 PHILADELPHIA--BUSINESS WIRE--Independence Realty Trust, Inc. NYSE: IRT IRT today announced that it is commencing an underwritten public offering of 14,000,000 shares of common stock, par value 0.01 per share, in connection with the forward sale agreements described below. IRT expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 2,100,000 additional shares of common stock. Barclays, BMO Capital Markets and Citigroup are acting as joint book-running managers of the offerin 