Duke Realty Corp., one of the nation’s largest real estate investment trusts for office and industrial property, is testing a novel “hybrid” sales-auction process to entice buyers for nine sites in five of its Indianapolis-area business parks.

Rather than simply listing the sites through its own in-house team or a single brokerage firm, the REIT has lined up six real estate professionals - from six different firms - to jointly market the sites.

The advisors include three local brokerage firms, an auctioneer and a strategic auction advisor. The REIT is pursuing an aggressive sales promotion to accelerate the disposition of the nine industrial and office sites totaling more than 60 acres. But if the sites are not sold by November 10, they will be sold at auction that day.

The sites include:

• Woodland Corporate Park (13-acre office site)


• Plainfield Business Park (7-acre industrial site)


• Lebanon Business Park (Four sites from 3.6 to 12-acres)


• Exit 5 Business Park (6.5-acre industrial/office site)


• Park Fletcher Business Park (1.85-acre and 2.52-acre sites)

“Our accelerated land disposition offering is an innovative, hybrid sale format,” said Wes Podell, Manager of Land Dispositions for Duke Realty Corp. “It's a tactical approach to selling land. The sale format is designed to combine the best elements of traditional negotiated sales with the benefits of auctions. It gives buyers comfort in the real estate and the market driven price they are paying, while providing sellers with a high degree of certainty of closing within a defined timeframe.”

Podell said the tactic is designed to generate momentum in the stalled land-sales market, primarily among owner-occupants and small developers. The REIT also stands to benefit from capturing any fee-development work resulting from any sales. If successful, the process may be used to generate land sales at the REIT's other holdings.

Duke’s “dream disposition team” includes: Gus Miller, Principal of NAI Olympia Partners; Patrick Lindley, Principal of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker; Don Erler, Senior Advisor and Real Estate Auctioneer for Sperry Van Ness; Mark Figg, Principal of NAI Olympia Partners; Bryan Chandler, Principal of Eclipse Real Estate; and Stephen J. Martin, Chairman and CEO of The Gwent Group, a nationally recognized authority in auction marketing.

“We have seen a tremendous amount of interest and activity surrounding this sale,” added Podell. “Yes, we are receiving pre-auction offers and I expect the momentum to continue. We are under contract on one site and currently in negotiations on others. We have found that our hybrid sale format is attracting offers from buyers that have considered these sites for some time.”

The auction is scheduled for November 10, 2009 (12:30 pm) at the Renaissance Indianapolis North Hotel in Carmel, IN. The offering package is available at: www.DukeRealtyProperties.com .