Whitestone REIT a fully integrated real estate company that owns, operates and redevelops Community Center Properties announced today the acquisition of Whitestone’s first Fort Worth, Texas-area property, Heritage Trace Plaza, a 98 percent leased, family-focused property with 70,431 square feet of leasable area anchored by Texas Health Resources.

Class “A” Heritage Trace Plaza is located at the cornerstone of the burgeoning master-planned, 18,000-acre Alliance Texas community and will serve as a destination for the 1,700 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration’s newly constructed Southwest Region Headquarters upon completion in 2015.

The addition of Heritage Trace Plaza increases Whitestone’s Dallas-Fort Worth footprint to approximately 600,000 square feet of gross leasable space.

Whitestone funded the Heritage Trace Plaza acquisition from its corporate credit facility, which is priced at 1.75-2.50 percent over LIBOR. Current annual net operating income for the property is approximately $1.5 million, or 7.5 percent of the purchase price. Based on Whitestone’s current shares outstanding, this acquisition is expected to contribute 2 cents and 4 cents to funds from operations per share, after interest cost, for 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Heritage Trace Plaza, the 70,431square foot Community Center Property is Whitestone’s 61st property and sixth in the Dallas-Ft Worth market. The tenants on the property include local restaurants Mooyah Burgers, McAlister’s Deli, and national franchises including Subway, FedEx Office, Quest Diagnostics and Allstate.

James C. Mastandrea, Whitestone’s Chairman and CEO, says, “Heritage Trace Plaza is our first acquisition in the Ft. Worth market and meets our Community Center service-oriented business model criteria. With strong demographics and a complementary mix of tenants, we expect the respective businesses operating in our center to meet the needs of residents in the surrounding communities, which in turn adds value to the property and benefits Whitestone shareholders.”

Mastandrea adds, “The Dallas/Ft. Worth market is exceptionally strong as one of the fastest growing markets in population and job growth in the country; and (it) has been recognized as one of the most desirable cities to live.”

Mastandrea concluded: “Our ‘off-market’ accretive investment in Heritage Trace Plaza provides both stable occupancy and cash flow, while offering upside as we add value by creating community-gathering areas, signage and marketability for our tenants and enhanced traffic flow. The use of our corporate credit facility for the acquisition provides us the opportunity to add community centers such as Heritage Trace Plaza quickly and efficiently.”