Colonial Properties Trust Executes Asset Recycling Transactions

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), today announced the completion of multiple transactions under its multifamily asset recycling strategy. The company completed the sale of four apartment communities for total proceeds of $95.4 million and acquired two Class A apartment communities for a total of $67.3 million.

“These transactions enhance the multifamily portfolio by lowering the average age of the entire portfolio by approximately one year, increasing operating margins and average rent per unit, reducing capital expenditure requirements and improving the long-term growth profile of the company.”

The company acquired the 306-unit Colonial Reserve at Las Colinas (formerly Canal Side Lofts) located in Dallas, Texas, for $42.8 million, and the 272-unit Colonial Grand at Canyon Ranch (formerly Escalon at Canyon Creek) located in Austin, Texas, for $24.5 million. The apartment communities have an average age of 7 years and an average monthly rent of approximately $1,075 per unit.

Colonial Reserve at Las Colinas is a mid-rise apartment community that is located in the Las Colinas central business district. The community amenities include a clubroom, structured parking, infinity edge pool, fitness center, movie theatre, granite countertops, private balconies and urban and waterscape views. The apartment community was built in 2006 and was 96 percent occupied at the time of acquisition.

Colonial Grand at Canyon Ranch is located in the northwest sub-market of Canyon Creek in Austin, Texas. The community amenities include a clubhouse, fitness center, large pool and spa, pool-side grilling area with stone fireplace, and a covered veranda. The apartment community was built in 2003 and was 88 percent occupied at the time of acquisition.

The company sold the following properties: the 425-unit Autumn Hill in Charlottesville, Virginia; the 229-unit Colonial Village at Canyon Hills in Austin, Texas; the 250-unit Colonial Village at Highland Hills in Raleigh, North Carolina; and the 476-unit Heatherwood in Charlotte, North Carolina. The four properties had an average age of 31 years and an average monthly rent of approximately $695 per unit.

Thomas H. Lowder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, added, “These transactions enhance the multifamily portfolio by lowering the average age of the entire portfolio by approximately one year, increasing operating margins and average rent per unit, reducing capital expenditure requirements and improving the long-term growth profile of the company.”

Colonial Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that creates value for its shareholders through a multifamily focused portfolio and the management and development of select commercial assets in the Sunbelt region of the United States. As of September 30, 2012, the company owned or managed 35,067 apartment units and 4.6 million square feet of commercial space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.colonialprop.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Estimates of future earnings are, by definition, and certain other statements in this press release, including statements regarding future dispositions and developments, development costs, credit ratings, operating performance outlook and other business fundamentals, may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company’s actual results, performance, achievements or transactions to be materially different from the results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, changes in national, regional and local economic conditions, which may be negatively impacted by concerns about inflation, deflation, government deficits (including the European sovereign debt crisis), high unemployment rates, decreased consumer confidence and liquidity concerns, particularly in markets in which we have a high concentration of properties; exposure, as a multifamily focused REIT, to risks inherent in investments in a single industry; ability to obtain financing on favorable rates, if at all; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; higher than expected construction costs; uncertainties associated with the timing and amount of real estate disposition and the resulting gains/losses associated with such dispositions; legislative or regulatory decisions; the company’s ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; price volatility, dislocations and liquidity disruptions in the financial markets and the resulting impact on availability of financing; the effect of any rating agency action on the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.

The company refers you to the documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, as may be updated or supplemented in the company’s Form 10-Q filings, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the company’s results.