City Office REIT Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
October 31, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the CitiOfficer Inc. Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

Operator

It is now my pleasure to introduce you to Tony Maratik, the company's Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Corporate Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Maratik. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Good morning. Before we begin, I would like to direct you to our website at cioreit.com, where you can view our Q3 earnings press release and supplemental information package. The earnings release and supplemental package both include a reconciliation of non GAAP measures that will be discussed today to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Certain statements made today that discuss the company's beliefs or expectations or that are not based on historical fact may constitute forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. While the company believes that these expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that these expectations will be achieved.

Speaker 1

Please see the forward looking statements disclaimer in our Q3 earnings press release and the company's filings with the SEC for factors that could cause material differences between forward looking statements and actual results. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward looking statements that may be made in the course of this call. I'll review our financial results after Jamie Farrar, our Chief Executive Officer, discusses some of the quarter's operational highlights. I'll now turn the call over to Jamie.

Speaker 2

Good morning. Throughout 2024, we've been highlighting the improving sentiment and leasing dynamics for the office industry. These trends continued to gather momentum in the Q3. The total amount of office space available nationally declined in the 3rd quarter. This was the 1st quarterly decline in available space since 2019.

Speaker 2

1 of the significant drivers is the sharp reduction in new supply of office buildings. This has been coupled with 4 years of record setting office building conversions, demolitions and redevelopment. Over the 4 year period since 2021, over 100,000,000 square feet of office buildings have been removed from inventory according to JLL. While more is ultimately needed, these are favorable trends. Leasing conditions also continue to improve.

Speaker 2

The leasing activity nationally remains approximately 20% below pre pandemic levels. The 2nd and third quarters of 2024 were 2 of the best leasing quarters over the last 5 years. This has been aided by executives focusing on bringing employees back to the office on a more consistent basis. In JLL's 3rd quarter office market report, they highlighted that the Sunbelt has experienced an outsized leasing recovery. This has been driven by corporate relocations and the lower cost and higher quality of life that Sunbelt markets offer.

Speaker 2

Office capital markets activity continues to be suppressed, largely driven by limited debt availability for the sector. However, we've started to see signs of improvement for quality and well leased properties. Turning to our portfolio. We achieved healthy leasing activity during the quarter with 141,000 square feet of total leasing. Of this amount, 78,000 square feet represented new leases.

Speaker 2

After quarter end, we completed a full floor lease extension at our Block 83 property in Raleigh that was set to expire on November 1st this year. We previously communicated that we were taking back 1 of WeWork's full floor spaces at Block 83, representing 28,000 square feet. A high profile enterprise client of WeWork that has been using the space requested to continue their occupancy through the end of calendar 2026. As a result, we were on this floor for 26 months and increased the starting rent by approximately 6% to $42.50

Speaker 3

We see this as a positive outcome

Speaker 2

and it will result in the office component of Block 83 being 98% leased when including signed leases that commenced later in 2024. At Pima Center in Phoenix, we also signed 2 new leases for 26,000 square feet during the quarter, which will increase occupancy by 10% upon commencement. The renovations at Tema are now complete. The property has been transformed and it is resulting in very good leasing traction on our remaining vacancies. Beyond Tema, we are also completing renovation projects at 3 other properties.

Speaker 2

These projects at 5,090 in Phoenix, City Center in St. Petersburg and 2,525 McKinnon in Dallas should be concluded over the next few months. In total, we expect to spend approximately $10,000,000 on these four renovations with approximately $6,400,000 spent through September 30. In addition to the renovations, we're evaluating a few other value enhancing opportunities within our portfolio. One opportunity we touched on last quarter is the potential redevelopment of our parking garage at City Center in Downtown St.

Speaker 2

Petersburg into a residential and mixed use condo tower. In our October investor presentation, we've included some renderings of the condo building design from our recent site plan application. This potential redevelopment continues to advance through an approval process with the City of St. Petersburg. We are also advancing agreements with a very experienced developer to lead the project's execution.

Speaker 2

A redevelopment of City Centre remains subject to a number of conditions, some of which are beyond our control. We'll provide further updates on our progress on future calls. We are also pleased to report that our Florida portfolio weathered the 2 recent hurricanes extremely well. We have incredible operators on the ground in Florida and they quickly had our buildings back online after the storms. We sincerely thank them for their dedication and how well they look after our tenants.

Speaker 2

Lastly, we updated our guidance expectation ranges. Specifically, we narrowed several ranges and increased both our expected year end occupancy and same store cash NOI change due to strong leasing results year to date. These developments will not only benefit our 2024 results, but our favorable tailwinds for 2025 and beyond. With that, I will turn the call over to Tony to discuss our financial results in more detail.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Jamie. Our net operating income in the 3rd quarter was $24,600,000 which is $300,000 lower than the amount we reported in the 2nd quarter. NOI was marginally lower in Q3 than in Q2, primarily a result of the disposition of Cascade Station during the 2nd quarter. We reported core FFO of $11,100,000 or $0.27 per share for the Q3. Core FFO was $400,000 lower than the amount we reported in the 2nd quarter, driven primarily by the net operating income decrease and marginally higher interest expense.

Speaker 1

Our 3rd quarter AFFO was $4,800,000 or $0.12 per share, which resulted in continued dividend coverage this quarter. The largest impact to AFFO was a $700,000 tenant improvement deduction related to a new lease settlement which we expect will take occupancy in November 2024. The 4 significant property renovations, which Jamie described, resulted in a $1,000,000 reduction to AFFO this quarter. We also spent $200,000 on spec suites and vacancy conditioning. Moving on to some of our operational metrics.

Speaker 1

Our same store cash NOI change returned to positive territory in the Q3. There was an increase of 0.2 percent or $55,000 as compared to the Q3 of 2023. We expect further improvement of this metric in the Q4. Our portfolio occupancy ended the quarter at 83.4 percent, an increase from the prior quarter. Including the 201,000 square feet of signed leases that have not yet commenced, our occupancy inclusive of these leases was 87.0% as of quarter end.

Speaker 1

Our total debt as of September 30 was $648,000,000 Our net debt including restricted cash to EBITDA was 7 times. As of September 30, we had approximately $42,000,000 undrawn and authorized on our credit facility. We also had cash and restricted cash of $43,000,000 as of quarter end. During the quarter, as planned, we drew $50,000,000 on our line of credit to repay the $50,000,000 term loan that matured in September. We have no further debt maturities until October of 2025.

Speaker 1

We also have 2 properties of a significant value, Block 83 in Raleigh and City Center in Tampa that are unencumbered and we are exploring potential financing alternatives at Block 83. And lastly for me, as Genie mentioned, we have made upward revisions to several guidance categories. The significant number of signed leases that have or are expected to commence in the Q4 of 2024 are driving these revisions. That concludes our prepared remarks, and we will open up the line for questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you very much, Mr. Maratik. We have our first question from Opal Rayna with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 3

Great. Thank you. Good morning out there. Jamie, could you walk us through how the renewal we work at Block 83 came to fruition? And do you have any plans or expectations after the lease expires in 2026?

Speaker 2

So we were to get back one of our 3 floors in Raleigh as of November 1 and there is an enterprise tenant that had been using that space and quite happy And they decided they wanted to push out their usage until the end of 2026. So we had a dialogue with them and we were happy to keep them there in the project. And we were happy with the economics of effectively no TI and moving the starting rent about 6%.

Speaker 3

Okay, great. And then regarding occupancy, what are some of the moving pieces that get you to that 85.5% midpoint of your guidance? And I know I'm sure WeWork is a big driver of that, but is there anything else there that's included in your assumption?

Speaker 2

Sure. So I'll start here. It's Jamie. The signed leases that haven't commenced, a significant portion of them will be commencing in Q4. So when you look at where some of our impactful current vacancy is, we've got about 74,000 feet of leases that will commence in Phoenix, 33,000 in Raleigh, about 50,000 in Orlando.

Speaker 2

And so those are signs that are being completed as we speak, and we'll start in Q4.

Speaker 1

Yes. The single biggest tenant that's moving in, in Q4, Upal, is at our Ingenuity Drive property, which is part of the FRP collection complex. That property had a vacancy. It will go to 100%. The tenant has moved in, in October, 42,000 square feet.

Speaker 1

So that's the single biggest component to that. With WeWork renewing, obviously, there's less to drag from that. And then the rest of the kind of tenants are kind of smaller to medium size.

Speaker 3

Okay, great. That was helpful. And then last one for me. You mentioned on prior calls that you started to see interest from relatively larger tenants. Is that still the case?

Speaker 3

Or what sort of tenant demographics are you seeing in regards to leasing demand today?

Speaker 2

So that is probably one of the most favorable things that we're seeing is this time last year, you were starting to see some larger tenants explore and I'd say that's picked up significantly. And it's tied back to more of a trend of employee years wanting the employees back in the office. And what used to be kind of short term extensions and larger tenants trying to avoid doing longer leases, that's really turned. The other trend that kind of ties to that is the best space, the newest, the most modern, amenitized as well as renovated spaces in those same submarkets are what is in demand and we're seeing that in our own leasing pipeline. So bigger users wanting to commit and willing to commit longer term, which is fantastic for our industry.

Speaker 4

Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Thanks for the question.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Barry Rochefort with Colius. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Great. Thanks guys. Jamie, when you're looking and signing leases, what are you seeing today like maybe versus a year ago when it comes to concessions and free rent? Are you having to kind of give more to get deals done? Or are you holding the line and actually doing better?

Speaker 2

So it's a good question, Barry. A year ago, construction costs were moving very rapidly. I'd say that has come in check. It's still at a high cost, but we're not seeing the inflation that we were. Rents, the actual face rents we're signing are very healthy, continue to grow again for good properties.

Speaker 2

And the concessions on free rent, I'd say, are about the same as where they were on new leases, typically 1 month per year of term. So that's kind of stabilized as well. So all in all, I'd say we're much happier than where we were a year ago.

Speaker 4

Okay. Great. Great. And then Tommy, I know you don't have a lot of expirations, but as you work into 'twenty five and the later half of 'twenty five, do you anticipate the banks giving you a lot of pushback on refinancing or look, I'm in conversations with them, Barry, and right now, I don't think we're going to have difficulty.

Speaker 1

Yes. Hey, Barry. This is a good question. You highlight the fact that we do not have any pending debt maturities over the next four quarters. We do have 2 debt maturities in Q4 2025.

Speaker 1

And to be honest, those conversations really have not begun in earnest. I expect those discussions will really gain traction as starting soon and certainly by early 2025. So it's a little too early to tell. It will obviously depend on the state of those properties and where that will go. So I expect those conversations to begin in early 2025, and it's probably too early to tell as I sit here today, but we have some time.

Speaker 4

Great. Thanks for the color, guys. Thanks, Barry.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from Craig Chughtau with Lucid Capital Markets. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Yes. Hey, good morning guys. It looks like the bulk of occupancy gains are occurring here in the Q4. Can you give us some color on when the remaining, call it, 100 to 150 basis points are expected to take occupancy and start paying rent in 25?

Speaker 1

Hey, good morning, Craig. Yes, so we have a number of move ins in Q4. The rest of the balance will happen early in 2025. Obviously, construction schedules will dictate exactly when that falls in, but early 2025 for the balance.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. Changing gears, I'd like to talk about the City Centre redevelopment. How would City Office monetize that? I mean, most likely, I would think maybe a sale to the developer might make sense or but could it be a ground lease or maybe some sort of revenue sharing agreement? Any color there would be appreciated.

Speaker 2

Sure. So we can't get into too many details right now. Where we're at is we submitted a site plan application with the City of St. Petersburg. That's ongoing.

Speaker 2

We expect to conclude the public elements over the next like 30 ish days. And by early 2025, if all goes well, have our approvals in place. The way we've been approaching it is we're huge believers in that market. We'd like to stay involved in that market. The way we've approached it is contributing the significant land value that we have into a partnership with a very experienced developer and ideally aren't contributing additional cash beyond that, but we benefit as the project is developed and the condos are sold off.

Speaker 5

Got it. Okay. And just one more for me. I know they're all in the Q4 of next year, but are you giving some thoughts to how you anticipate handling them after using a lot of liquidity here in the Q3 with the line of credit, maybe exploring using Block 83 as a source of liquidity or other sources?

Speaker 1

Yes. It's a good question, Craig. As I mentioned in my earlier remarks, we are exploring financing options for Block 83. I mean the CMBS market appears to be improving and is open. Block 83 is a type of trophy asset that appears to be getting done.

Speaker 1

So it's a little too early to speculate. But certainly, Block 83 is our most valuable property. There's 2 separate towers there. And City Center is also unencumbered. So we have some unencumbered assets.

Speaker 1

We have some chest pieces we can move around the board, and we got a little bit of time before we decide what move we're going to make.

Speaker 2

And just for clarity, we have 2 property loans that mature in the 4th quarter. We also have our operating line. We do have a 1 year extension option, which we believe we're going to be able to trigger. So it really is the 2 property loans that were discussed earlier.

Operator

Thank you. As there are no additional questions, I will turn the call back over to Mr. Ferra to conclude.

Speaker 2

Thank you for joining today. Please reach out if you have any further questions. Goodbye.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

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Earnings Conference Call
City Office REIT Q3 2024
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