Clipper Realty - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 delivered record revenue ($39.4M), NOI ($21.8M), and AFFO ($8.0M) on very strong residential leasing; the quarter included a $33.8M impairment tied to the pending sale of 10 West 65th Street, driving a GAAP net loss of $35.1M.
• Revenue and EBITDA were below S&P Global consensus: Revenue $39.4M vs $40.4M estimate; EBITDA (SPGI basis) $17.9M vs $19.1M estimate; EPS consensus was unavailable; company reported net loss per share of $0.86 (and $0.03 loss excluding impairment). Values retrieved from S&P Global*.
• Management highlighted significant leasing spreads (new leases +15%, renewals +8%) and near-full occupancy (~99%) across properties; dividend was maintained at $0.095 per share.
• Strategic catalysts: Dean Street leasing begins June 1 with $160M bridge financing providing up to $18M working capital; contract signed to sell 10 West 65th Street (~$12M expected proceeds), 141 Livingston renewal agreed for five years.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Leasing strength and pricing power: “record revenue and record residential rents… new leases exceeded prior rents by over 15% across the entire portfolio” (CEO).
• Portfolio nearly fully leased with high collections (~98% overall; >95% at Flatbush), with rent-per-foot leadership at Tribeca ($90 new; >$83 overall) and Clover ($94 new; $87 overall) (COO).
• AFFO growth: AFFO rose 36% YoY to $8.0M ($0.19/share) on strong leasing and lower repairs/maintenance (CFO).

What Went Wrong

• GAAP optics: $33.8M impairment on 10 West 65th Street pushed GAAP net loss to $35.1M for the quarter.
• Operating cost pressures: Property operating expenses +$1.5M YoY, higher legal and utilities, and higher payroll at Flatbush Gardens (partially offset by lower third‑party R&M).
• Revenue/EBITDA slightly missed SPGI consensus; EPS consensus unavailable, limiting headline “beat” narratives. Values retrieved from S&P Global*.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good afternoon and welcome to today's Clipper Realty Q1 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and we will open the floor for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Lawrence Sava. Lawrence, the floor is yours.

Lawrence Sava (Corporate Controller)

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the First Quarter 2025 Clipper Realty Earnings Conference Call. Participating with me on today's call are David Bistricer, Co-Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer; JJ Bistricer, Chief Operating Officer; and Larry Kreider, Chief Financial Officer. Please be aware that statements made during the call that are not historical may be deemed forward-looking statements, and actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements.

These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those disclosed in the company's 2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K and the first quarter 2025 quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which is accessible at www.sec.gov and on our website. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, May 12, 2025, and the company undertakes no duty to update them.

During this call, management may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted funds from operations, or AFFO, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, or adjusted EBITDA, and net operating income, or NOI. Please see our press release, supplemental financial information, and Form 10-K posted last Friday for a reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measures, posted earlier today for a reconciliation of those non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable GAAP measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to our Co-Chairman and CEO, David Bistricer.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Lawrence. Good afternoon and welcome to the first quarter 2025 earnings call for Clipper Realty. We'll provide an update on our business performance and some new developments, after which JJ will discuss property and level activity, including leasing performance, and Larry will speak to our quarterly financial performance. We will then take your questions. I'm pleased to report we are reporting excellent operating results once again, including record revenue and record residential rents.

Seasonally adjusted, we had near-record net operating income and AFFO in the first quarter, which always has lower income levels due to high winter heating costs. The main driver was high rental demand. Overall rents are generally at all-time highs and continue to increase, and we are nearly fully leased. In the first quarter, new leases exceeded prior rents by over 15% across the entire portfolio, as JJ will enumerate in detail.

Construction on 953 Dean Street, a ground-up development in Brooklyn, is substantially complete on time and on budget. Leasing will commence June 1st in time for the summer season. The land was purchased in 2021 and 2022 to build a nine-story, fully amenitized building: 160,000 residential rentable sq ft, 240 units, 70% free market and 30% affordable, 57 parking spaces, and 19,000 commercial rental sq ft.

Last week, the company refinanced the construction loan at this property with a new loan of $160 million when fully funded. The new loan will provide $18.2 million of excess proceeds to be used for interest, operating expenses, and working capital. Our other ground-up development project, Pacific House, at 1010 Pacific Street in Brooklyn, is stabilized, contributing to cash flow after a year of full operation.

We have also entered into the definitive contract to sell 10 West 65th Street in Manhattan for $45.5 million, which we expect will generate approximately $12 million after payment of debt and costs. We expect the transaction to close in the second quarter. We had thoughts to sell the property because of our 2017 purchase acquisition plan. The commitment of units to free market was restricted by the 2019 Housing Stability and Protection Act.

At 141 Livingston Street, leased to the city, we have received a five-year renewal, which the company is processing. Regarding our first quarter results, we are reporting record quarterly revenue of $39.4 million, a 10.2% increase over last year, excellent NOI of $21.8 million, and an 8% increase, an AFFO of $8 million, a 36% increase as a result of strong leasing I just mentioned. These results represent improvements over the first quarter last year, as JJ and I will further detail. I will now turn the call over to JJ, who will provide an update on operations.

JJ Bistricer (COO)

Thank you. I am pleased to report that our residential leasing at all properties is very strong, and they are 99% occupied. Rents are at record levels and recording increases over previous levels. Overall, new lease rental rates at residential properties in the first quarter exceeded previous rents by over 15% and renewals by 8%. We expect residential leasing to remain strong in the foreseeable future as demand remains high and the overall rental housing supply remains constrained. As of the end of December, Tribeca House had occupancy of 99%, overall rent per sq ft over $83 per sq ft, and new rents at $90 per sq ft. The Clover House property had occupancy of 99%, average overall rent of $87 per sq ft, and new leases of $94 per sq ft.

Our recently completed Pacific House property, consisting of a blend of free market and rent-stabilized tenants, had occupancy of 98% and free market rent of $70 per sq ft on new leases. Our other residential properties at 10 West 65th Street, Aspen, and 250 Livingston Street continue to perform at record levels with average occupancy above 98% and new rents and renewals 4% higher compared to previous leases. We also look forward to beginning leasing at the newly completed 953 Dean Street, ground-up development described earlier.

Lastly, at the largest Flatbush Gardens property, we had good performance operating under the agreement made with the Housing Preservation Department of New York City at the end of June 2023. Using the full abatement of real estate taxes beginning last July and other rent supplements, we are aggressively dealing with the maintenance issues and capital improvements.

Overall average rents at the property collected from all sources for the property have risen 15% to $30.80 per sq ft at the end of the quarter. Rent collections across our portfolio remain strong, with overall collection rates in the first quarter on all residential properties at nearly 98%. Collections at Flatbush Gardens were over 95% as we responsibly and steadily worked through the system to minimize abuse. Looking ahead, we remain focused on optimizing occupancy, pricing, and expenses across the business to best position ourselves for growth. I will now turn the call over to Larry, who will discuss our financial results.

Lawrence Kreider (CFO)

Thank you, JJ. For the first quarter, we achieved record revenues, which increased to $39.4 million from $35.8 million last year, an increase of $3.6 million, or 10%. NOI increased to $21.8 million from $20.2 million last year, an increase of $1.6 million, or 8%. AFFO increased to $8 million from $5.9 million and increased to $2.1 million, or 36%. For the first quarter, residential revenue increased to $29.2 million by $3.1 million. This increase was due to strong leasing for all properties, as previously discussed. Occupancy and rental rates were at all-time highs in the quarter. Commercial revenue was higher by $0.6 million in the quarter compared to last year, as we continued to fill smaller retail vacancies at Tribeca House and Aspen properties, all at favorable rates. On the expense side, key year-over-year changes in the quarter were as follows.

Property operating expenses increased by $1.5 million year-on-year, substantially all at Flatbush Gardens. The increase is due to higher payroll costs for newly hired repairs and maintenance workers, substantially offset by lower third-party repairs and maintenance expense, higher legal costs for tenant collections, and higher utilities costs. Real estate taxes and insurance increased by $293,000 in the first quarter year-on-year due to routine increases in real estate taxes and insurance at properties other than Flatbush Gardens for property taxes, which were fully abated under our agreement with New York City in July 2023. General and administrative expenses were higher by $274,000 due to higher non-cash amortization of executive long-term incentive securities, partially offset by lower legal costs. Interest expenses decreased by $216,000 in the first quarter year-on-year due to slightly lower rates on our limited amount of variable-rate debt.

The $33.8 million charge of impairment of long-lived assets results from the assessment of the high likelihood of selling the 10 West 65th Street property that David described earlier, based on a contract signed in early April, expected to close in the second quarter. The transaction should generate $12 million after paying existing debt and closing costs. As a result of the 2019 New York City Rent Act, he mentioned we were not able to raise rents as expected following the 2017 acquisition, despite investing in the property. With regards to our balance sheet, we have $21.3 million of unrestricted cash and $17.8 million of restricted cash. In the first quarter, we had no new debt activity other than the last draws under the Dean Street property construction loan we entered in the first quarter of 2023.

However, as David mentioned in April, we closed a two-year bridge loan for the Dean Street property that bears a lower interest rate and should provide funds to cover carrying costs through stabilization and put working capital on the balance sheet. As to the continued high-interest-rate environment, we believe the higher rates make for higher tenant demand for our rental product. We are also buttressed by the relatively long duration of debt at our operating properties. Our operating debt is 89% fixed at an average rate of 3.87%, an average duration of 4.1 years. It is non-recourse, subject to limited standard carve-outs, and is not cross-collateralized. We finance our property on an asset-by-asset basis. Today, we are announcing a dividend of $9.50 per share for the first quarter, the same amount as last quarter. The dividend will be paid on July 11, 2025, to shareholders of record on May 27, 2025. Let me now turn the call back to David for concluding remarks.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Let me just correct the statement. The dividend will be paid on June 11, 2025. Thank you, Lawrence.

Lawrence Kreider (CFO)

June 11, yes.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

We remain focused on effectively operating our portfolio. We look for our current operating improvements to continue through 2025. We look forward to the opening of Dean Street development, finalizing the 10 West 65th Street sale, finalizing the 141 Livingston Street lease, resolving the 250 Livingston Street upcoming vacancy, and capitalizing on other possibilities that may present themselves. I would now like to open the line for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you wish to join the queue to ask a question at this time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We do ask if listening on speakerphone today that you pick up your handset while asking your question to provide optimal sound quality. Once again, please press star one on your telephone keypad at this time if you wish to join the queue to ask a question. Please hold a moment while we pull for questions. We have a question from Buck Horne from Raymond James. Buck, your line is live. Please go ahead.

Buck Horne (Managing Director)

Hey, thanks. Good afternoon, guys. Congratulations. Just wondering if you'd like to comment on the 141 Livingston lease and just in terms of add any additional color or details on the renewal and potential new lease rates and/or additional tenant improvements that may be required for the building.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

The current proposal, there's no TI that's going to be necessary. We hope to get that finalized in the next couple of weeks.

Buck Horne (Managing Director)

Thank you, guys.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

You're welcome.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Once again, it'll be star one at this time if you wish to join the queue to ask a question. There are no further questions in queue. I'd now like to turn the floor back to management for closing remarks.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Thank you for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again soon.

Operator (participant)

Thank you so much. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.