Mighty SL Green at top of its game.

SL Green produced strong earnings in the first quarter amid a flurry of real estate acquisitions and dispositions, including its $4 billion purchase of Reckson's portfolio of Manhattan office buildings.

The company reported that its funds from operation in the first quarter jumped to $123.7 million, an 88% gain over the same quarter a year ago. The results were bolstered, the company said, by its recent $550 million sale of One Park Avenue to Murray Hill Properties, $77.2 million of which the company distributed as a shareholder incentive.

The financial results, released in SL Green's quarterly earnings report on Monday, were among the best in the REIT sector and the company announced a string of promotions for key members on its management team.

Andrew Mathias, who has overseen much of the company's real estate investments as chief investment officer, was named SL Green's new president. Marc Holliday, who formerly was the company's president and CEO, relinquished his title as president but will remain CEO. Gregory Hughes, the company's chief financial officer was promoted to chief operating officer. Both Mathias and Hughes will also maintain their former titles.

"It was important for us to make commitments to a number of other key people, offering them meaningful rewards for past contributions and incentives to play vital roles in our future success," Holliday said in a statement.

The bulk of SL Green's portfolio is in Manhattan, where it is the city's largest landlord at a time when building owners have been netting record rents amid a tightening commercial office market. Even though 97.3% of its portfolio is leased, SL Green was able to recognize the rental gains for some of its 23.5 million s/f of space in Manhattan. The company leased roughly 410,000 s/f in space that helped drive SL Green's revenue to $295.8 million, a 154.2% gain over the first quarter last year.

Even though real estate assets in the city continue to appreciate to record high prices, SL Green, encouraged by the prospect of further rent increases, has been busy making acquisitions. In the first quarter the company acquired 331 Madison Avenue and 48 East 43rd Street for $73 million and it announced yesterday (Tuesday) that it will buy 333 West 34th Street for $183 million from Citigroup Global Markets.

The company issued statements Tuesday that it has also purchased a 32% joint venture interest in 1745 Broadway and will acquire the Long Island office buildings, 1 and 2 Jericho Plaza, for $210 million in partnership with Onyx Equities.

SL Green's most significant recent acquisition, its purchase of Reckson Associates in the first quarter, added five properties and approximately 4.2 million s/f to its Manhattan office holdings.

The REIT has financed its purchases by selling other assets in its portfolio and utilizing the full proceeds of the sale through tax-free exchanges to finance new acquisitions. It announced on Tuesday that it had sold 110 East 42nd Street for $111.5 million and 292 Madison Avenue for $140 million.

"The divestment of select assets and redeployment of capital generated from such sales, preferably via a 1031 tax-free exchange, into well located properties with potential for additional value added upside has always and will continue to be a core corporate strategy which creates value and fosters long term growth," Andrew Mathias, the firm's new president, said in a statement.

SL Green's results garnered praise from analysts.

"SL Green remains one of our top picks in the office space given the strength of Manhattan office fundamentals," a Bank of America equity research report stated last Friday. "As the largest office owner in mid-town, SL Green is well positioned in a market with limited new construction deliveries in the near-term and increasing private market valuations as a result of attractive financing and rent growth."