NEW YORK, NY - February 19, 2002 - W. P. Carey & Co. LLC (NYSE:WPC), a real estate investment banking firm, announced today that it will provide $10.8 million in funding to build a new automotive training facility that will be leased by Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (UTI) and its indirect subsidiary NASCAR Technical Institute (NTI). UTI is recognized as the nation's leader in technical education training. The facility, which will be the country's first technical training school to carry the NASCAR name, is expected to be completed in early 2002.
The to-be-built facility will consist of a 145,000 square foot industrial training facility located in Mooresville, North Carolina – otherwise known as Race City, USA. Mooresville is located just 25 minutes from Charlotte's commercial business district and is home to approximately 70 percent of the NASCAR teams and more than 30 Winston Cup and Busch Grand National Race Teams. Under the terms of the sale-leaseback transaction, the facility will be leased to NTI and UTI under a 20-year bond-type net lease followed by two ten-year renewal options.
The to-be-built facility was funded on behalf of Corporate Property Associates 14 Incorporated (CPA®:14), a publicly-held non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) and a member of the $3.5 billion W. P. Carey Group.
"This build-to-suit property marks W. P. Carey's third sale-leaseback transaction with UTI and demonstrates our continued commitment to helping our tenant-clients grow and expand their businesses," said Anne R. Coolidge, an Executive Director at W. P. Carey. "We have worked closely with UTI's management over the years and we believe that they will again realize the benefits of another sale-leaseback which will play an important role in their future growth."
In September 2000, W. P. Carey purchased a $2.3 million, 34,600 square foot facility in Glendale Heights, leased to UTI and its subsidiary Custom Training Group, and provided an additional $1 million for tenant improvements. In May 1993, W. P. Carey closed on an $8.6 million sale-leaseback with UTI, purchasing a 103,000 square foot facility in Glendale Heights leased to another UTI subsidiary, UTI of Illinois.
Robert Hartman, Chief Executive Officer of UTI said, "We are pleased to partner with W. P. Carey in creating the country's first technical training school to carry the NASCAR name. This is our third sale-leaseback transaction with W. P. Carey and will further enable us to maintain our position as the nation's leading technical education training center by allowing us to focus on our core business of training tomorrow's automotive technicians."
Based on the success of its program at its Houston campus and the strong demand for both general and NASCAR-trained automotive technicians, UTI formed an educational partnership with NASCAR to create the new NASCAR Technical Institute, Inc. While the facility will serve as the industry's only registered provider of NASCAR-specific training, its curriculum is designed to ensure that its graduates will have opportunities within the entire automotive repair/sales/distribution industries.
Founded in 1965 in Phoenix, Arizona, UTI has recruited, trained and graduated approximately 65,000 professional technicians. The company maintains campuses in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois and Texas. Through its Custom Training Group division, UTI also sources and trains professional technicians for job opportunities with premier automotive manufacturers. UTI partners with numerous manufacturers in the automotive industry to provide product specific training. These programs include partnerships with NASCAR, BMW of North America, Ford Motor Company, Jaguar Cars, Mercedes-Benz USA, Porsche Cars North America, Inc. and Volkswagen of North America.
CPA®:14 invests in single-tenant commercial properties which are typically purchased under a long-term, triple-net lease in which the tenant is responsible for maintaining the premises, insuring the buildings and paying real estate taxes. As of December 31, 2001, CPA®:14's diversified portfolio consisted of 111 properties net-leased to 54 tenants throughout the United States and Europe.
Founded in 1973, W. P. Carey & Co. specializes in corporate real estate financing through the corporate net lease, or sale-leaseback structure. The firm and its affiliates continue to be the leading lessors of net leased corporate real estate in the United States. As the largest publicly traded limited liability company in the world, the company owns and/or manages more than 400 commercial and industrial properties throughout the United States and Europe comprising of more than 50 million-square-feet of space. The firm is headquartered in Manhattan and has offices in London and Paris.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities laws. A number of factors could cause the company's actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those anticipated. Among those risks, trends and uncertainties are the general economic climate; the supply of and demand for office and industrial properties; interest rate levels; the availability of financing; and other risks associated with the acquisition and ownership of properties, including risks that the tenants will not pay rent, or that costs may be greater than anticipated. For further information on factors that could impact the company, reference is made to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
