Duke Realty selling 10.1 million square feet of office space to Blackstone

Duke Realty announced today that it is selling 10.1 million square feet of its suburban office portfolio to the private equity firm Blackstone.

The purchase price is $1.08 billion.

None of the assets involved are in North Carolina. The portfolio includes properties in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, OH, , Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando and Tampa.

The sale is part of Indianapolis-based Duke's strategy of shifting its focus from office to industrial properties.

In August, the company listed for sale a portfolio of a half-dozen buildings that account for about 12 percent of its office properties in the Triangle. Duke owns about 3.5 million square feet of office space in the Triangle and nearly 3 million square feet of warehouse space.

Duke has been bulking up its warehouse portfolio while it looks to shed office assets.

Earlier this month the company paid $30.4 million for the CenterPoint I and CenterPoint II buildings on T.W. Alexander Drive near Research Triangle Park.

The company also recently bought the 228-acre Greenfield North business park in Garner.