Clipper Realty - Q4 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day, and welcome to the Clipper Realty Quarterly 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. Sir, the floor is yours.

Larry Kreider (CFO)

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for the Fourth Quarter of 2023 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 2023 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 14th, 2024, 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 chairman and our Co-Chairman and CEO, David Bistricer.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Larry. Good afternoon. Welcome to the Fourth Quarter of 2023 Earnings Call for Clipper Realty. I will provide a summary of some of our business performance and some existing new developments. Afterwards, J.J. will discuss property-level activity, including leasing performance, and I will speak to our quarterly financial performance. We will then take your questions. I'm pleased to report that we have recorded record operating income and AFFO, continuing the positive trends from previous quarters. Rental demand continues to be strong at all our properties. In the fourth quarter, new leases exceeded prior rents by 6% across the entire market-based portfolio, and our properties were 98% leased.

At the Tribeca House property in Manhattan and the Clover House property in Brooklyn, new leases were $88 per sq ft, and overall rent levels remained at record levels, $78 at Tribeca House, $81 at Clover House, 40% better than the 63 sq ft at the end of December 2021. At Flatbush Gardens, since July, as previously announced, we are operating under a 40-year agreement according to the Article XI of the Private Housing Finance Law and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Under this agreement, known as the Article XI, the elimination of real estate taxes and enhanced rental recoveries for assisted tenants should allow us to profitably provide for our communities for property improvements, tenant assistance, and higher wages. Of course, we are at the early stages and report our progress as we move forward.

Operationally, we are pleased to report that our ground-up development at Pacific House at 1010 Pacific Street in Brooklyn came online last quarter on budget and is 100% leased and on target to yield a 7% cap rate. The property is located in Brooklyn, about one mile from the Atlantic Terminal, Barclays Center hub. The property has 175 units, 70% free market, and it's 30% affordable, and this is tax-abated for 35 years. As the nearby 953 Dean Street ground-up development, which is on the way, we have completed the superstructure ahead of schedule, expected to complete the construction on time for 2025 leasing season, utilizing the $123 million construction loan we closed on last quarter.

We purchased the land in 2021 and 2022, on which to build a 9-story, fully amenitized residential building with 163,000 sq ft of rentable sq ft, 240 units, 70% free market, 30% affordable, 8,500 commercial rental sq ft. And again, this is also tax abated for 35 years. As the continued high interest rate environment, we believe the higher rates make for high demand for our rental product versus the purchase option, and we are buffered by the relatively long duration of debt at our operating properties. Our debt is 93% fixed at an average rate of 3.8%, an average duration of 5.5 years, non-recourse subject to limited standard carve-outs, and is not cross-collateralized by any one of the properties. We finance our properties on an asset-by-asset basis.

With respect to inflation, we look to the short duration and high demand for the residential leases to allow us to cover increased operating expenses. With regard to our fourth quarter results, we are reporting quarterly revenue at $34.9 million, record NOI of $20 million, and record AFFO of $6.3 million as a result of the strong leasing and cost reduction I just mentioned. These results represent significant improvements over the fourth quarter last year, and as J.J. and Larry will further detail. I will now turn the call over to J.J., who will provide an update on operations.

Jacob Bistricer (COO)

Thank you. I am pleased to report that our residential leasing performance at all our properties continues to improve. At the end of the fourth quarter, all our residential properties had very high occupancy, averaging 98%, and rents are continuing at record levels while still recording increases over previous levels. Overall, new lease and rent, and renewal rental rates in the fourth quarter exceeded previous rents by over 6% at our free market properties. We expect leasing to remain very strong in the foreseeable future as demand remains high and the overall rental housing supply remains constrained in the absence of significant new developments, as widely publicized.

At Tribeca House and Clover House, we have maintained leased occupancy between 96%-99% and increased average rent per square foot to $78 per sq ft, from $71 over the last twelve months, and $63 per sq ft near the end of the pandemic. At our new development property, Pacific House, is almost fully stabilized. The 70% free market and 30% affordable property came online at the beginning of the second quarter and was 100% leased at the end of this quarter. We expect the property to achieve a cap rate over 7% in 2024, in line with the original underwriting. At the Flatbush Gardens property, we are pleased to be operating under the new Article XI agreement made with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development of New York City that was completed on June 29, 2023.

We received the full abatement of real estate taxes beginning July 1, have begun completing the capital projects we committed, have begun placing formerly homeless residents, and have begun obtaining the enhanced reimbursements under Section 610 of the Private Housing Finance Law for tenants receiving assistance. The benefits we receive will allow us to profitably improve the property. We are also getting increases from non-assisted tenants, where increases have been permitted under Rent Guidelines Board for the last couple of years at the 3% level per annum. As a result, overall average rents for the property are increasing, rising to $26.69 per sq ft at the end of the quarter versus $25.97 at the end of the last year.

Operationally, our other residential properties at 10 West 65th Street, Aspen, and 250 Livingston Street, continue to perform well. Average leased occupancy for these properties has been above 96%, and average rental rates have increased 11% from a year ago. Rent collections across our portfolio remain as expected, at seasonally high levels. The overall collection rate in the fourth quarter was over 95%, despite the lingering challenges of the pandemic. Looking ahead, we remain focused on optimizing occupancy, pricing, and expenses across the business, expeditiously completing our development projects, and fully implementing the Article XI transaction 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, JJ. For the fourth quarter, revenues increased to a record $3.9 million from $33 million last fourth quarter by $1.9 million, or excluding the impact of Pacific House that came online in the second quarter, an increase of $700,000. NOI this quarter was $20 million, an increase of $2.8 million from last year, or $2 million excluding the impact of Pacific House. AFFO this year was $6.3 million, an increase of $1.6 million from last year, or $1.9 million excluding the impact of Pacific House, which reflected full interest expense since going online, but only partial initial lease-up.

For the fourth quarter, residential revenue increased to $25.1 million by $2.1 million, or a $1 million revenue increase, excluding the impact of Pacific House. This 4% increase was primarily due to higher residential rental rates for all properties from continued strong leasing, previously discussed. Bad debt expense was substantially the same as last year, reflecting high and stabilized collections. A $300,000 decline in commercial rental income was caused by a couple of leases at The Aspen property that are being replaced.

On the expense side, key year-over-year changes quarter-over-quarter were as follows: Property operating expenses were flat compared to last year, excluding the impact of Pacific House, primarily due to lower utilities costs, mostly offset by higher repairs and maintenance and payroll at the Flatbush Gardens property to make necessary repairs and to comply with wage requirements under the Article XI transaction. Real estate taxes and insurance decreased by approximately $1.3 million in the fourth quarter, year-on-year, excluding the impact of Pacific House, $1.8 million due to elimination of real estate taxes at Flatbush Gardens, partially offset by $200,000 for routine increases in real estate taxes at the other properties, and $300,000 for insurance cost increases.

General and administrative costs decreased by $300,000 in the fourth quarter, year-over-year, primarily due to lower audit costs and compensation-related expenses. Interest expense increased by $300,000 in the fourth quarter, year-over-year, excluding the impact of Pacific House, due to conversion of the debt at the 10 West 65th Street property to variable rate, according to its terms, and the elimination of capitalized interest for Pacific House. With regard to our balance sheet, we have $22.2 million of unrestricted cash and $14.1 million of restricted cash. In the fourth quarter, we had no new debt activity other than draws under the construction loan that we closed last quarter for our Dean Street property development. We finance our portfolio on an asset-by-asset basis.

Our operating debt is non-recourse, subject to limited standard carve-outs, and is not cross-collateralized. The average duration of our debt at our operating properties is 5.5 years, and 93% of our debt at our operating properties is fixed-rate at an average rate of 3.87%. Today, we are announcing a dividend of $0.095 per share for the fourth quarter, the same amount as last quarter. The dividend will be paid on April 4, 2024, to shareholders of record on March 27, 2024. Let me turn the call back to David for concluding remarks.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Thank you, Larry. We remain focused on efficiently operating our portfolio. We look for our current operating improvements to continue through 2024 into 2025. We look forward to capitalizing a myriad of growth opportunities, including optimizing Flatbush Gardens Article XI transaction, Pacific House, and 953 Dean Street development, and capitalizing other possibilities that may present itself. We look forward to the transition of the 250 Livingston tenant at end of the DCAS lease, which is coming up at the end of 2025. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the next quarter.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star one on your phone at this time. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on speaker phone to provide optimum sound quality. Please hold while we poll for questions. Once again, please press star one if you have any questions or comments. The first question comes from Buck Horne with Raymond James. Please proceed.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Hey, good afternoon, guys. I was wondering if we could start with just 250 Livingston and the situation with the lease and the notification that the city of New York plans to vacate. Just can you walk us through what, you know, what the next steps are in terms of, you know, either trying to retenant the building or what your options are if releasing the space is not realistic. Do you have a $125 million mortgage out on the property? Does it make sense at some point to consider just handing the keys back?

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

We think that's a premature type of a conversation. The city, who is basically DCAS, who organizes all the leases for the city, is looking. Is in the marketplace for a new building occupation, for about 300-something thousand sq ft for one of the city agencies. We are told that this building at 250 and the other building that we have, 141, is a prime candidate for it. There's no guarantee, obviously, that we will be awarded that opportunity, but, you know, we're working diligently to try to get that tenant into our building. That would be an improvement of what we have right now. We are in a position to be able to renovate that building if we had to, to accommodate for a new tenant.

We have an excellent relationship with DCAS over the many, many of years, and in that particular marketplace, I think we're in a good position for the core spaces that we have in the building to be able to compete very aggressively in the marketplace to the tenants at the rents that they're looking for. That's only one option, and that's the one that we're most focused on at the moment.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Okay, appreciate that. What do you have any idea, realistically, what the cost to put in the tenant improvements or additional CapEx into 250 Livingston, any range of estimate of what that would cost to get that ready for a new tenant?

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

We don't know yet because we haven't, you know, we haven't yet got that granular with this, conversation. But usually the way it would work is whatever we put into the building would be met by, obviously, we're making now $50 a foot on that particular tenancy. It's not a very high rent for the marketplace, but it's a fair rent for the condition of the building that it's in. Any, you know, any money that we invest in the property will be always tested by return on equity to commence it, you know, the needs for that investment. We wouldn't just put in the money into the building not to get back a fair return on it. So it would be a long-term lease. It would be for an accredited lease tenant.

DCAS leases are all accredited and with credit, so that would be commensurate with that, those two things, the credit of the tenant and also the amount of money. That usually what they're looking to do is not that, you know, most commercial tenants ask for a lot more, you know, luxury types of improvements. This is really very, very, I think, a bare bones kind of operation that the agencies look for.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Okay.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

So we don't have more details than that right now. We'll see as we go along. We will report when we have something to report.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Got it. And for now, the any income and revenue from the building goes into an escrow account? Is that how this works until, what requirements need to be satisfied before you can start continue booking revenue from the building again?

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Well, the revenue is the revenue. There's nothing, nothing going to stop the revenue. Until the end of the lease, the revenue is going to be reported by the company, and it's taxable by the company, whatever the tax it is, it's our revenue. Whether there's gonna be an escrow account yet, that has not been determined yet.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Okay. Got it. And my, last one is just simply, just from a larger or bigger picture, I guess. Just noting where shares are trading and relative to, you know, even our estimates of what the NAV of the company is. Is there a, you know, a consideration or longer-term thought of is it, does it make sense to look at a potential property sale, to try to, either de-lever the balance sheet and/or, potentially deploy some proceeds in the stock repurchases?

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

We haven't yet discussed that yet as a property. The value of the stock, the price of the stock has been where it is for quite some time. It's, you know, obviously, commenced, I think, indicative of where the overall market is, and that discussion has not yet been considered yet, what you're referencing.

Buck Horne (Managing Director of Housing and REITs)

Got it. All right, guys. Thanks.

David Bistricer (Co-Chairman and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

If there are any remaining questions, please indicate so by pressing star one. I would 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. Have a great evening.

Operator (participant)

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. 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.