BOSTON, May 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Properties Corporation (NYSE: BCN)
has completed the acquisition of Westbrook Corporate Center, a 1.1 million
square foot, five-building office complex in suburban Chicago, Alan M.
Leventhal, Beacon's president and chief executive officer, announced today.
    The purchase price for Westbrook Corporate Center was approximately
$182.1 million, consisting of $106 million of mortgage debt, $50 million in
operating partnership units and $26.1 million in cash.  The property was
purchased from an Illinois land trust through Podolsky Northstar Realty
Partners, LLC (formerly Podolsky and Associates), which is being retained as
the property's leasing agent.
    With the addition of Westbrook Corporate Center, located in Westchester,
Illinois, Beacon's Chicago office portfolio increased to approximately
2.7 million square feet, representing about 12 percent of the company's net
operating income (NOI).  The property's five buildings each contain
approximately 220,000 square feet and were developed between 1985 and 1996.
The aggregate occupancy rate is approximately 92 percent.
    Leventhal commented: "Suburban Chicago is one of Beacon's target markets
and exhibits the strong fundamentals we are looking for in building a national
office portfolio with good long-term growth prospects.  We are pleased to
acquire a property as successful as Westbrook Corporate Center to reinforce
our presence in Chicago."
    Beacon's target markets currently consist of Boston (the location of the
company's headquarters), Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and
Washington, D.C.
    The net operating income (NOI) of Westbrook Corporate Center is estimated
at approximately $18.3 million (including $1.2 million of straight-line rents)
based on the annualized rental income of the property.  The company expects
that net operating income will increase as leasing in the fifth and newest
building in the complex, which opened in February 1996, raises the building's
occupancy rate above its current 60 percent level.  The first four buildings
are 99 percent occupied.
    Westbrook Corporate Center and Beacon's entire Chicago portfolio are under
the direction of E. Valjean (Val) Wheeler, who joined Beacon in April, 1997,
as chief executive of Beacon Properties Midwest, Chicago, Illinois, and senior
vice president of the corporation.  As chief executive of Beacon Properties
Midwest, Wheeler has assumed responsibility for directing the growth and
operations of Beacon in the Midwestern United States.  In addition to Beacon
Properties Midwest, Beacon's regional offices include Beacon Properties
Southeast, Beacon Properties Mid-Atlantic and Beacon Properties West.
    Prior to joining Beacon, Wheeler was president and chief operating officer
of Equity Office Holdings, LLC, Chicago, a national office property company
founded by real estate investor Sam Zell.  Wheeler has twenty-five years of
real estate experience, the majority of which has been concentrated in the
office building sector.
    Beacon's Midwest portfolio also includes Presidents Plaza, a
791,000 square foot office property near O'Hare International Airport in
Chicago, Illinois; Tri-State International, 548,000 square feet, Lincolnshire,
Illinois; and AT&T Plaza, 225,318 square feet, Oak Brook, Illinois.  These
properties were acquired by Beacon in 1996.
    Beacon Properties Corporation is a self-administered and self-managed real
estate investment trust (REIT).  One of the nation's largest office REITs,
Beacon specializes in property ownership, management, leasing, design and
development.  The company currently owns or has an interest in 115 properties
totaling approximately 17.7 million square feet.  Further information is
available at the company's Internet site: http://www.beaconproperties.com.
    Certain matters discussed in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal securities law.
Although Beacon believes that the expectations reflected in such
forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give
no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.  Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from Beacon's current expectations include
general economic conditions, local real estate conditions, timely releasing of
occupied square footage upon expiration, interest rates, availability of
equity and debt financing and other risks detailed from time to time in the
company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K and annual reports on Form
10-K.

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