H&R REIT Completes Acquisition of Place Bell Canada

TORONTO, March 1, 2002 / TSE Symbol: HR.UN/ CNW/ - H&R Real Estate Investment Trust announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Place Bell Canada located at 160 Elgin Street in the heart of Downtown Ottawa for $211 million from SITQ Immobilier.

The acquisition, which comprises 990,000 square feet, marks H&R REIT's entrance into the Ottawa office market and compliments the balance of the portfolio both geographically and by asset type.

As previously announced, Bell Canada is the largest tenant occupying 48% of the property for a lease term of 20 years. The four largest tenants comprise approximately 90% of the net rental income in this prestigious 27 storey office tower. Despite challenging economic times, the addition of a high profile property in Downtown Ottawa such as Place Bell Canada underscores H&R REITs' disciplined and focused approach of acquiring properties in sought after markets with leases to quality, creditworthy tenants.

"We are very pleased with the addition of this prestigious property to the portfolio as it reflects management's commitment to Unitholders that we will build a balanced portfolio with leases to creditworthy tenants in geographically desirable areas." Said Tom Hofstedter, President and Chief Executive Officer, H&R REIT.

This acquisition follows yesterday's announcement regarding the purchase by H&R REIT of the 526,000 square foot Bell Mobility Complex in Mississauga, Ontario. These two acquisitions, totaling in excess of $300 million, increase total assets in the REIT to $1.9 billion and the portfolio size to almost 16 million square feet, consolidating H&R REIT's position as the second largest REIT in Canada. The REIT still has acquisition capacity in excess of $300 million to pursue further transactions.

ABOUT H&R REIT
H&R REIT is a TSE-listed, closed end real estate investment trust. H&R REIT holds interests in 26 office properties, 67 single-tenant industrial properties, 12 retail properties and 5 development projects, principally in Canada. H&R REIT has in place a distribution reinvestment plan which is available to its unitholders. The plan allows participants to have their monthly cash distributions reinvested in additional H&R REIT units at an effective discount of 3%. Unitholders whose units are registered in the name of an investment banker, stockbroker, bank, trust company or other nominee should contact such nominee should they choose to enrol in the plan.

SEDAR #: 00002857

Additional information on H&R REIT is available on the REIT's web site at: www.hr-reit.com. The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.