacks# 3 Rank.