BOSTON, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Beacon Properties Corporation (NYSE: BCN)
announced today that it is planning to buy eight office buildings totaling
over two million square feet for an aggregate price of $339 million, and
expects to commence a public offering of seven million shares of common stock
in early April to help finance the acquisitions.
    The eight buildings are located in suburban markets of Chicago, Los
Angeles and northern Virginia previously targeted by Beacon for portfolio
expansion.  They include: a five-building, 1.1 million square foot office park
in suburban Chicago; a 531,000 square foot office tower in the Westwood suburb
of West Los Angeles, California; and a 409,000 square foot property in
Fairfax, Virginia.
    Beacon anticipates that $153 million of net proceeds from the public
offering will be required for the $339 million in acquisitions announced
today, with the surplus applied to a reduction in the outstanding balance on
Beacon's revolving credit line.  The remainder of the purchase price will be
met by the issuance of $50 million in operating partnership units, and the
assumption by Beacon of $136 million in fixed-rate debt.
    The acquisitions are expected to close during the second quarter of 1997,
subject to the completion of due diligence and customary closing conditions.
They would increase Beacon's total portfolio to 112 buildings encompassing
17.8 million square feet, and raise the proportion of Beacon's suburban office
properties to 79 percent.
    Alan M. Leventhal, Beacon's president and chief executive officer,
commented: "We are very pleased to be augmenting Beacon's presence in three of
the six office markets we have singled out for expansion.  This continues the
strategy we adopted a year ago to expand into a select number of large
metropolitan markets that meet our criteria of significant job creation,
economic growth and lack of new office supply, and to reinforce our presence
in these markets as opportunities arise."
    Beacon's current list of six national target markets is: Boston, Atlanta,
Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco/San Jose and Washington DC/Virginia.
Following the acquisitions, Beacon's portfolio will increase to approximately
2.7 million square feet in Chicago, 2.5 million square feet in Washington
DC/Virginia and 1.1 million square feet in Los Angeles.
    The combined annual net operating income of the eight buildings to be
acquired, together with the acquisitions totaling $262 million completed in
December, 1996, of Presidents Plaza, Chicago; Shoreline Technology Park,
Mountain View, California; and Lake Marriott Business Park, Santa Clara,
California, is estimated at $58 million (including $8.2 million of straight-
line rents).  The estimate is based on the annualized rental income from
signed leases in place as of March 1, 1997.
    Beacon Properties Corporation is a self-administered and self-managed real
estate investment trust (REIT).  One of the nation's largest office REITs,
Beacon currently owns or has an interest in 104 properties totaling
approximately 15.8 million square feet.  The company specializes in property
ownership, management, leasing, design and development.  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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