6 CONTINUES Third, there is a key aspect of the Company’s development over this period that is not as visible as its growing portfolio and increasing operating results, and that is our continued improvements in management and operational  capability. We have focused intensively on enhancing systems, training and organizational effectiveness. We will  continue each year to take greater advantage of operating our large property portfolio on an integrated basis with unified management and financial controls and our proprietary Internet-based company-wide property database, and with this improve our ability to manage and control our operating performance and our relations with our customers. This annual report marks Boston Properties’ fifth year as a public company. We have made dramatic progress in this time. The Company’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes in market conditions reflects our 32-year history of operating and thriving through the inevitable cycles in the real estate markets. We have established a particularly strong record of growth during these past five years. This success has also confirmed our belief in the strategy of  focusing on the best properties in the best locations in select market areas of Boston, New York City, Washington DC, and San Francisco.  We offer three observations about how Boston Properties’ five-year public record indicates our future direction. First, the substantial growth of the size of our portfolio, from 11 million SF at our IPO in 1997 to 40.7 million SF at the end of 2001, has been accompanied by a continued enhancement of the portfolio’s quality, including the addition of such exceptional CBD assets as Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, Prudential Center in Boston and its expansion at 111 Huntington Avenue, and in New York Citigroup Center and the two towers under construction in Times Square. We remain convinced that the great American cities in which we have chosen to operate will continue to prosper and lead in office rents and values, and that the key  suburban markets in which we concentrate around these cities will also thrive. Second, as demonstrated by the record of these five years, Boston Properties’ focus is not on growth for growth’s sake, but to enhance operating results. This has  produced significant annual increases in the Company’s financial performance on a  per-share basis, both in Funds From Operations and in Earnings Per Share. We will  continue to seek, and to measure our performance by, this kind of growth. Orbital Sciences, Dulles, VA (left) Waltham Weston Corporate Center, Waltham, MA A FIVE-YEAR PERSPECTIVE NOI Growth by Property Location (in millions) ■ CBD ■ Suburbs 1 For 1997, NOI includes NOI from the Company beginning June 23, 1997, plus NOI from the properties contributed in the  formation of the Company for the period  from January 1 through June 22, 1997 1997 1 1998 1999 2000 2001 $173 $344 $534 $698 $597