NPR Announces Property Development Deal With Boston Properties

Joint Deal Includes Sale Of NPR’s 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Property And Development Of 1111 North Capitol Street, NW, NPR’s New Worldwide Headquarters

Washington, D.C. – NPR, one of the premier worldwide media organizations, announced today it has sold its current Washington, D.C., headquarters at 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, to Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP) and contracted with the same firm to redevelop the site of NPR’s future headquarters at 1111 North Capitol Street, NE.

In March, NPR announced the acquisition of 1111 North Capitol Street, NE, located in the District of Columbia’s new business improvement district of NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue), for its future global headquarters. Since then, NPR has undertaken an extensive process to identify and select a developer for the property. After narrowing down the prospective firms, NPR selected Boston Properties, a firm that offered a competitive bid for both the redevelopment of 1111 North Capitol Street and for the purchase of 635 Massachusetts Avenue.

“After an extremely competitive selection process, Boston Properties emerged as our developer of choice not only because of their real estate development expertise in the D.C. market, but also because of their ability to purchase our current building, thus ensuring a streamlined relocation process,” said Dennis Haarsager, NPR’s interim CEO. “We are confident that Boston Properties will deliver a top-notch, state-of-the-art public broadcasting facility that will best serve our 600 Washington-based staff, our 860 public radio station partners, and their 26 million listeners.”

“NPR is a nationally and internationally acclaimed organization and we are honored and privileged to have been selected to lead the development of their new headquarters,” said Ken Simmons, Boston Properties’ Senior Vice President. “We are also very pleased to have acquired NPR’s existing Massachusetts Avenue building which is located on one of the best remaining sites in the city.”

“We are pleased to welcome Boston Properties to the growing list of leading national and regional development firms that are active in NoMa,” said Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMa Business Improvement District (BID). “We are also excited to see NPR’s relocation to NoMa come one step closer to reality.”

Art Greenberg, Vernon Knarr and Julie Rayfield of global commercial real estate advisory firm Studley represented NPR in the transaction.

NPR will remain at its current location and lease it back from Boston Properties until the new headquarters is ready for occupancy, anticipated in late 2012. All of NPR’s Washington-based journalism, multimedia, technical distribution, business and executive activities will be housed in the new facility. NPR has been located in Washington, D.C. since it was founded in 1970, and has occupied the current property in Mount Vernon neighborhood since 1994.

Next steps in NPR’s new headquarters project include the selection of an architect for 1111 North Capitol Street, NE. The architect will be charged with designing an environmentally sensitive building with workspace that fosters a creative, collaborative and interactive atmosphere, and one that embraces new technology, enabling NPR to grow and merge its broadcast and digital activities. The new facility will include a 60,000 square foot space for NPR News’ extensive, award-winning broadcast and multimedia operations and a public space for live shows and events.

About NPR
Since its launch in 1970, NPR has evolved into a leading media company, award-winning news organization, and dominant force in American life. NPR produces and/or distributes more than 1300 hours of programming weekly, including more than 150 hours of news, information, talk, entertainment, and cultural shows for 860 NPR Member stations, with 26.5 million listeners weekly. NPR programs two 24/7 channels for Sirius satellite radio and five 24/7 music multicast channels for HD Radio; additionally, with more than 90 podcasts, NPR is the most successful podcaster among American media companies. Its 24/7 NPR Worldwide program stream reaches listeners in more than 100 countries. www.NPR.org offers extensive original audio, video, photography, and text content, as well as nearly 15 years of NPR programming archives. NPR Music, launched in November 2007 as a free music discovery destination, has concerts, interviews, blogs, reviews, artists index, and features spanning all music genres. NPR’s continuing expansion in digital media includes NPR Mobile, in partnership with Member stations nationwide, and the NPR Open API, launched July 2008.

NPR programs produced in Washington, D.C. are Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, Tell Me More, All Songs Considered, Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR.org, NPR Music and NPR Podcasts are also based in Washington.

About Boston Properties
Boston Properties, Inc. is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that develops, redevelops, acquires, manages, operates and owns a diverse portfolio consisting primarily of Class A office properties and one hotel. The Company is one of the largest owners and developers of Class A office properties in the United States, concentrated in five select markets - Boston, Midtown Manhattan, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Princeton, N.J. Visit the Company’s web site at http://www.bostonproperties.com