Q2 2023 Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust Earnings Call

Participants

Joseph F. Coradino; Chairman & CEO; Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

Mario C. Ventresca; Executive VP & CFO; Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

Heather Crowell; EVP of IR; Gregory FCA Communications Inc.

Presentation

Operator

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to PREIT Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call.
I will now hand the call over to our speakers.

Heather Crowell

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us for PREIT's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. During this call, we will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, trends and other matters that are not historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties that might affect future events or results. Descriptions of these risks are set forth in the company's SEC filings. Statements that PREIT makes today might be accurate only as of today, August 3, 2023, and PREIT makes no undertaking to update any such statements.
Also, certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed. PREIT has included reconciliations of such measures to the comparable GAAP measures in its earnings release and other documents filed with the SEC. Members of management on the call today are Joe Coradino, PREIT's Chairman and CEO; and Mario Ventresca, CFO.

Joseph F. Coradino

Thank you, Heather, and good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. We're pleased to report continued traction in leasing and occupancy amid vibrant tenant demand for space in our portfolio. PREIT remains committed to advancing the goals of the company and its various stakeholders and is keenly focused on addressing the upcoming maturity of our credit facilities.
Over the past several years, in addition to exploring options to manage this expiration, the company has focused on recovering occupancy following the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing diverse usage to the portfolio to enhance the business, garnering approvals for multifamily development at its properties to allow for land sales and raising capital through an array of asset sales, among other initiatives designed to improve portfolio value. These efforts have culminated in quantifiable operating improvements from a year ago.
Core mall total occupancy improved from 93.8% to 94.2%. Core mall non-anchor occupancy increased from 90.5% to 91.2%. Average renewal spreads on a year-to-date basis are 5.1% compared to 2.3% through June 30, 2022. Year-to-date total leasing volume, including new and renewal leases, has increased by nearly 60% through June 30, and sales remained strong at $592 per square foot amid a challenging economic backdrop for consumers.
What this tells us is that we took the right steps in terms of selectively paring our portfolio and continuously introducing new tenants and diverse uses. A combination of healthier tenants and limited quality supply is driving strong supply-demand atmosphere for mall landlords, particularly in high barrier to entry markets such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Some recent and upcoming examples of these new and different uses include: Tilted 10 is now open at Willow Grove Park, its first location in the region. Tilted 10 offers 16 full bowling lanes with a VIP bowling lounge, over 150 video, pinball and arcade games, a blacklight laser tag arena, 2 18-hole themed blacklight golf courses, mini bowling lanes and bumper cars. LEGO Discovery Center set its grand opening for August 9 at Springfield Town Center and Burlington continues its work toward a late fall opening this year.
In the health care category, Cooper University Health Care offered a sneak peek to the media ahead of its opening later this year and Banfield Pet Hospital started seeing patients at Moorestown Mall. Meritus Health is underway at Valley Mall with an anticipated opening in 2024.
Work is also moving ahead for Ulta to be able to open its stores at Dartmouth this year. Dartmouth Mall, with sales nearing $600 per square foot and over 97% occupied, has cemented itself as the exclusive enclosed mall experience in the area, which has created a unique opportunity to attract new tenants. Ulta will join ALDI and Burlington in occupying the former Sears location that we proactively recaptured.
Currently, we have a pipeline of over 216,000 square feet of leases signed for future occupancy, representing over $6 million in annualized future rents. So far this year, we have signed 225,000 square feet of new leases.
Zeroing in our top-performing assets, Woodland Mall, with traffic ahead of prepandemic levels, we've continued to bring in new experiences and offerings to the market as competitive properties fall behind. So we're pleased to be adding sought-after brands Abercrombie and Versona, signifying the success of our 2019 redevelopment effort. Next year, the [center's] entertainment offering will be bolstered with the addition of Main Event.
With respect to multifamily approvals and land sales, in addition to the approvals we secured for apartments and a hotel at Moorestown Mall, we have also achieved municipal approvals for an apartment and hotel at Springfield Town Center with those land sales anticipated to close this year.
Regarding other asset sales, the company has been very active over the past 18 months, selling over $140 million of assets. In 2022, the company sold assets generating over $113 million in gross proceeds and applied these proceeds in excess cash from operations to pay down debt by over $141 million. In 2023, we have sold assets for gross proceeds of over $30 million.
Our advisers at PJT continue to work to address the upcoming maturity of our credit facility by pursuing all available alternatives. We continue to believe that the steps we have taken position our portfolio well, which is resulting in strong tenant demand and customer visitation. Further enhancement with the addition of nontraditional mall uses like health care, fitness centers, apartments, hotels and more will continue to distinguish our properties in their markets and our portfolio to our business partners.
With that, I'm happy to turn it over to Mario to review our results.

Mario C. Ventresca

Thanks, Joe. As you noted, from an operational perspective, the business is performing well, with improvements in occupancy, collections and leasing activity.
Second quarter same-store NOI, excluding lease terminations, decreased 3.4% or 2.2% when excluding the impact of the sale of Whole Foods at Plymouth Meeting Mall, driven primarily by reduced tenant sales impacting percentage sales and rents as well as increasing costs impacting recoveries as well as credit reserves resulting from elevated tenant bankruptcies compared to last year. Tenant occupancy stands at 94.2%, a 40 basis point increase over the second quarter of last year.
Leasing volume is strong and compares favorably to 2022. During the quarter, we signed 682,000 square feet of new and renewal leases as compared to 350,000 square feet in the second quarter of last year. As Joe mentioned, we currently have a pipeline of over 216,000 square feet signed for future occupancy, representing approximately $6.15 million in annualized future rents. Average renewal spreads were 4.7% for the quarter, and our accounts receivable balances decreased sequentially, both demonstrating a healthier tenant operating environment. We remain in compliance with all of our credit facility debt covenants.
This morning, we reported second quarter 2023 NAREIT FFO and FFO as adjusted of negative $3.15 per share and year-to-date NAREIT FFO and FFO as adjusted of negative $6.20 per share. The primary drivers of the variance to 2022 actuals for the quarter were: a $1.6 million decrease in same-store NOI, a decrease of $2.2 million in non-same-store NOI resulting from the sale of Cumberland Mall and Gloucester Premium Outlets in 2022, interest expense increased by $13.2 million, driven primarily by higher weighted average interest rates as compared to the second quarter of last year.
While we have experienced an elevated number of bankruptcies during the quarter, affecting $871,000 in annual revenue and 160,000 square feet, we remain compliant with our credit facility covenants and are pleased by the continued tenant interest in our properties.
On the property level mortgage front, permanent financing remains challenging, but we have successfully extended the mortgage loan on Cherry Hill Mall through December 1, 2023, with an additional 5-month option that is exercisable subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, and also the loan on Woodland Mall was extended through October 5, 2023.
Thank you all for joining us. Have a great day.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.