Forest City closes sale of military housing business to Hunt Companies

CLEVELAND, Feb. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) announced today that it completed the previously announced sale of its military housing business to Hunt Companies, Inc.  The gross selling price was $208.8 million and is expected to generate net proceeds to Forest City of approximately $200 million after customary closing and other transaction costs. 

"This important transaction aligns with our strategic focus on core retail, office and apartment assets in strong urban markets," said David J. LaRue, Forest City president and chief executive officer. "We anticipate using the proceeds primarily to further the significant progress we've made on deleveraging our balance sheet and improving our debt metrics. I thank all of our associates who built the military housing business into the strong asset it is today and who serve America's military families with dedication and professionalism."

The military housing business consists of fee-income streams from property management, asset management and construction and development at family housing communities for the Navy, Marines and Air Force, as well as minority equity interest in the real estate at each location.  It includes approximately 14,500 housing units comprised of single-family homes, duplexes and triplexes at bases in Hawaii, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Washington, South Carolina and Mississippi, as well as at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. As part of the transaction, Hunt is in the process of extending employment offers to the majority of Forest City's associates currently in the military housing business.      

About Forest City
Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. is an NYSE-listed national real estate company with $10.0 billion in consolidated assets. The company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.forestcity.net.

Safe Harbor Language
Statements made in this news release that state the company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. The company may be unable to realize the full amount of the anticipated proceeds from the military housing transaction or to use such proceeds in a manner as anticipated.  Risks and other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are listed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, the company's annual and quarterly reports. The company has no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements, other than imposed by law, as a result of future events or new information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

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SOURCE Forest City Realty Trust, Inc.