Phoenix, AZ - January 12, 2016 - Liberty Property Trust today announced that it has reached three milestone points in its development of Liberty Center at Rio Salado, its newest commercial real estate park in Tempe. In November the company broke ground on a 135,663 square foot building at 1930 W. Rio Salado Parkway. In addition, it has officially opened its 96,000 square foot corporate headquarters for DriveTime Automotive Group at 1720 W. Rio Salado Parkway, and has signed the first tenant at 2040 W. Rio Salado Parkway, its new 215,000 square foot industrial building.

After breaking ground on the first building only 24 months ago, the park now houses more than 2,400 employees and is one of the fastest growing parks in the metro Phoenix.

'We have had tremendous success at Liberty Center at Rio Salado, and we are committed to meeting the demands of our customers in Tempe and throughout our Arizona portfolio,' said John DiVall, senior vice president at Liberty Property Trust. 'The success we've had to-date has been very gratifying and we are extremely optimistic about our momentum continuing into 2016.'

1930 W. Rio Salado Parkway

In November, Liberty broke ground on its fourth office development, a two-story, 135,663 square foot Class A office building. The company has signed a 69,731 square foot lease with Proper Marketplace for half of the building, with 65,889 square feet remaining for lease. The project is designed to achieve LEED® Gold certification, and delivery is expected October 2016.

Larry Downey and Mark McGranahan of Cushman & Wakefield represented Proper Marketplace and Brad Anderson and Mike Strittmatter of CBRE, and Megan Creecy-Herman represented Liberty in the transaction.

1720 W. Rio Salado Parkway

Liberty also completed its 96,000 square foot build-to-suit project for DriveTime Automotive Group in November. The building serves as the company's new corporate headquarters at Liberty Center and was designed and constructed to meet LEED® Gold certification for new construction.

2040 W. Rio Salado Parkway

In addition, Liberty has signed a lease with Dal-Tile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mohawk Industries, for 94,290 square feet at its first industrial development project underway in the park. The 215,000 square foot building now has 120,710 square feet remaining for lease. The building is designed and constructed to meet LEED® Silver certification for new construction, and will come on-line this month.

Greg White of CBRE represented Dal-Tile and Megan Creecy-Herman represented Liberty in the transaction.

Liberty has previously completed two LEEDGold speculative office buildings at Liberty Center at Rio Salado. The first, offering of 154,000 square feet - 1850 W. Rio Salado Parkway - was completed in October 2014 and is 100% leased. The second building of 157,000 square feet, located at 1910 W. Rio Salado Parkway, was completed in the second quarter of 2015 and is 88% leased.

The most recent development comes on the heels of Liberty signing more than 1.4 million square feet of leases in 2015 in the market.

About Liberty Property Trust

Liberty Property Trust (NYSE:LPT) is a leader in commercial real estate, serving customers in the United States and United Kingdom through the development, acquisition, ownership and management of superior office and industrial properties. Liberty's 104 million square foot portfolio includes 689 properties which provide office, distribution and light manufacturing facilities to 1,650 tenants.

General Inquiries: John DiVall, Liberty Property Trust, 480.860.3160

Media Contact: Margo Hunt Winans, a.s.a.p.r., 757.404.8653

Liberty Property Trust issued this content on 2016-01-12 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-12 16:34:14 UTC

Original Document: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=96097&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2128636