Steve Budorick, president and CEO of Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITworld: 2020 Annual Conference.
COPT recently announced its second joint venture data center deal with Blackstone. Budorick said the move is consistent with the strategy COPT started in 2016 to raise capital internally by joint venturing some of the value created in its data center platform.
Budorick noted that COPT’s fundamentals have been “extraordinarily strong.” Half of the portfolio is being utilized at pre-pandemic levels and 40% is at more than 50% utilization, he noted.
Turning to development, Budorick said COPT is currently constructing 1.6 million square feet of new development that is 84% leased and that will deliver over the next six quarters. For 2021, the company has earmarked 800,000 to 1 million square feet in new development.
“We will continue to be firmly focused on creating value through low-risk development,” Budorick said.