Liberty Property Trust announced q1 results on April 26th and used the opportunity to reiterate its intent to sell between $900 million and $1.2 billion of its non-core suburban office and flex properties this year. The Malvern trust said it’s the next step down a strategic path charted three years ago when it decided to sell off its suburban office properties. 

Since then the trust has been involved in major urban redevelopment projects like the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Last year the trust proposed huge plans for downtown properties in Camden, NJ.

Liberty has also announced that it has entered into discussions with a potential buyer for a large portfolio of its suburban assets to help it reach the higher end of its planned sales, but did not name the potential purchaser.

“We have previously acknowledged that we’re in discussions with a potential buyer for a large portfolio of these assets,” said William Hankowsky, Chief Executive Officer, during an earnings conference call. “Our overall sales process continues to move forward. We’re further along today than we were at our December guidance call and our February’s fourth-quarter earnings call. But as we all know, our ability to reach a goal of $1.2 billion isn’t fully known until the deals are closed for those assets.”

It has previously been speculated that the potential buyer may be Workspace Property Trust, which has already bought several Horsham office properties for $245 million and has been very active in procuring suburban office spaces. If the prediction that Workspace Property is planning to buy close to 6.6 million square feet for an estimated $726 million is true, this will put the Malvern based Liberty Property Trust more than half-way to its $1.2 billion target.

Among the properties expected to come up for sale are the 4 million square feet that Liberty owns in Malvern and King of Prussia, as well as additional properties in Minnesota and Florida.

Check out previous VISTA Today coverage of Liberty Property Trust here.