Artis Real Estate Investment Pref Shs Series E T.AX.PR.E

Artis REIT announces sale of Calgary office proper

[Robinbrook]

Artis REIT announces sale of Calgary office property and purchase of Winnipeg Industrial Portfolio
WINNIPEG, Oct. 15, 2009 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) -- (Canada NewsWire)

ArtisReal Estate Investment Trust (TSX: AX.UN) ("Artis" or the "REIT")announced today that it recently completed the sale of the Calgaryoffice property known as Willowglen Business Park ("Willowglen"). Artisalso announced that it has entered into an unconditional agreement toacquire a portfolio of 13 light and flex-industrial properties inWinnipeg (the "Winnipeg Industrial Portfolio"), from ING Canada.

Willowglenis a 285,813 square foot suburban Class "B" office property located inthe North East section of Calgary, Alberta. The property sold for $28.3million which represents a capitalization rate of approximately 8.3%.The disposition closed on October 1, 2009. The REIT expects to record again of approximately $4.4 million on the transaction. In conjunctionwith the Willowglen sale, Artis agreed to acquire from the purchaser anewly developed flex-industrial property in the Kingsview Business Parkin Airdrie, Alberta. The purchase price for the Airdrie property,including additional development lands, was $4.6 million. Artisrealized net cash proceeds of approximately $4.1 million on the closingof these transactions.

The Winnipeg Industrial Portfolio iscomprised of 13 light and flex-industrial properties located in the St.James Industrial area, Omand's Creek industrial area, InksterIndustrial Park and Fort Garry Industrial Park. The net rentable areaof the portfolio is over 721,000 square feet, and is 92.3% occupied(excluding one property considered to be in development). The aggregatepurchase price for the portfolio is $42.7 million, which the REITexpects to satisfy by way of cash on hand and $27.5 million of new10-year mortgage financing with a 25 year amortization period andbearing interest at a rate that is 280 basis points over the 10-yearGovernment of Canada bond yields on the date the rate is locked in.

"Thismeaningful repositioning of Artis' portfolio will reduce the REIT'sweighting in the Calgary office market," said Armin Martens, CEO ofArtis. "The Winnipeg industrial market has performed well through therecent economic downturn and we anticipate that this market will remainstrong. We are very pleased to increase our portfolio weighting in thissegment of the western Canadian commercial real estate market."

Priorto disposition, 2010 lease expiries in Willowglen representedapproximately 5% of the REIT's total 2010 expiries and approximately40% of the REIT's Calgary office 2010 expiries. The weighting ofCalgary office property in the overall portfolio will be reduced from26% to 20%. With the conclusion of the Willowglen disposition and theWinnipeg Industrial Portfolio acquisition, the REIT's portfolio will becomprised of approximately 6.7 million square feet of leasable area in96 properties. Leasable area will be approximately 39% in Manitoba, 7%in Saskatchewan, 48% in Alberta, and 6% in B.C.; by asset class theportfolio will be 29% retail, 34% office and 37% industrial.

Artisis a growth oriented real estate investment trust focused exclusivelyon commercial properties located in primary and growing secondarymarkets in western Canada. The REIT's goal is to provide unitholdersthe opportunity to invest in high quality western Canadian office,retail and industrial properties, as well as to provide monthly cashdistributions that are stable, tax efficient, and growing over time.

TheREIT's Distribution Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") allows unitholders tohave their monthly cash distributions used to purchase trust unitswithout incurring commission or brokerage fees, and receive bonus unitsequal to 4% of their monthly cash distributions. More information canbe obtained at www.artisreit.com.

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SOURCE: Artis Real Estate Investment Trust

please contact Mr. Armin Martens, President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Mr. Jim Green, Chief Financial Officer or Ms. Kirsty Stevens,Senior VP - Investor Relations, [phone]