Griffin Capital’s Net Lease REIT Declared Effective

Los Angeles, CA – Griffin Capital Corporation, sponsor of The GC Net Lease REIT, Inc., announced today that the SEC declared its registration statement effective as of November 6, 2009. The GC Net Lease REIT, Inc. is a public, non-traded real estate investment trust focused on the acquisition and management of mission-critical single-tenant office and industrial properties net-leased to corporate tenants.

“Our investment thesis is straightforward,” states Griffin Capital President, Kevin Shields, “deliver our investors a competitive risk-adjusted return with low relative volatility. We will accomplish this by acquiring properties that manifest strategic importance to the operations of the tenant and construct a portfolio that is diversified from multiple perspectives: tenant credit quality and operating industry, geography, product type (with a focus on office and industrial) and lease duration.”

Shields adds: “we are fortunate to have an investment vehicle not burdened by legacy issues and we have made a substantial equity commitment to our offering by contributing two assets with over $20 million of equity – we deem it imperative to stand shoulder to shoulder with our investors and have meaningful ‘skin in the game’.” After Griffin originally designed the REIT offering for launch in 2006, Mike Escalante, Chief Investment Officer, believes that now is an excellent time to acquire assets in the “new pricing paradigm” and stated: “prior to this year, we did not feel comfortable with asset pricing in a REIT vehicle, now we are seeing excellent acquisition opportunities we think will be beneficial to our stockholders.” David Ford, National Sales Director, concluded: “our initial property contributions help support our current dividend. We are very excited to be bringing this product to the marketplace at this point in the real estate market cycle.”

Griffin Capital is a privately-owned real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles. Led by senior executives each with more than two decades of real estate experience collectively encompassing over $14.0 billion of transaction value and more than 400 transactions, Griffin Capital has acquired or constructed over 11 million square feet of space since 1996. Griffin Capital owns and manages a portfolio consisting of 40 assets and over 8.5 million square feet of space, located in 13 states and representing approximately $1 billion in asset value. Additional information about Griffin Capital is available at www.griffincapital.com.

* On February 25, 2013, Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, Inc. announced its new name: Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc.