Highwoods sells $21.5 million in assets in Winston-Salem and Charlotte

Raleigh-based Highwoods Properties announced today that is has sold an office building and an adjacent piece of land in Winston-Salem for $15 million.

The 135,000 building is located at 150 South Stratford Road. The transaction valued the building, which is 80 percent leased, at $13.7 million and a three-acre piece of land at $1.3 million.

Highwoods also sold its 10 percent equity stake in a building in Charlotte that it developed in a joint venture with USAA Real Estate. USAA paid $6.5 million for the remaining interest.

The 171,000-square-foot building was constructed for the FBI.

Since 2005, Highwoods has sold $1 billion in older assets, the majority of them at the peak of the market between 2005 and 2007.

The company used a portion of that money to finance new development and to pay down debt.

Highwoods has also been in acquisition mode.

Last month, the real estate investment trust announced it had spent $300 million acquiring seven buildings in Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh properties represent the first new market that Highwoods, one of the largest office landlords in the Southeast, has entered in more than a decade.