First Potomac Realty Trust / FPO

About First Potomac Realty Trust

7600 Wisconsin Ave., 11th Floor, Bethesda, Md. 20814
www.first-potomac.com | 301-986-9200 | Founded: 1997

Industry: Real Estate | Category: Top 100 Companies

First Potomac, which went public in 2003, has doubled the number of its employees to 99 from 50 last year. The new positions include accountants, leasing agents and property managers.
It has continued to add properties to its portfolio in such markets as Richmond, Manassas, Merrifield and Baltimore. Last year, it acquired $214 million worth of properties, and in the first few months of this year, it spent $55 million.
While prices for office buildings and industrial space have increased, First Potomac said it continues to try to buy buildings that may come with some risk but are cheaper.
"We're looking for buildings that we can add value to by leasing up vacant space or if the existing property owner doesn't have the stomach to deal with whether or not a tenant whose lease is up soon is going to renew," said Barry H. Bass, the company's chief financial officer.
Many of its tenants are federal agencies and contractors. They prefer the single-story buildings First Potomac owns over traditional office buildings for some of their back-of-the-house operations because the properties are often cheaper. The low-rise buildings also allow companies to have their office space in the same building as some of their distribution and assembly operations, Bass said.

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 99 | Local employees: 87