First Industrial to eliminate 46 positions

First Industrial Realty Trust to cut 46 positions, close 4 offices in Canada and US

• On 11:40 am EDT, Tuesday September 29, 2009

CHICAGO (AP) -- First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. said Tuesday that it will cut 46 positions while closing its offices in Toronto, Calgary, Salt Lake City and Irvine, Calif.

The Chicago-based industrial real estate investment trust firm said the actions, expected to conclude in the fourth quarter, should result in an annual savings of $8 million to $8.4 million. The company said it expects to incur a pretax restructuring charge of between $1.4 million and $1.6 million in the third quarter.

Shares fell 42 cents, or 6.3 percent, to $6.25 in midday trading.

First Industrial said it expects to record a gain of about $18.2 million in the third quarter. The company said it generated about $77.2 million of gross proceeds in the third quarter, and it used that income and available cash to retire about $123.7 million of debt.

It announced an anticipated income tax refund of approximately $27 million, and said it completed the sale of five industrial properties totaling about 154,000 square feet of gross leaseable area for proceeds of about $14.2 million.

First Industrial said it has three industrial properties, or about 181,000 square feet, under contract with estimated gross proceeds of about $14.3 million. An additional six properties totaling 771,205 square feet are under nonbinding letters of intent. Those carry potential gross proceeds of about $49.7 million.

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