Equity Office Sells $177 Million in Assets

Equity Office Properties Trust, the largest owner of U.S. office buildings, said Tuesday that it had sold 14 properties and a 4.1-acre parcel of land in California for $177 million. It plans to use part of the proceeds to reduce debt.

The properties involved include three in north Laguna Hills, the Marina Business Center in Marina del Rey, the Centerpointe I, II and III in Irvine, the Sepulveda Center in Los Angeles, the Lafayette Terrace near Oakland and several properties in San Antonio, according to the company.

Equity Office will still own property in the Orange County, Los Angeles and Oakland-East Bay markets but is no longer in the San Antonio area. A spokeswoman said the San Antonio market wasn’t one of the 15 to 20 markets that Equity Office had been focusing on for the last couple of years.

The sale of these properties will help reduce $2.41 billion in mortgage debt and $9.24 billion in unsecured notes the company had as of Sept. 30.

Equity Office, based in Chicago, also said it had bought Opus Center, a 343,361-square-foot office building in downtown San Jose, for about $103 million. The building is across the street from another Equity Office property, 10 Almaden Blvd., which is 100% leased, the company said.

Equity Office shares rose 19 cents to $28.91 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have gained 20% in the last 52 weeks, less than the 21% increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.