Clipper Realty - Q4 2022

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Clipper Realty fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions and comments after the presentation. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Larry Kreider. The floor is yours.

Larry Kreider (CFO)

Hi. Good afternoon, thank you for joining us for the fourth quarter of 2002 Clipper Realty Inc. earnings conference call. Participating with me on today's call are David Bistricer, Co-Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, and J.J. Bistricer, Chief Operating 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 2022 annual report on Form 10-K, which is accessible at www.sec.gov and our website. As a reminder, the forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, March 16th, 2023, 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 and amortization or adjusted EBITDA, and net operating income or NOI. Please see our press release, supplemental financial information and Form 10-K posted today for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. With that, I will now turn the call over to our Co-Chairman and CEO, David Bistricer. David?

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO)

One second, please. Just one second. Thank you, Larry. Good afternoon and welcome to the fourth quarter of 2022 earnings call for Clipper Realty. I will provide an update to our business performance, including recent highlights and milestones as well as our company's progress. I will turn over the call to J.J., who will discuss property level activity, including recent performance. Finally, Larry will speak about our quarterly financial performance. We will take your questions. Our operating results continue their positive trends. Residential leasing activity continues to improve despite the recent headline news on inflation, interest rate increases and banking risks. Rent per the million of property has been very strong all year. As New York City is largely reopened, people seek to relocate back to the city. Employees increasingly return to their offices.

At the end of the fourth quarter a seasonally slow leasing period, our properties are 99% leased. New leases at all our properties continued to exceed pre-pandemic levels. At the Tribeca House property, new leases in the fourth quarter exceeded $80/sq ft, nearly 20% better than the previous rents. Continuing the trends we have seen all year, causing the average of all leases to increase to a record $73/ft from $63/ft at the end of December 2021. At the Flatbush Gardens property, new leases on units not yet available for legal limits averaged $38/ft, with an overall lease level of $25 at the end of September.

With respect to interest rate increases, we believe we have veterans that have relatively long duration of our debt on our operating properties, of which 94% is fixed at 3.72%, with an average duration of 6.61 years and is non-recourse subject to limited standard carve-outs and is non-recourse collateralized. With respect to inflation, we look to the short duration and high demand for our residential leases to allow us to cover increased expenses on our operating properties and higher construction costs on our development properties. Our balance sheet needs to be well positioned from a liquidity perspective. We have approximately $31 million in cash, consisting of $18 million unrestricted cash and $13 million in restricted cash. We finance our portfolio on an asset by asset basis. I reiterate it's non-recourse collateralized.

We are pleased to announce that as of today, we have completed on schedule our 10 Pacific Street ground up development project, refinancing with permanent debt, and begun leasing in anticipation of full operation in the second quarter. The property is located in Prospect Heights, about one mile from the Atlantic Terminal Brooklyn's center hub, and comprises 175 units. It came in on budget at $85 million and is leasing to a cap rate above 7%. Due to the excellent progress, in February, we replaced the construction loan ahead of schedule with a five-year $80 million loan, $60 million drawn on closing, $20 million available upon achievement of financial targets after full lease up. It has an initial interest of 5.7%, reduced by 25 bits upon full lease up.

At the end of last year, in April and August of this year, we also bought several parcels of properties in the same area of Brooklyn, comprising the 953 Dean Street project that we also intend to develop from the ground up. That construction has commenced with excavation as we speak on the property. We paid $56.5 million for all parcels, partially funded with acquisition financing of $37 million. We expect it to be a nine-story fully amenitized residential building with 160,000 residential rentable square feet, 240 units, 70% free market, and 30% affordable, which is known as the 70%-30% affordable plan with 35 years of tax abatements. With 8,500 commercial rental sq ft.

With regard to our fourth quarter results, we are reporting record quarterly revenue of $33 million, NOI of $17 million, both exceeding pre-pandemic levels, and AFFO of $4.7 million as a result of improved leasing I mentioned above. These results represent improvements from the fourth quarter last year, and J.J. and Larry will go into further detail. I will now turn the call over to J.J., who will provide an update on operations.

J.J. Bistricer (COO)

Thank you. I am pleased to report that the improved residential leasing performance on all our properties that we've experienced this year has continued into the fourth quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter, all our residential properties occupancy and rent levels per square foot are exceeding pre-pandemic levels, and new lease rental rate in the fourth quarter exceeded previous rents by over 16%, and renewal rental rates at over 9%. We are experiencing particularly strong rental demand at our Tribeca House property, while lease occupancy has averaged 98% over the last 12 months. We have steadily increased average rent per square foot to $73/sq ft from $63 over that same period.

Over the last year, rents on new leases have risen to over $80/sq ft, representing an increase of 26% over previous rents, and rents on renewals have increased 15% over previous rents. We expect rent per square foot to continue to grow steadily through the next year as a result of turnover of our one and two-year leases entered into last year in response to pandemic conditions. We also continue to make progress on new leases and retail properties at the Tribeca House property. We have entered into four new smaller leases during the year at substantially higher rates, renewed our garage lease, firmed up our gym lease, and are nearing a deal to lease up the last remaining retail space vacated in the pandemic.

At the Flatbush Gardens complex in Brooklyn, in the fourth quarter, we have focused on keeping high occupancy and keeping up with the maintenance activities. Since the beginning of the year, we have increased lease occupancy to nearly 99% from 92% at the beginning of the year, and new leases have averaged nearly $36/sq ft, approximately 13% higher than the units previously rented. As a result, overall average rents for the property have begun to increase again, rising to $25.75/sq ft at the end of the quarter versus $25.12 at the end of last year.

Looking forward, we should also benefit from the guidelines put forth by the Rent Stabilization Board, which began October 1, 2022, and allow increases on rent-stabilized units of 3.25% for one-year leases and 5% for two-year leases. Such increases have been limited to 0% and 2% for the last couple of years. These increases will help offset our continued capital investment in the property, which has amounted to $3.3 million this year. Along with this, we have spent heavily in maintenance activities as reflected in our higher operating costs year-over-year. We continue to benefit from the 2020 reorganization of the property and operations that created nearly $800,000 in savings. Our other residential properties, Clover House, 10 West 65th Street, Aspen, and 250 Livingston Street, continue to perform well.

Lease occupancy for these properties average 99%, average overall rental rates, with exception of Aspen, have increased 17% since the beginning of the year. Aspen, which had little turnover during the year, is now up 3%. For the whole group, average increases on new leases for the year exceeded 28%, average increases on renewals exceeded 15%. Rent collections across our portfolio remain strong despite the residual challenges of the pandemic. The overall collection rate in the fourth quarter was over 97%. We have continued to benefit at a lower rate from remittances under the New York State Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP, and the Landlord Rental Assistance Program, or LRAP.

Remittances were $600,000 in the fourth quarter, down from $1.2 million in the third quarter, $1.4 million in the second quarter, $600,000 in the first quarter, and $2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. On the development side, the construction of the rental property at 1010 Pacific Street in Brooklyn Heights, now known as Pacific House, is substantially complete, and the building is nearly in full operation. Construction was completed on budget and on schedule. We expect a TCO very soon, and based on the rapid progress and strong rental demand, began leasing in the first quarter with 45 leases already. We expect to be fully leased by the end of the second quarter.

The development is a nine-story, 119,000 sq ft rentable square foot, fully amenitized multi-family rental building with underground indoor parking. The property has 175 units, 70% free market and 30% affordable and has a 35-year 421-a tax abatement. 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.

Larry Kreider (CFO)

Thank you, J.J. For the fourth quarter, reported revenues increased by $2.2 million to a record $33 million from $34.8 million last year, fourth quarter. On a more comparable basis, revenue from actual billings increased by $3.4 billion as opposed to the $2.2 million to $34.2 million, excluding the bad debt expense, which is now deducted directly from revenue this year due to our adoption of the ASC 842 leasing accounting standards for 2022. NOI this quarter increased $700,000 to $17.1 million from $16.4 million last year, fourth quarter. AFFO increased by $200,000 to $4.7 million this quarter from $4.5 million last year, fourth quarter.

The revenue increase was due to the higher residential rental rates as mentioned by J.J., higher occupancy at the Flatbush Gardens property, new commercial tenants at the Tribeca House property, and increased escalation billings at the 141 Livingston Street property. Bad debt expense reduced revenue in the fourth quarter this year by $1.2 million, but actually reduced expense in the fourth quarter last year due to the large amount of ERAP payments received, as J.J. mentioned above, for a net swing of $1.6 million. On the expense side, key year-over-year changes were as follows: Property operating expenses were $700,000 higher than last year, excluding the $400,000 charge for credit for bad debt expense in last year's fourth quarter.

This was due primarily to increased utility costs from higher rates and higher repairs and maintenance and supplies it cost at the Flatbush Gardens from our increased focus there. Real estate taxes and insurance increased by approximately $600,000 in the fourth quarter year-on-year due to increased real estate taxes of $500,000 and insurance costs of $100,000. General and administrative costs increased by $600,000 in the fourth quarter year-on-year due to higher LTIP amortization costs from prior year awards, higher executive salary costs, and some initially higher costs in connection with our newly required Sarbanes-Oxley audit and the transition to new auditors. Interest expense decreased $200,000 in the fourth quarter year-on-year due to additional capitalization of interest associated with the 1010 Pacific Street and 953 Dean Street development projects.

With regard to our balance sheet, as David mentioned earlier, we have $18 million of unrestricted cash and $12.5 million of restricted cash. We initially funded development of our 1010 Pacific Street and Dean Street acquisitions substantially with construction financing. In February of this year, we refinanced the 1010 Pacific Street construction loan with an $80 million mortgage loan that provided initial funding of $60 million and a further $20 million subject to achievement of certain financial targets. The loan has a five-year term and an initial rate of 5.7%, subject to a reduction by up to 25 basis points upon achievement of certain financial objectives. The loan is interest-only for the first two years and principal and interest thereafter, based on a 30-year amortization schedule.

We finance our property on an asset-by-asset basis, and our debt is non-recourse subject to limited standard carve-outs and is not cross-collateralized. We have no debt maturities on any operating properties until 2027, with an average duration of 6.61 years. At the end of 2022, 94% of our debt at our operating properties was at a fixed rate at an average of 3.73%. Today, we are announcing a dividend of $0.95 per share for the fourth quarter, the same amount as last quarter. The dividend will be paid on April 5 to shareholders of record on March 27. Let me now turn the call back over to David for concluding remarks.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO)

Thank you, Larry. We remain focused on efficiently operating our rent portfolio. We look for our current operating improvements to continue to accelerate through next quarter and into 2023. We look forward to capitalizing on a myriad of growth opportunities, including the 1010 Pacific and 953 Green Street developments and other possibilities that may present themselves in the future. I would now like to open the line for questions.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. Please hold while we wait for questions. Once again, that's star one if you have a question or comment. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment, please press star one on your touch-tone phone. Okay. We currently have no questions in queue.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO)

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

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Have a wonderful day. Thank you.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO)

Thank you. Good day.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, gentlemen.