SL Green Realty Q3 2024 Earnings Report

SL Green Realty EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.21
• Consensus EPS: $1.21
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$1.42
• One Year Ago EPS: $1.27

SL Green Realty Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $229.69 million
• Expected Revenue: $136.66 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$93.03 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

SL Green Realty Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2024
• Date: 10/16/2024
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 2:00PM ET

SL Green Realty (NYSE:SLG) Corp. (NYSE: SLG) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on the acquisition, management and development of commercial office properties in Manhattan. As one of New York City’s largest office landlords, the company’s portfolio includes Class A office buildings and mixed-use projects located in prime Midtown and Downtown submarkets. SL Green generates revenue through leasing office space to a diverse mix of tenants spanning financial services, technology, media and professional services firms.

Founded in 1980 by real estate investor Stephen L. Green, the company converted to a REIT in 1997 to take advantage of tax benefits and enhance its capital-raising capabilities. Over the decades, SL Green has grown its footprint through strategic property acquisitions, ground-up developments and joint ventures with institutional partners. The firm has demonstrated an ability to navigate market cycles in Manhattan, repositioning assets and capitalizing on redevelopment opportunities to drive occupancy gains and rental growth.

In addition to property ownership and leasing, SL Green provides comprehensive asset management and property management services, including tenant relations, building operations and capital improvements. The company has been active in sustainable building initiatives, pursuing green certifications and energy efficiency upgrades in an effort to reduce operating costs and meet tenant demand for environmentally responsible workspaces. Its development pipeline has included high-profile projects such as the redevelopment of 1515 Broadway and the expansion of One Madison Avenue.

SL Green is led by Chief Executive Officer Marc Holliday, who has overseen the company’s strategic evolution and growth since 1995. Under his leadership, the firm has focused on strengthening its balance sheet, optimizing its portfolio mix and pursuing value-enhancing transactions. Headquartered in New York City, SL Green continues to be guided by a board of directors with extensive experience in real estate investment, finance and development, positioning the company to benefit from evolving market dynamics in Manhattan’s office sector.

SL Green Realty Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive market momentum: SL Green achieved 2.8 million sq ft of leasing year-to-date and reported four consecutive quarters of positive leasing, highlighted by a surprise 925,000 sq ft Bloomberg renewal/expansion, and now expects to exceed 3 million sq ft for the year with same-store Manhattan occupancy of ~92.5%.
• One Madison & Summit One Vanderbilt highlights: One Madison Avenue is now fully leased (including IBM and Franklin Templeton) with new rooftop and restaurant activations, while Summit One Vanderbilt nears 6 million guests and will launch a global expansion beginning in Paris.
• Luxury residential and retail revival: The opening of the flagship Giorgio Armani boutique and sold-out residences on Madison Avenue has spurred renewed interest and relocations among high-end retailers in the district.
• Return to debt and preferred equity (DPE): SL Green invested $110 million in debt and debt-like instruments this quarter and is launching a ~$1 billion DPE fund in Q4 to reestablish itself as a leading provider of subordinate capital for NYC commercial assets.
• Capital recycling & One Vanderbilt JV sale: The company remains on track to sell down ~45% of One Vanderbilt in Q4 per its original plan, and anticipates over $500 million in other asset monetizations to reduce leverage heading into 2025.

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you, everybody, for joining us, and welcome to the SL Green Realty Corp.'s third quarter twenty twenty-four earnings results conference call. This conference call is being recorded. At this time, the company would like to remind listeners that during the call, management may make forward-looking statements. You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events, as actual results and events may differ from any forward-looking statements that management may make today. All forward-looking statements made by management on this call are based on their assumptions and beliefs as of today. Additional information regarding the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause such differences to appear are set forth in the Risk Factors and MD&A sections of the company's latest Form 10-K and other subsequent reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[Operator]

Also, during today's conference call, the company may discuss non-GAAP financial measures as defined by Regulation G under the Securities Act. The GAAP financial measures most directly comparable to each non-GAAP financial measure discussed, and a reconciliation of the differences between each non-GAAP financial measure and the comparable GAAP financial measure can be found on both the company's website at www.slgreen.com, by selecting the press release regarding the company's third quarter twenty twenty-four earnings, and in our supplemental information included in our current report on Form 8-K relating to our third quarter twenty twenty-four earnings. Before turning the call over to Marc Holliday, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SL Green Realty Corp., I ask that those of you participating in the Q&A portion of the call to please limit your questions to two per person. Thank you.

[Operator]

I will now turn the call over to Marc Holliday. Please go ahead, Marc.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Okay, good afternoon, and thank you for joining us at SL Green's third quarter earnings call. By now, you will have seen the exciting news that we put out last night, which was the culmination of another great quarter of activity, since we last spoke. We called the pivot in the market about one year ago, and since then, we've seen four consecutive quarters of positive market momentum that reinforces our belief that New York City has turned the corner, and we are now meeting or exceeding many of our goals. Since we were last together, and that was just three short months ago, a lot has happened.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Last month, IBM cut the ribbon and took occupancy of their incredible new space at One Madison Avenue, effectively christening the building that rightly takes its place alongside One Vanderbilt as a shining example of the new model for modern and innovative office buildings. One Madison, now fully complete, has come alive as other tenants are moving in, such as the Franklin Templeton Companies, the opening of Chelsea Piers, the activation of the fabulous rooftop, which is already hosting many, many special events, and proof positive that the city is thriving for demand, of space for this kind and, you know, punctuated by Daniel Boulud's new steakhouse, La Tête d'Or, designed by David Rockwell, completed construction, this month and will open to the public in November. Be sure to get your reservations and be among the first to be there over the holidays.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Special place and a great new addition to the Flatiron area and just another, you know, great step in the right direction for New York City. On Monday, we will celebrate the third anniversary of Summit One Vanderbilt. We are now closing in on six million guests. I think in November, we will host our six millionth guest through the turnstiles at Summit, and I think that just really speaks volume to what an enormous attraction Summit has turned out to be. Many day sellouts, most day sellouts. It has been named, you know, accolades as a special bucket list destination for New York City, and everyone comes out of there with a smile.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

We're very proud of it, and we're even more excited to begin the global expansion as we bring the unique Summit experience to other cities around the world, with Paris being first up in the queue. Expect an announcement with further details on our Paris initiative sometime later this quarter. Also, earlier this week, many of you may have seen the press yesterday and this morning. Mr. Giorgio Armani made a rare trip to New York to celebrate the opening of his new boutique and residences on Madison Avenue, developed in conjunction with SL Green. As you know, the residences are completely sold out, and Armani's flagship store has anchored a complete revival of luxury retailing and elevated experiences on Madison Avenue, as many of the world's prominent luxury retailers have relocated or recommitted to Madison Avenue after the announcement of the Armani project.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

If you're in the area, please be sure to come by, check it out, pick out something special with the profits those of you have made on SL Green stock. After nearly a four-year hiatus, we are now fully back in the DPE business, lending on and investing in mortgage and mezz loans and debt securities. This quarter, we invested nearly $110 million in various debt and debt-like investments, and that's on top of the other DPE investment activity we did earlier this year. This marks the return to an extremely profitable business, where we typically have achieved outsized market share and market returns. The debt investments we've closed thus far, combined with our extensive pipeline that we've been building throughout the year, will serve to seed our debt fund that we anticipate having an initial closing on in the fourth quarter.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

The fund will provide additional capital resources, enabling us to reestablish ourselves as the dominant provider of subordinate capital for New York City commercial assets. And I guess, you know, the highlight of highlights was something we announced after business closed yesterday. Further evidence of what I would say is really incredible leasing momentum, some of the best I can recall seeing in my twenty-six years here at the company. We achieved a 925,000 sq ft renewal and expansion of Bloomberg over at 919 Third Avenue.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

This was not really within the expectations at the beginning of this year, so it was a very pleasant surprise, and I'd say it was even, you know, more telling about the, you know, the strength of this market, Bloomberg being one of the great worldwide media companies, not only renewing upwards of 725,000-750,000 sq ft, but they expanded by almost 25% within 919 for a total of 925,000 sq ft footprint. Which speaks volumes, I think, to the amazing partnership we have with Bloomberg, who started out as a relatively small tenant in the building some years ago. Steve, you recall?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

200,000 sq ft.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

200,000 sq ft tenant, how long ago?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

2015.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

2015, less than ten years later, now closing in on 1 million sq ft. So, I think it's a great story about, you know, partnership, about, you know, complementary businesses, us being able to serve Bloomberg's growth needs and Bloomberg, you know, being there to help us fill the space in the building. And it's. I think, further proof positive about the radiation of demand away from what we have traditionally referred to as the Park Avenue Spine. You know, the story goes that the demand is limited to trophy buildings on Park Avenue. You've heard us say it's just not the case, particularly not this year, when we have consummated 2.8 million sq ft of leasing year to date.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And this being an example as well as other examples in the portfolio of that demand, you know, not being so much geographically focused as it is generally within East Midtown, in renovated Class A buildings, with strong sponsorship, and that's where we're having our success, such that we now expect to have leasing achievement this year, eclipsing three million sq ft and achieving a projected occupancy at year-end in same store Manhattan of 92.5%. So those are some pretty, pretty good stats. We're proud of them. Great job by the team. You know, again, that's a good three months in my book. I think it illustrates what we've been saying now for a while, that business is back in New York. The worst is, without question, behind us.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

You know, this is now, in our eyes, you know, a market for being affirmative and offensive. And our portfolio is well positioned to capitalize on that market as there is a scarcity of well-located and amenitized Class A assets in the East Midtown market, which is where we call home. So with that, I'd like to open it up for some questions on the quarter.

[Operator]

Thank you, and at this time, we'll conduct the question and answer session. To ask a question, you need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Again, please limit yourself to two questions. Please stand by. We compiled the Q&A roster. One moment for our first question. Our first question comes from the line of John Kim from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

[John Kim, Managing Director covering REITs at BMO Capital Markets Corp]

Thank you. Congrats on the Bloomberg transaction. I just wanted to confirm that it was not in your pipeline that you last described, that 1.2 million sq ft, just given the size of this lease, and I think you described it, the pipeline as being pretty diversified. And also, if you could share with us any of the economics on the rent versus the in-place of $66 and how much you offered in concessions.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

So it was not in our reported pipeline. The deal came together very quickly, so it's not something that we were including in our pipeline because, one, because it was so large, and two, it was so unanticipated, and three, it happened so rapidly. With regards to the economics, we're under an NDA, so we can't really share specific details other than to say that obviously the size of the lease, it's a 15-year lease from today, so it's a 10-year extension, 15-year term on the expansion. There is substantial positive mark to market, and you know, the concessions are, you know, appropriate for renewal, but significantly below what they would have been if we had to replace the tenant for vacant space. With regards to... I think you asked about diversity on the pipeline.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

You know, like in past quarters, it's heavily weighted towards financial services. I think that's a reflection of where we have vacancy, not just because it's the only industry that's in the market right now. We're seeing law firms, TAMI tenants, business services, and financial services, but specific to our current pipeline, a lot of it is weighted towards financial services.

[John Kim, Managing Director covering REITs at BMO Capital Markets Corp]

Okay. And my second question is on One Vanderbilt. We didn't get an update on the joint venture sale, so I wanted to ask if it's still on track, and also, if you really need to sell a stake in the asset at this point in time, just given the fundamentals and sentiment on New York has shifted positively over the last few months. Your cost of capital has improved, so there's other, you know, access to, or sources of capital that you could tap. So just wanted an update on that and whether or not you're contemplating not selling a stake.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, it's going great at One Vanderbilt, and we're confident that we'll be able to close a transaction in the fourth quarter. You know, the transaction really will be the culmination or conclusion of a process that affirms in our mind, you know, One Vanderbilt's position as not only the premier office tower in New York, but, you know, also this... A global icon of modern development. So, you know, two Michelin-star restaurants, the continued success at Summit, a fully leased rent roll, and long-term fixed rate debt, and the story here keeps getting better, and, you know, we're looking forward to expanding the partnership at the building. The second piece of your question, I'll leave to Marc.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, you know, on the question of, you know, do we have to sell? We don't have to do anything. I mean, we're in great shape. We have lots of tools at our disposal to generate capital organically, monetizing assets, third party, you know, money, debt fund, et cetera. And, if you know, I would not look at anything related to One Vanderbilt as a has to do. We do it because it was part of our original business plan to sell down to somewhere between 50% and 60%, maybe 55% and 60%. That was the original business plan. That's where we think the asset is optimized for the perspective of shareholders between return and enhanced fee generation off the asset.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

It is a, you know, One Vanderbilt is transformational for this market. It's now the building block of this company. We expect to hold and own it, you know, for quite some time. But we welcome the opportunity to bring in some of the great international partners from around the world. And we expect, as Harry said, to conclude that in the fourth quarter.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

But that will just be one component of what we expect to close from this point forward through the remainder of the year by monetizing certain assets of the company that should yield to us in excess of $500 million of net proceeds, which we will use in the interim to pay down the line to bring it into the levels that we had projected in December of last year. So we're on track or you know possibly a little ahead on that, and it will set us up I think you know quite well leading into 2025, which I think is gonna be a big big year for this company.

[John Kim, Managing Director covering REITs at BMO Capital Markets Corp]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Steve Sakwa from Evercore ISI. Your line is open.

[Stephen Sakwa, Senior Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering REITs at Evercore ISI]

Yes, thanks. Good afternoon. Marc, I just wanted to see if you could comment a little bit more on the transaction market. Obviously, you guys are back in the DPE business. I'm just curious what you're seeing on the direct side of things, and are the opportunities more pronounced in the DPE side than the direct purchase side?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I think, you know, Steve, it's kind of both, and it's really a function in my mind of debt and equity liquidity coming back to this market. And when it comes, it comes, you know, pretty fast and pretty strong. And, you know, as a case in point, last year, there was, I think there was zero dollars of New York, Manhattan, SASB loan origination, zero, which is quite unusual. This year, including the Rock Center deal, which is pricing today, and 299 Park, which is pending pricing next week, there's gonna be $5.3 billion of SASB deal, illuminating spreads, levels, values, demand, et cetera. And, you know, that's a quite a different picture, along with, we're seeing now lending balance sheet lenders quoting deals.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And the conduit market is firming up and spreads are coming in, irrespective of where underlying SOFR and Treasuries are headed. Spreads themselves are compressing, and, you know, the equity follows the debt, and, you know, we've seen some deals trade, some, you know, known 250 Park, was it, was a trade, Harry, a couple others off the top of your head?

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

980 Madison.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

980 Madison Avenue, that was to a user, Bloomberg Philanthropies. You know, obviously, there have been a lot of user trades, there have been some investor trades, and there's deals in the market that we're tracking. Our focus isn't really on the direct equity side at the moment. It's more development oriented and longer term, but there are a couple of deals that we are paying particular attention to. But, you know, if you wanna look at just dollars allocated, we do expect that most of our activity will be focused to DPE, which is very customary and routine coming out of a downturn like we had in 2020 through 2023, to start there and then, you know, sort of evolve into direct equity.

[Stephen Sakwa, Senior Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering REITs at Evercore ISI]

Great. And then as a follow-up, Matt, I did notice that things like real estate taxes and OpEx were at least much lower than what we had modeled. I just didn't know if there was some timing issues there, or if there were some maybe refunds that you got on the tax side. Just anything, was that sort of a normalized level, or are there some one-timers that might have pulled those down, and those might bounce back up in Q4?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Nothing unusual in there. I think they moved, you know, given the size of the line item, not much. They do bounce seasonally from time to time, certainly operating expenses, too. No, I think the team's done a great job. We work very hard on our real estate taxes, and the operations team does a fantastic job with our operating expenses, keeping them contained. You know, they've done an even better job this year, so we saw some savings. They're working right now on how that looks going forward, but nothing unusual within the quarter, no.

[Stephen Sakwa, Senior Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering REITs at Evercore ISI]

Great. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ronald Kamdem from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

[Ronald Kamdem, Managing Director and Head of US REITs and CRE Research at Morgan Stanley]

Hey, just two quick ones, starting with the same-store cash same-store and why accelerated to 2.9% in the quarter. Just hopefully you could sort of talk through what the expectations are for the back half for the rest of the year, maybe into 2025. What major sort of buildings or leases we should be thinking about, as we're trying to think about 2025? Thanks.

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, I appreciate you trying to ask about twenty twenty-five. We'll talk about that on December ninth at the investor conference when we give guidance, but you know, the results for 2024 through the first nine months reflect the portfolio that has been performing better than expectations. It was part of the reason we raised guidance back in July with earnings, and you know, we continued to trend ahead through the third quarter. Fourth quarter you know is trending in a similar direction. You know, I'm not changing where our same store full year guidance ended up, but we have trended better than we expected through the first nine months at least.

[Ronald Kamdem, Managing Director and Head of US REITs and CRE Research at Morgan Stanley]

Great. And then, look, my second question was just going back to the alternative strategy portfolio. I think you talked about sort of threats coming in, maybe the environment being a little bit better, but qualitatively, does that, does that help in terms of conversations, in terms of those negotiations? Any sort of color you can provide on, how that's, how that's progressing would be helpful. Thanks.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Well, again, I just want to refresh for everybody. ASP, the alternative strategy portfolio, is a category we created at the end of last year to address assets that shareholders perceived, or we think the market perceived more accurately, as having little value or little current value, even though in many of the cases and so. You know, we believe there could be long-term value, particularly when we work to recapitalize the underlying indebtedness on those assets, or in some cases, leaseholds, in ways that are advantageous win-win scenarios for the lender and for us as holder of those assets. And I think you've seen that strategy bear fruit already. Probably hadn't anticipated ourselves the early returns, but you know, year to date, I think we've had very good results.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

As I recall, 717 Fifth Avenue, 719 Seventh Avenue, 2 Herald Square or three that stick out in my mind. There might be one other. And there's others we're working on, where, you know, we've been able to, you know, get creative and do what we do and, you know, mine value out of the ASP assets, and we'll continue to do so as we work that portfolio down. I think the real takeaway, or one of the reasons for the elimination of that portfolio, was to dispel the notion that there was any, you know, recourse, liability, or guarantees, or peril associated with those assets. They're almost, in every case, non-recourse.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

With that said, out of respect and deference to our partners and lenders, we would do everything possible to try and optimize those assets and get as full a recovery as we can on those assets. And we continue to do that, and with respect to the three examples I gave, you know, very successfully. So we're gonna stay at it. You know, the market, to your point, the market coming back a bit certainly helps. There's no question, and we can reevaluate some of those assets, which we do quarterly, and doesn't mean we pop them out of the portfolio. It just means that, you know, we may have an accelerated timeline for ultimate disposition of those assets. But you know, there are some good assets in that portfolio.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

We hope to work those assets as hard as we can and you know maintain as much value as we can.

[Ronald Kamdem, Managing Director and Head of US REITs and CRE Research at Morgan Stanley]

Helpful color. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question.... Our next question comes from the line of Michael Griffin from Citi. Your line is open.

[Michael Griffin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup]

Great, thanks. Maybe on the leasing front, for the demand you're seeing outside of Park Avenue, maybe on Third or Sixth, is this just a function of limited availability along Park or are tenants maybe out there looking for better deals? And then can you kind of quantify maybe where concessions are in some of those submarkets relative to Park? And then maybe broadly, is it fair to say we've passed peak concessions in New York overall?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Why don't I start with the last question first. We've said for, I think, the better part of a year, that concessions peaked last year. We've seen no increase in free rent or TI on the average deal. Obviously, you saw for our deals for this particular quarter, they went up, but they were influenced by a lot of high rent deals that were signed, a lot of new leases filling vacancy that were signed as opposed to renewals. And in one particular case, a very large deal where we actually made a dollar allowance for the tenant to perform base building work, which, you know, skewed the number as to what we reported for TI. But, you know, at its core, the TI number has not changed throughout all of this year.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I think we're gonna see rents rise more materially before we see concessions come down. But concessions will start to tighten up, and I think the first thing you'll see come off the table is some of the free rents. And then ultimately the TI allowances will probably be the last thing that changes. With regards to the Park Avenue versus, you know, some of the other avenues, we've been saying consistently this year that we've seen a lot more activity in the, you know, value part of the marketplace. They're those tenants that are paying $55-$75 or $80 rents, so those are not Park Avenue-type tenants.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Whether they be on Third, Lex or Sixth Avenue, in particular, where we've seen us do a lot of leasing at 810 Seventh Avenue and 1185 Sixth Avenue, and then obviously, this newest announcement on Third Avenue with Bloomberg. Some of that is spillover from Park Avenue, but a lot of it, I just, I think, is just an awakening of the market by the, you know, those smaller to mid-sized tenants that are chasing sort of the value part of the marketplace. And I think we're gonna continue to see that strengthening the market. In fact, there was a Newmark report that just came out the other day that's.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Their statement was, "Non-trophy leasing is on pace to reach its highest level this year versus all the way back to 2019." So I think that really puts a pin in it for you.

[Michael Griffin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup]

Great. Appreciate the color there, Steve. And then just maybe on the financing markets. Marc, I know you talked a little bit about the CMBS market maybe being more open, but have you gotten a sense, maybe more traditional lenders have started to warm up to, you know, lending on commercial real estate and office broadly again, and then maybe you can give us some insights. You obviously had a number of modifications and extensions this year where you paid down a pretty small amount of principal, but can you give us a sense why lenders are willing to kind of cut those deals on refinances that would only require you to pay down a smaller amount when the mortgages come due?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Okay, the question about portfolio lending, absolutely. I think you're gonna see in 2025, I think the focus with a lot of the major lending institutions will kind of start to revert back to increasing net interest income with less of a focus, if any, on establishment of reserves. Because I think the view is that the banks are properly reserved or, you know, and then some based on what the, you know, expectations were going back over the past four years. And you've seen in the announcements, the earnings trajectory and growth of these money center banks is extraordinary. I mean, there's big profits there. They're making money, they're expanding. It's broad-based, you know, high net worth, banking, trading operations, all contributing.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And, I think, you know, the view is gonna be growth, new business, new lending, and commercial, you know, prime commercial assets in New York City, in good locations, I think will be eligible, for balance sheet lending, and we're seeing that. And I think, you know, you'll see more to come from us and others in the ensuing months on that, on that exact topic. So that's that. You know, as to, some of the modifications, we're doing, it's. I mean, we have great relationships with our banks. We have great assets. The buildings typically are not in a overleveraged state, and we're, you know. You know, again, under the thesis that some of these banks want to maintain outstanding earning assets on great buildings with good sponsorship.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Sometimes the balances have to be tweaked with a pay down or some additional posting of reserves. But just remember, we're projecting 92.5% leasing in the portfolio, which means we are, you know, swinging our back, our way back to, hopefully, a fully leased state in the years to come. The buildings are in great shape. They're fully repositioned, and in most cases, amenitized and well leased. So those are not necessarily the assets you read and hear about that, you know, where there are problems. And for those assets, I think it's quite, you know-

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

... natural for lenders to work with us on extensions until the market is fully back. And then, when it is, there'll be, you know, more traditional refinancings for that portfolio. But I think it's very consistent and makes sense.

[Michael Griffin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup]

Great. That's it for me. Thanks for the time.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, please limit yourself to two questions. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Alexander Goldfarb from Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

[Alexander Goldfarb, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Hey, good afternoon. And first, congrats on the strong leasing. Really unreal, what you guys have achieved there since last quarter. Two questions are, first, on the mortgage servicing business. It looks like you guys currently have $5 billion, and there's another $6.8 billion potential, you know, depending on, I guess, if that goes to special servicing or not. Matt, how do we think about the income that comes off of this? I mean, it seems rather lucrative. As Marc just described, things are getting better. So how much income are you currently getting, and how should we think about that $6.8 billion? You know, how much of that will you think could come on, and how do you think where do you think this earnings could go?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Sure, I'll try. That is like eight questions. But, the business is obviously throwing off a substantial amount of fee income. We had, you know, layered some of that fee income into our original projections back in December. We're trending ahead of that. You know, we stay away from how, you know, 'cause each deal is slightly unique on how much these fees, how they roll through, what they are. I'll let Harrison expand on it a little bit, but, you know, generically, these are, you know, once they're in special servicing, you're earning a monthly, I'll call it a stipend, almost a monthly modest fee. And then on resolution, there's something more sizable. Harrison, you want to expand on that a bit?

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, I mean, this business has been, you know, remarkably fast-growing. Most of the people coming to us are looking for, you know, expertise in working out large loans, not just in New York, but across the country. And, you know, just to give you a sense of scale, as you just noted, it's $5 billion of active assignments today. We have another $6.8 billion of assignments where we are named special servicer, but the assets are currently not in special servicing. And then in addition to that, we have another $3 billion of pipeline, and those are appointments that we're currently working on documentation to get named special servicer, some of which are in special, some which may get into special in the coming months or years.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

You know, for us, this is a very scalable business. We run it with our current team, and the revenues, as I said on the last call, they're almost entirely going to the bottom line. So-

[Alexander Goldfarb, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

We're continuing to grow this and, you know, working our relationships to get on more assignments. And I think one thing that's new in this past quarter is now our existing servicing clients, when they're doing new HRR positions or VVR positions, they're appointing us upfront on these new SASB loans. A lot of the business we've done over the past year in growth is just organic, you know, reaching out, but now we're getting new appointments on new originations. So, you know, we see this being a sticky business for us.

[Alexander Goldfarb, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay, and then the second question is on... Great to see you're back in the DPE. It's been a good business for you guys historically. As you think about the JV debt fund, how do you bifurcate which goes in the DPE and which goes in the JV fund?

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, so just as an update on where we stand on the fund raise process, you know, it's been going great. We've reached a deal with our anchor investor and we're now documenting their investment, which we expect to close in the next forty-five days. We also have significant follow-on investor demand that we expect will meet or exceed our billion-dollar goal through the final closing. And the setup of the fund is in terms of what goes into the fund and what doesn't is that this will be our primary credit vehicle for new DPE investments until that billion dollars or whatever we end up closing on is deployed. And so, you know, we look at-- that's what the shareholder feedback last year was to get into this business.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

This is how we'll be deploying dollars into the credit space until the dollars are deployed, and, you know, we'll continue to mine these investors for potential follow-on funds, whether it be in debt or equity businesses.

[Alexander Goldfarb, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Nick Yulico from Scotiabank. Your line is open.

[Nicholas Yulico, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Scotiabank]

Thanks. Yeah, first question is just in terms of, you know, the mark-to-market year to date, you know, outperforming versus expectations. I think, you know, some of that I know is, you know, helped by some lumpy leases, like Ares, 245 Park, but we had success. But how do we think about, like, how much rents are, you know, maybe out surpassing expectations so far, based on the leasing year to date?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

It's a. I think you got to slice and dice the market a little bit. You know, if you look at Park Avenue, which is sort of the easiest example, it's the best sub-market in the country right now. Rents are clearly on the rise. It's a landlord-favored market. We've raised rents four times in the past year on our assets on Park Avenue. I think you're seeing the early days of a similar situation on Sixth Avenue. But then I think as we look forward,

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

... I think you're gonna see, you know, broadly speaking, in Midtown specific, rent increasing on, a lot of parts of the market and a lot of types of buildings, next year. You know, a good barometer I always go to is the Graybar Building, right? Pre-war building, big building, lots of different kinds of tenants, lots of different sizes. Building that, coming out of COVID, had a historically high vacancy of, like, 18%. We're now down approaching the 10% vacancy, and I would fully expect that we'll see rents rise in that building next year. So that's a, you know, very good indicator of the, kind of the, you know, the mid-price point product in the marketplace.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

If that rent, if rents go up in that building, then you'll see rents go up broadly across most assets, most quality assets in Midtown.

[Nicholas Yulico, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Scotiabank]

All right. That's helpful. Thanks, Steve. I guess the second question is just on going back to the acquisitions environment and, you know, how you're thinking about funding that. I mean, how is the company right now thinking about, you know, using common equity? Stock's done quite well in terms of, you know, funding investments, you know, and how much of that could be on actually property investments versus debt investments? Thanks.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

You know, I think that's, Nick, what's something we'll go into a fair amount of detail on in December. You know, we're not. I mean, what you're really getting at is kind of a 2025 business plan. Anything we're working on now that we're closing the next two and a half months, we know what it is, and, you know, we're in the process of closing, typically. Not to say we can't knock down a late inning deal maybe, you know, in November or December, but most of the balance of this year's activity is allocated, modeled, thought through, et cetera. And we are right now preparing our plans for 2025 and beyond, and we'll be able to give some good color.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I don't really know there's a lot of question between equity and debt, equity and debt. To me, it's a spectrum, you know, it's real estate, and we just wanna find the best point on that spectrum to invest. If we think we're getting a really good equity deal, we're gonna do equity, you know? If we think we're getting a really good debt deal, and that's where there's some, you know, advantageous or mispriced, we'll do debt. It's not always one or the other. A lot of these opportunities we approach, which I think is something that's, I don't know about unique to us, but it definitely differentiates for us, is that we can do any aspect of these deals from senior financing, you know, mezz, pref, common equity, servicing, combination thereof.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

We don't always know, because we got to evaluate where do we want to be in a particular deal, and we don't know what deals are coming up in, you know, in the next 12 to 18 months. You know, we like to consider ourselves fairly fluid and fairly opportunistic. We're very comfortable investing along that spectrum that I mentioned to you. You know, we've done some equity deals, obviously, through pandemic. We did 450 Park, we did 245 Park, we did 625 Madison. Those are the three big ones that come to mind. We've done some debt deals, recently, and I would expect you're gonna see a mixture of opportunities we'll be pursuing, which will be both debt and equity, in the months to come.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And I think we can give better planning and guidance on that in December. But the, you know, that's, that's where that is. And in terms of how we fund it, you know, I mentioned to you, I mean, we have all tools available, and I sort of alluded to that earlier. We have, you know, a prolific group here that has great relationships throughout Asia, Middle East, domestically in Canada, where we can turn to to capitalize both debt and equity deals. We're closing on a debt fund.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I mentioned in my opening remarks, in excess of $500 million of asset monetizations we expect to close this quarter, and, you know, that'll certainly fund a lot of activities and, you know, get our revolving balance down to where we want it to be for year-end. And, you know, as in prior years, we'll evaluate stock along the way as a, you know, as a source of potential equity, if we feel the price is approaching something that, you know, is reasonable in light of the opportunities that exist. So the more, you know, the more, the more favorable and juice of the opportunity, the more, and, and the larger the opportunity, you know, we certainly wouldn't shy away from issuing equity for new opportunities or to, you know, rebalance the balance sheet.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

But, you know, we're in a really good place right now. We've shrunk our share count down considerably. We've retired a lot of debt along the way. You know, we're at levels that are very comfortable for us right now, and I think we have a lot of access to capital in all those various ways, including potential stock issuances. So, you know, it's a good position to be in. We're gonna use it wisely, and we're gonna hopefully use it very creatively.

[Nicholas Yulico, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Scotiabank]

All right. Thanks, Marc.

[Operator]

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Lewis from Truist Securities. Your line is open.

[Michael Lewis, Senior Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

... Thank you. First one, maybe for Matt. The Summit OpEx went up more than the revenue. I think, it looks like the OpEx was actually higher than the revenue in the quarter. Is that just seasonality, or is there something in that number?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

They pay their percentage rent in the third quarter. So that is. Their fiscal year runs from, not the calendar year, October through September. They pay base rent and percentage rent. They hit the percentage rent levels, generally in the third quarter and pay it. So you'll see that same type of trend every year.

[Michael Lewis, Senior Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Okay, got it. And then my second question is the bigger picture. You know, to your credit, Marc, and I guess everybody at SL Green said New York would recover. It always does. And it is. So to your credit, and I understand, you know, all the enthusiasm; it's well earned. When things are tough, I tend to think about how they might get better. When there's a lot of enthusiasm, I tend to wonder, you know, where that might be, you know, how people might get out over their skis. So, you know, as I look at SL Green, right, you mentioned the alternative strategy portfolio. You know, Worldwide Plaza lost a large tenant, as expected. 750 Third Avenue is not in that portfolio, but it's gonna be a resi conversion.

[Michael Lewis, Senior Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

185 Broadway, I think you'll sell. I guess, you know, is this a tide lifts all boats kind of New York recovery, or do you think, you know, you need to be almost more creative here, and it's still kind of a battle out there, and, you know, is there anything in this recovery that concerns you?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Okay, I wanna make sure I've got it. I like the credit part. Thank you very much for that. But I do have to extend credit to the entire team, as I always do, because I think one of the most differentiating factors of this is the tenure that people have here. I don't know if people recognize it. We've got so many people at all various levels throughout the company that are in the twenty and twenty-five year club. They've been here twenty, twenty-five years. This is a family.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

We work well together, and I think, you know, we get great results because of that, you know, that history together and the level of excellence, because we have a certain culture here, and if it fits and it works for you, and you're committed to it, it's a great opportunity, and, you know, if it's not, we've had, you know, people move on. But, you know, the group we have today is the best I've ever worked with. You know, in terms of just a whole new, you know, group of young folks in particular, coming up through the ranks, taking on, you know, mid-level and senior positions and just carrying on the, you know, the culture and theme of this company. In terms of your question about, is there anything in the recovery that concerns?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I mean, you know, I and I mean in an odd way, the more rapid the market recovers, the thinner our opportunity set gets, and it's kind of an interesting dynamic. I think the real estate market generally is hoping for lower rates to help rightsize some of other people's investments and reinflate values a bit, but you gotta make sure that rates are falling for the right reason, meaning taming inflation and not because you know you have recession, and clearly the way the equity markets are reacting right now and what we see in our tenant base, you know it seems to be a pretty robust and strong market, so to see a good market and have rates decrease, that's positive for values and positive for the economy.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

But it also does change the landscape of opportunity. So the other way to look at it is higher for longer in terms of getting more money out the door, because at the end of the day, we wanna improve this portfolio, grow this portfolio, make smart investments at this period of time, so that when we look back in five years, we've added a lot of seeds of growth, whether they're development conversion projects, like 750 Third Avenue, or, you know, doing more office redevelopment and development opportunities, which we, you know, we hope to do because we have a good team to do it. And, you know, we've got the prospect of hopefully helping to transform and, you know, boost Times Square with our casino.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

With our casino proposal in conjunction with Caesars and Roc Nation, I think could be one of the most important developments for New York City in terms of really having benefits that radiate out far, far beyond the building itself, you know, with Caesars Palace Times Square Casino, so there's a lot of good stuff out there going on, and I think whether rates stay where they are, they go a bit higher, they go a bit lower, we're prepared in all cases. We're hedged in our floating rate exposure. We wanna be offensive with our capital, and we're also gonna benefit by compressing spreads and, you know, a yield curve that says SOFR is declining.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

So, you know, I don't have great concern at this moment, like the kind of concern we had back in 2020 and 2021. Those were tough periods of time. But by all measures, a very good period of time. Restaurants are full, you know, mass transit is full, traffic is back, you know, buildings are, people are back in the office. We don't get any questions now, hybrid work model, work from home. It's not even in this office, it's not a talking point. And, you know, we're excited, you know, in December to unveil the new plan.

[Michael Lewis, Senior Research Analyst at Truist Securities]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Anthony Paolone from JPMorgan. Your line is open.

[Anthony Paolone, Co-head of U.S. Real Estate Stock Research and Senior Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co]

Great, thank you. First one is on Giorgio Armani. Can you tell us when you expect to actually start closing the units there, what the proceeds back to you are, and remind us if any gains there get booked in FFO?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, I mean, in our business plan, we expected as a goal and objective to put everything under contract in the year, which we've done, and our expectation is we will close all those inside the calendar year as well. That's part of the number Mark was throwing around earlier in terms of proceeds off of dispositions. It's roughly $160 million or so. There's not an FFO impact other than the use of proceeds to pay down debt, which is what those proceeds are earmarked for, but that wouldn't show up until 2025.

[Anthony Paolone, Co-head of U.S. Real Estate Stock Research and Senior Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co]

Okay, got it. And then just second one, you bought some CMBS in the quarter, and so I was wondering if you can give us some details on that. You don't have it on the DPE page, and just didn't know if that was, because it's securities or if the thrust of that investment is just different than your sort of DPE investments.

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, it's not in our, you know, DPE line because it is a, you know, different type of investment. We've invested in securities from time to time in the past. We did do more this quarter. They have very unique, accounting rules around securities, so we had to, you know, add a couple new lines to the financial statements, but at the end of the day, it's, you know, a $109-ish million investment in securities. We are very careful to stay away from, you know, specifics on those, as we do with DPE in terms of properties and yields and strategies and things like that.

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

But this is a, you know, furtherance of our previously announced strategy to source this type of opportunity in, you know, dislocated debt stacks in our backyard, and we'll continue to do that.

[Anthony Paolone, Co-head of U.S. Real Estate Stock Research and Senior Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co]

But is it the sort of thing that you're just looking to get paid back and make a return on it, or is this something where there's something to do with the property?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I'm gonna stay away from the strategy on those types of investments. They're all different.

[Anthony Paolone, Co-head of U.S. Real Estate Stock Research and Senior Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co]

Okay. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ohad Bregman from Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

[Omotayo Okusanya, Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Yes, good afternoon. This is actually Tayo from Deutsche Bank. In terms of the DPE book, again, back in the days, that book was kind of a substantial size. Just curious, you know, when you guys look at the outlook, how quickly you think, you know, DPE can continue to kind of grow. You guys sound really much more constructive on that business segment now.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, just understand we're doing the DPE business in a different format this year, so it's not gonna be the same as our prior 26-year track record, if you will. Twenty-two of those 26, where we were investing heavily. But, you know, we're gonna be doing it in a fund format. So the, you know, the capital commitment is gonna be fund by fund, typically, where we have a percentage of the fund, which we'll be able to illuminate when we announce a closing. But clearly, you know, other than putting together pipeline and seed opportunities, the intent is for, as Harry said earlier, everything to go into the fund, and then we'll own our piece of the fund.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

It'll be, we think, highly profitable, based on the returns that we expect. There are certain fees, you know, associated with the fund that we didn't necessarily have previously, but we won't have, we don't expect the same amount of balance sheet capital commitment to DPE as we've had in the past because of the new format.

[Omotayo Okusanya, Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Gotcha. That's helpful. And then just a quick one on, as we kind of start thinking about fourth quarter 2024 and first half of 2025, any significant move out or right sizing of office space that we should be aware of as we're tweaking our models?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

There's nothing. There's no new surprises. I mean, it's anything, you know, anything that we've got budgeted or scheduled in our business plan, it's, you know, I'd say it's just the opposite. You know, we're doing more renewals than we had originally anticipated, so nothing significant as far as any kind of move outs.

[Omotayo Okusanya, Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Perfect. Congrats on a solid leasing.

[Operator]

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Spector from Bank of America. Your line is open.

[Jeffrey Spector, Managing Director and Head of U.S. REITs at Bank of America Securities]

Great. Good afternoon. Marc, when we saw you in May, you talked about the office to resi conversion as a, you know, an opportunity. I don't think you discussed that yet on this call. Can you provide your latest views on that?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

... Well, you know, I feel like we're on target with them. I'm gonna stand by those comments. You know, there's an accelerated program down at the city that takes applications, if you will, to help accelerate projects that are, you know, not necessarily committed to going resi, but you know, think somewhere between committed to or thinking about or tending to. And at last count, my understanding was that accelerated program was up around 75 applications. I think the total square footage identified by those applications is in excess of 25 million sq ft. That's not to say all 25 million sq ft are going to happen, and I don't think I could give you a projection in the near term of what's gonna happen.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I do believe there will be over 25 million sq ft in the next 5 to 7 years, for sure, and that was a number I floated out at that same time, 25 to maybe as much as 40 million sq ft. When you think about all of the secondary and tertiary office buildings, the need and the demand for workforce housing and affordable housing, you know, I don't wanna say it's endless, but it's strong. There's a lot of demand out there at those price points for that kind of, you know, studio, one and two bedroom housing, in Manhattan.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And, you know, we've between the projects we're working on, projects we know others are working on, buildings that we know have taken their space off the available office inventory list, you know, I'd say there's at least solidly, you know, Harry, you might have the number 10 million sq ft. That's kind of what I would say is, I think, pretty well dialed in and locked in. Maybe in December, we can share some locations and more data on that. I don't think we're prepared to on the phone right now, but, you know, deals that are, like I said, pretty well dialed in. Most are rental, some are condo, some are other uses, life sciences, et cetera, but most will be under the affordable program. It's not easy, but it's certainly not undoable for people who have experience with the product.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

It's a big opportunity, and I think that is a major contributor to what, you know, you'll see as net absorption in this market, which you saw in Q3 as of 9/30 thirty. I think you'll see more in Q4. You know, it's also. There was a question earlier about investment sale volume, and there are deals that are being traded now with the intent to convert. You know, 625 is one end of that spectrum, which we sold to Related for condo conversion on Madison. And then there's other deals that are being sold now for affordable conversion. And all of that just, you know, contributes to a winnowing supply of office.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Now, the only thing I think that could derail that is if the office sector gets tight enough, you know, and rents are rising and occupancies are falling, you know, then you may get back into that zone of indifference, where buildings, you know, may look equally as attractive as office and resi. But for right now, I think that, you know, that trend is bearing out on conversions, and, you know, we're hopeful to see a lot happen over the coming years.

[Jeffrey Spector, Managing Director and Head of U.S. REITs at Bank of America Securities]

Thank you. And if I could ask for, as my second question, a follow-up. Steve, earlier in the call, you talked about concessions will tighten up and free rent would be first. I think it's an important comment, just there is so much focus on effective rents. Can you clarify that a bit? I don't know if you can talk about, you know, expectations on timing, and I assume you're talking about the broader market for New York City.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah. I think it was a three-parter, right? At first, I said that I thought you'd see a continuation of rents rising, and you're seeing that on Park Avenue and Sixth Avenue. I think you'll see it more broadly next year. So that'll be the first of the three components that to change. Then I think with specific to concessions, free rent is most likely to tighten. I can't really put a timing on that. You know, that's anybody's guess, but it certainly feels like the trend line is there, the leasing velocity is there to support it, the tenant demand is there. And I think you'll, you know, you'll start to see it specific to, you know, where the strongest submarkets are right now, Park and Sixth Avenue.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

And the last component will be TI, and I think, you know, that's probably much further off in time. You know, because as rents rise, construction costs haven't slowed down, so tenants are still, you know, looking for the landlord to support them on with these elevated TI contributions.

[Jeffrey Spector, Managing Director and Head of U.S. REITs at Bank of America Securities]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Peter Abramowitz from Jefferies. Your line is open.

[Peter Abramowitz, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Jefferies]

Thank you. Yeah, my first one's for Steve. You mentioned still financial services kind of leading the market, but just wondering if you could talk about any updates on tech, their presence in the market, any changes in their appetite for space?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, they continue to be an increasing part of the marketplace. There's over 6 million sq ft of active tech ongoing searches. So if you compare that versus a year ago, it was a little over 3 million sq ft of active searches. And you've seen some of the combination of some of the, you know, the household big names that are in the market.... I won't be too specific, but I think, you know, a lot of us heard some of the big names, whether it be, you know, Amazon or Apple or whoever it may be, but as to what their specific requirements are. But you're also seeing sort of smallish to mid-size requirements driven by a couple of different things. AI initiatives are creating new businesses and creating new initiatives in existing businesses.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

There's organic growth in some of these businesses that are driving it. And clearly, you know, a return to office mentality are bringing a lot more people back and forcing some of these existing tenants to come back into the market, where they had laid off space because they thought they were gonna have a more robust, you know, hybrid work environment. Now they're bringing the bodies back, it's forcing them to take more space. I mean, we're enjoying it right now. We've got a very significant lease going out, and as a result of exactly that function. It feels like that whole industry is coming back to life in a material way.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Time will tell us what it means for next year, but it certainly feels good right now.

[Peter Abramowitz, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Jefferies]

That's helpful. Thanks, Steve. And my second question, just to sort of follow up on Jeff's question and some of Marc's comments around residential conversion. Wondering if you can comment on 5 Times Square. Any thoughts on the strategy there? I know it's been in the press that it's something you and your partner are considering to convert at least part of the building to residential.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, this is Harry. This is an ASP asset. We're working with our lenders and our partners, and we'll share more at the appropriate time.

[Peter Abramowitz, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Jefferies]

All right, that's all for me. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Caitlin Burrows from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

[Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Hi, everyone. Maybe following up on Tayo's earlier question, you increased your leased occupancy rate for the end of the year. Just wondering if you could provide any commentary on how you expect that to flow through to economic occupancy and recognizing rents?

[Matthew DiLiberto, CFO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah, it's Matt. So, you know, when we're leasing up vacancy, that income recognition typically has a delay on it because you're typically building out space. So generally speaking, we would say at the very short end, you know, six to nine months, typically more like 12 months after lease-up, you start income recognition. So we'll start to see the benefits of, you know, 300 plus basis points of occupancy pick up this year over the course of, you know, 2025 and beyond.

[Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Got it. Okay. And then just wondering if you could give a quick update on 245 Park regarding the redevelopment and leasing and thinking on timing of a JV sale there.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Oh, that's a-

[Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Or, I realize we're at 3:05.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Well, 245-

[Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

What's the latest on 245 Park?

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

You got the leasing, the development, and the JV in there. The development... I'll start. The development is going right on schedule. It's approximately a $200 million plus or minus redevelopment, which is really touching many, many areas of the building, from podium facade to a great new plaza, fully landscaped, relit, and new seating, new signage, new everything. It's gonna be a really vastly improved plaza and front door, if you will, approach to the building. Spectacular lobby, I think it's a 20,000 sq ft amenity with fitness and other clubs, lounges, amenities, food and beverage offerings, you know, and a fully serviceable rooftop garden in the spirit of what we did over at One Madison.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

So it's, you know, exciting. It's what all the leasing, you know, Steve can talk about the leasing has been sort of activated based off the excitement around these improvements, which have begun. They'll be done in about eighteen months or thereabout. We're already doing selective demolition and closing portions. Is Lexington closed? It

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Lexington is cl-

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Yeah.

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

It's closed.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

I think Lexington entrance is closed, so work's underway, and, the tenant, you know, community reception's been spectacular. Steve?

[Steve Durels, COO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Then on the leasing front, you know, we, we've posted a lot of big lease announcements this year. I'm fully expecting to have another big announcement in the very near term that will take the building above 90% occupancy, which puts us in a great spot, given the fact that there is no near-term lease expirations. That building is going to be stabilized before we ever get, you know, halfway through our reconstruction.

[Harrison Sitomer, CIO at SL Green Realty Corp]

With the redevelopment underway and Steve getting the building over 90% leased, you know, the asset's gonna be positioned as one of the fortress office assets in New York City. It's sitting right across from JPMorgan's new headquarters, and we expect on the investor side, the opportunity is gonna resonate well with investors. We kicked off our discussions a little while ago. We're meeting with potential LPs, and we're going on a roadshow in the coming weeks to further discuss the interest, along with some of the other capital markets executions we have for the end of this year and into early next.

[Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs]

Got it. Thanks.

[Operator]

Thank you. That's all the time we have for our question and answer session. I'm gonna turn it back over to Marc Holliday for closing remarks.

[Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO at SL Green Realty Corp]

Okay. Thank you for those still with us. The investor conference date is December ninth this year, due to the dates around Thanksgiving, late November. December ninth, One Vanderbilt, and we look forward to seeing everybody there for our annual and, you know, should hopefully have a lot of great things to talk about then, and see you soon.

Participants

Executives

• Harrison Sitomer, CIO
• Matthew DiLiberto, CFO
• Steve Durels, COO
• Marc Holliday, Chairman and CEO

Analysts

• Omotayo Okusanya, Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank
• Peter Abramowitz, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Jefferies
• Anthony Paolone, Co-head of U.S. Real Estate Stock Research and Senior Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co
• John Kim, Managing Director covering REITs at BMO Capital Markets Corp
• Michael Griffin, VP and Equity Research Analyst at Citigroup
• Jeffrey Spector, Managing Director and Head of U.S. REITs at Bank of America Securities
• Michael Lewis, Senior Research Analyst at Truist Securities
• Ronald Kamdem, Managing Director and Head of US REITs and CRE Research at Morgan Stanley
• Stephen Sakwa, Senior Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst covering REITs at Evercore ISI
• Alexander Goldfarb, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler
• Caitlin Burrows, Equity Research Analyst at Goldman Sachs
• Nicholas Yulico, Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Scotiabank