Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the First Industrial Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2019 Results Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Art Harmon, Vice President of Investor Relations and Marketing. Thank you. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Maria. Hello, everybody and welcome to our call.Before we discuss our fourth quarter and full-year 2019 results, and initial 2020 guidance, let me remind everyone that our call may include forward-looking statements as defined by Federal Securities Laws. These statements are based on management's expectations, plans, and estimates of our prospects. Today's statements may be time sensitive and accurate only as of today's date, Thursday, February 13, 2020.We assume no obligation to update our statements or the other information we provide. Actual results may differ materially from our forward-looking statements, and factors which causes are described in our 10-K and other SEC filings.You can find a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures discussed in today's call in our supplemental report and our earnings release. The supplemental report, earnings release, and our SEC filings are available at firstindustrial.com, under the Investors tab.Our call will begin with remarks by Peter Baccile, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Scott Musil, our Chief Financial Officer; after which we will open it up for your questions. Also on the call today are Jojo Yap, our Chief Investment Officer; Peter Schultz, Executive Vice President; Chris Schneider, Senior Vice President of Operations; and Bob Walter, Senior Vice President of Capital Markets and Asset Management.Now let me turn the call over to Peter.

Thank you, Art, and thanks to everyone joining us for the call today.We finished 2019 with an excellent fourth quarter to cap up another successful year. For 2020, we expect more of the same, leveraging our platform to generate more cash flow growth and value creation.Occupancy at year-end was a very strong 97.6% and full-year cash rental rate growth was 13.9% a company record. Both of these metrics reflect continued strong tenant demand for logistics space, and the great work of our leasing and operations professionals. We developed a number of high quality facilities at strong margins, and replenished our pipeline with the acquisition of several exciting new sites and target markets, particularly Miami.In addition, we continue to shape our portfolio to drive long-term growth as we further increase our capital allocation to higher barrier markets.Before we get into the specifics of the quarter, let me provide you with a quick overview of the national industrial market. According to CBRE Econometric Advisors, new supply for 2019 was 224 million square feet compared to net absorption of 183 million. This marks the first time since 2009 that new supply exceeded net absorption. Despite this, our outlook for 2020 is similar to that of 2019. Vacancies remain low and excess new construction continues to be concentrated primarily in larger format buildings in certain sub-markets, most notably Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston.We continue to see new tenant requirements from a range of industries across all of our markets. So the overall environment remains very favorable for strong demand and rent growth. That's also the case for our portfolio. We've signed leases for approximately 60% of our 2020 rollovers at a cash rental rate increase of more than 9%.Included in these results, is the long-term renewal of our largest rollover, a 675,000 square foot single…

Thanks Peter.In the fourth quarter, diluted EPS was $0.76 versus $0.40 one-year ago. And for the full year, diluted EPS was $1.88 versus $1.31 for the prior-year.NAREIT funds from operations were $0.45 per fully diluted share compared to $0.42 per share in 4Q 2018. Excluding a penny of income related to insurance settlements for damaged properties 4Q 2018 FFO was $0.41 per share. For the full-year, NAREIT FFO per share was $1.74 versus $1.60 in 2018.As Peter noted, occupancy was 97.6% down 10 basis points for the prior quarter.In the fourth quarter, we commenced approximately 4.1 million square feet of leases, 757,000 square feet were new, 1.3 million were renewals, and 2.1 million square feet were for developments in acquisitions with lease-up. Tenant retention by square footage was 81.4%.Same-store NOI growth on a cash basis excluding termination fees was 2.1% and for the full-year 2019, cash same-store growth before lease termination fees was 3.1%.Cash rental rates were up 9.7% overall, with renewals up 8.2% and new leasing 12.4%. On a straight line basis, overall rental rates were up 20.4% with renewals increasing 18.5% and new leasing up 23.8%. For the year, cash rental rates were up 13.9% overall which is a company record and on a straight line basis, they were up 26%.Moving on to a few balance sheet metrics. At the end of 4Q, our net debt plus preferred stocks to adjusted EBITDA is 4.6 times and at December 31, the weighted average maturity of our unsecured notes, term loans, and secured financings was 5.8 years with a weighted average interest rate of 3.9%. These figures exclude our credit facility.Moving on to our initial 2020 guidance per our press release last evening. Our NAREIT FFO guidance is $1.77 to $1.87 per share with a mid-point of $1.82. Excluding a…

Thanks, Scott.Before we open it up to questions, let me thank the entire First Industrial team for their tremendous efforts in 2019, delivering outstanding results and positioning us for growth in 2020 and beyond. We're excited about our new developments through which we can serve the logistics needs of our customers while expanding our portfolio in key markets and creating value for shareholders.With that, operator, would you please open it up for questions.

[Operator Instructions].Your first question will come from Craig Mailman with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, guys. Scott, I think I heard you say $2.5 million of FFO for Pier 1 from March to December. Is there any reason why you excluded 1Q?

We already collected January and February's payments, Craig. So we basically still need to collect March through December.

Got you, okay. So it's pro rata that right if we just wanted to gross up for the other two months.

Yes, you can take $2.5 million divided by 10. And that's your monthly amount. You can extrapolate it any way you want for the year.

Okay, perfect. And then have they given you any indications I know, I think in the past you told us that they now fulfilled the Canada out of that warehouse? I mean are they using all the space kind of what's your conversations been with them?

Craig, good morning, it’s Peter Schultz. They continue to fully occupy the building. And it's apparent to us that they've consolidated more operations in there. So they're quite busy. They also have been hiring additional people.

Your next question will come from Rob Stevenson with Janney. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning, guys. Cash rent growth on the 275 lease as you did in 2019 was close to 14% versus 7%, 8% over the prior three years, anything abnormal at the end of the day about the 2019 leases or is that just reflect the strength of the market today? And are you expecting 2020 to be more in the 7%, 8% range of the previous three years or is this 2019 level something that can be replicated again in 2020?

This is Chris. If you look at 2019, yes, it was very strong. We're looking at rental rate increases of 10% and 14%. So you're down a tip from 2019, we're expecting some very, very strong rental increases still continue in 2020.

Yes, that 10% to 14% is for 2020. And that's what we just mentioned in the script. So as Chris mentioned, down two percentage points from 2019 levels but still very strong in double-digit.

Okay, so there's nothing abnormal about 2019 though, in that number that sort of pulls you down, where that's just where the market is today.

That's where the market is today. Markets are strong.

And the mix of 5% [ph] year.

Okay. And then you guys have done a good job of backfilling your land back again in 2019, another $200 million or so after closer to $300 million in 2018, can you talk about how you see the land market today versus last few years in terms of pricing and availability in your target markets and how willing are you today to buy land that may take significant time to get through these entitlement process?

So I'll start with that and then take it over to Jojo. Right now, we have about $200 million at book of land, there's no question land pricing is going up certainly in the higher barrier markets, it's going up significantly. So far, rent growth is mitigating some of the pain from the higher land costs. And we are especially in California really focused on unentitled land. Jojo, do you want to talk about?

Sure. In terms of so Peter answered, the land price appreciation question in terms of our willingness, yes, we have a local team of boots on the ground. We're always looking for additional land opportunity, for future growth. Of course, when we look at these deals, we got to have to maintain our spreads and that’s the financial criteria that we will stick to. And that's basically we compare where the rents are going plus our land pricing.In terms of taking time that we've done that for the last 10 years, in some markets it takes 18 months to 24 months entitled, our hit ratio in entitlement has been 100%. And of course before we take on any site for those areas where an entitlement process is pretty significant, we do pre-outprocess, we meet with the municipalities, we meet with our consultants to increase the certainty of those entitlements.

Your next question will come from John Guinee with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Good quarter, good guidance. Looks to me like you're trading at a four-four implied cap and over 110 a square. Why on earth wouldn't you raise equity?

Hey John, it’s Scott. When you look at our sources and uses in our leverage levels, we're in very good shape. So let me walk through where we stand today. We're projecting in 2020 about $170 million of development spend. That's just for developments and process at December 31. And the First Park Miami start that we mentioned in the script.And our sales proceeds that we're expecting this year, our mid-point guidance is about $150 million. But then John also remember we expect to close the Phoenix sale in the third quarter, which is another $55 million. So our sales proceeds are in excess of what we need for development, we're going to retain about $70 million of excess cash flow after dividends in CapEx this year. And our leverage is at 4.6 times, so we're in very good shape from leverage liquidity point of view.But John, what we're saying, we've been consistent with this for the last several years. We would consider raising equity if we had an excess of investments that we're going to be able to cover by those sources I just mentioned. And we raised equity back in 2018, 2017, and 2016. They were used to fund investment primarily spec development. And we walked a lot of folks on this call through our pitch glyphs. We thought it was a very good use of capital because of the yields we were getting in the development margin. So long story short in good shape now as we stand today, John, if something happens, where a pipeline blows to a level where we need equity we will consider at that point in time.

Well done. Okay. Just curiosity. It looks like --

Thank you, John.

You're welcome. Bravo, it looks like you sold Indianapolis at about 36 bucks a foot and St. Louis at 53 bucks dollars a foot, if I'm doing my math correctly. What do those assets look like at $36 and $53 a square foot?

So John, its Peter Schultz. In Indy, all but two of those assets were in two parts. And the price per pound is largely a function of the rents in that market, which, you know, is a tax, abated market. So the growth rate there is somewhat minimal, but these were older, lower cash flow growth, multi-tenant mix of ceiling heights, and functionality. And our team did a great job, getting the occupancy to as high as it's ever been and securing leases for term and as Peter said in his remarks, we thought it was a good time to sell.

And those assets in particular had been occupancy challenged for a long time; the team got them up over 99%. So that was a big help.

Were those rents below $2 net?

In one of the buildings, yes.

[Operator Instructions].Our next question will come from Eric Frankel with Green Street Advisors. Please proceed with your question.

Thank you. I just want to circle back on your investment decisions this quarter. So maybe just walk me through just your thought process on exiting St. Louis in Indianapolis in more detail and how you're thinking about other market, potential market exits over the next year or two? And then Northeast, South Florida obviously, I know you want to have a little bit more coastal market exposure, but you're kind of making a pretty big bet on South Florida. So maybe you could walk us through what you're thinking?

Okay. So the first question, Eric, our program is always to manage the portfolio and to divest of lower growing assets and redeploy that capital into higher growth opportunities and naturally in some markets over time, that means our footprint is going to shrink and in some cases go to zero like it just did in Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Tampa. So I wouldn't say that the commentary on the markets as much as it is, those were the assets that we felt were time to dispose of, because of certain leasing status that we achieved and then the future outlook for rent growth.With respect to Miami, that is a fantastic site, very infill; rents are growing very rapidly in Miami and in the Medley market and land is very, very difficult to come by. So we're excited about that opportunity. I don't know Jojo, if you got anything else.

Sure. I mean, yes, I would just like to add our view on Miami markets, long-term above average population growth which we think will drive higher than average employment growth and would drive a little bit higher consumption growth, which all grades for distribution. And we think that where we're at, at the mid-five yields, that's a good margin over what products would sell for. So all in all for a financial basis from a sub-market, long-term view basis we like that, we'd like to invest in a lot.

Now that's a four-cap-ish market. So that's a 35-plus-percent margin and that market is very strong.

Okay. And maybe just circling, also circling back to what John Guinee said is about in terms of how you think about raising equity, which I think you've explained before, it's good to hear it again. When you talk about your dispositions, obviously, that also funds your investment activity, but that seems to be more opportunistic in terms of disposition. Is that correct? So if you have a really good leasing year and some -- and again in some markets, where maybe some of the assets are lower growth, it could be likely that your disposition targets to be high again, if we can grow really successful.

Well, we're 97.6% leased overall. So generally speaking, the assets that we're looking to dispose of this year are well leased.

Yes, I would say, Eric. I think you're right if we do see other opportunities, and we're able to get great pricing and other sales, we might sell more than our $150 million mid-point, we're just have to figure it out.

We'll get proposals from users that we didn't expect that are really strong and we take them. In fact many of the sales that we do are to users to 1031 buyers and to local high net worth individuals. So in programs.

Yes, it’s an asset-by-asset portfolio management is something that we do every year Eric as you know we talked about this and we will continue to do this and when we see, we can sell lower gross capital assets and reinvest on higher growth we will do that.

Our next question is from Rich Anderson with SMBC. Please proceed with your question.

Thank you and good morning and great quarter. I was particularly impressed with the same-store guidance for 2020, a significant acceleration off of 2019. I'm curious where that's coming from how much of it is a free rent burn function. And how much of it is sort of just real, real good rent growth coming off of, as you mentioned, very high occupancy?

Hey Rich, it's Scott. Same-store is a little bit easier this year than it was last year. So in general, the construct is going to be a little over 2% is from rental rate bumps. A little over 2% has to do with increase in rental rates on new and renewal leasing, a little over 1% of that has to do with free rent burn off. A big piece of that is our First Nandina Logistics Center development that we placed in-service at the end of 2018. And then a slight offset to that of about 50 basis points is an increase in our projected amount of bad debt expense. So that gets you around the 4.75% mid-point. And then keep in mind, I want to reiterate it again, that assumes that Pier 1 stays in pace until the end of 2020 in the space that we discussed in our script.

Okay, great. In terms of dispositions, one thing that's true about you guys is the concentration in Southern California. And you're now budding interest in Miami. I'm wondering if Southern California, despite its strengths becomes an interesting place to monetize to sort of balance out the portfolio a little bit, because that concentration is sort of somewhat striking relative to the rest of your markets?

Yes. Our view first of all, we're very, very excited about our allocation to California. One of the things, So-Cal is the largest market in the U.S. right now, in terms of homogeneous industrial product. It also boasts the highest rent growth and one of the largest consumption zones in the U.S. We think that will continue. And one of the things that will allow that continue is that California has the hardest entitlement process in the U.S. And so if you put that together, we will continue to see constraint apply and continued higher rent growth. We like Miami a lot because it does not share as much as a land constraint or entitlement as Southern California, but it's getting close. And the demographics in Miami is very, very good.So overall, we like our exposure in California and again, but we will continue to look at it asset-by-asset, we want to make sure we have the margin in every additional investment we make.

Hey great. Last question for me. What are your thoughts in 2020 about turnover? How does it? How does it compare to 2019? If you can -- if I can guess get a recollection there. And also, what's the sort of the mindset of investors, I'm sorry of tenants that do choose to leave? Is it driven by rising rents? Or is that sort of a rounding our issue to them and that's not necessarily the reason why they go someplace else more about just growth in their own businesses?

Yes, it's Chris; I'll just touch on the retention. We've been averaging right around 80% to 85% in the last three or four years, we're expecting something similar in 2020, 70% to 80%. And so that's very consistent we've done in the past. So I will turn it over to Jojo comments about the retention.

In terms of our overall the cost structure rent, still comprises a very small amount of any businesses logistics costs. So they still range 5% to 7%. Despite rising rents, trucking costs, transportation costs and labor costs eventually increased as well. So as a proportion real estate has not moved significantly higher as a percentage. So when they move it's usually because of -- in today's market is usually because of a supply chain change because of their methods of distribution and fulfillment and/or growth.

Our next question is from Dave Rodgers with Baird. Please proceed with your question.

Personally, I think you should have ended the call after John Guinee said well done, but that's just me.

Hey Dave, we think we can break right now if you want, as you take more questions.

The 10% to 14% cash spread that you guys gave guidance to, can you talk about that by size, range. And when you talk about kind of the credit loss that you build in which you really have an experience, are you seeing that more on the large tenant side or the small tenant side? And how do you feel about kind of that breakdown?

If you look at on the rent increases overall by size, last year we're about 14%, if you look at the tenants under 200,000 square feet, we saw about 200 basis points higher, so we're seeing a little bit higher rental rate increases in that smaller, little bit smaller size.

And then, Dave, on the bad debt expense; it's been think about $0.5 million bucks on average the last several years per year. And it's mostly the smaller tenants that's causing that bad debt expense. So I'd say 100,000 square foot or less, and it might even be smaller than that.

Thanks for that. And then I guess acquisitions obviously, I didn't see any in the guidance and cap rates have really compressed. Is there anywhere where acquisitions don't make sense for you? I think Peter you detailed a quite small acquisition about $4 million in the East Bay just to enter that market. But is there anywhere where you see acquisitions and the potential use of capital in that direction? Or will everything just be funded into land and development?

Acquisitions are definitely part of the opportunity set for us, but not in huge numbers, you'll still continue to see the bulk of our new investment go into new development. But we do have our boots on the ground across the country. And we do from time-to-time faired out some great acquisition opportunities where they haven't for one reason or another, the owner isn't looking to eBay the asset. So we're typically not going to be competitive in a really broadly option situation but from time-to-time, we can find good acquisitions that are broadly marketed.

I know you guys don't typically talk in terms of margin, but in terms of that spread, where are you comfortable kind of buying versus that development spread today?

On the development spread, we're still targeting 100 to 150 basis points. We've been achieving it and certainly in some markets is tougher, but on a portfolio basis, or should I say on an annual basis, we invest capital, we're achieving it on average. And on acquisitions it really just depends on the package. It depends on the opportunity for rent growth, what land values are doing in that market because we're looking not only at the initial profitability, but the total return.

Got you. Then two cleanups for me, one severance in the first quarter? And then the second one was First Joliet did you guys comment on leasing activity there? May be I missed it? Thanks.

Severance is the first quarter, Dave, and I'll turn it over to --

In Joliet we've got 148,000 feet remaining out of that 355,000 square foot building. We have showings and activity but we don't have anything to report yet.

Yes it's basically 60% leased today. And I just want to highlight that that leasing came in early as you know in a development. We usually budget one-year downtime. So that 60% leasing there came in pretty early.

We do have a follow-up question from Craig Mailman with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Hey, guys, just looking at the sales activity over last three years. I think you're about $725 million in average cap rate of about seven cap. Just curious how much more of those higher cap rate assets do you have in the portfolio that you're going to need to get rid of over the next couple of years?

Well, Craig, hi this is Jojo. I mean, all our assets are performing well. If you look at occupancy and rent growth and we project rent growth in all the markets that we're in, these are portfolio premium still. But you'll find us continue to do what we've been doing this for the last 10 years is that we portfolio management is part of our business, so every year, we will look at every asset, we will project cash flow growth and we will see, hey, what it is something that we can sell at a great value and reinvest and use that as source of proceeds to fund our new investments. So we will always have sales. I mean, that's part of the portfolio management we have committed to do.

So we take a new investment decision on our assets every year, and that's how we come up with the bucket that we're going to dispose of.

Great. But I guess I'm just trying to get at it if we're looking kind of that at what you guys have done from a portfolio transition kind of standpoint, how much of these kind of older vintage, higher cap rate assets are left, because these are primarily used to finance development in some cases. If you're building Miami to 5.5 cap and selling at a seven cap, there's some initial dilution, right.

I would say -- keep -- first of all obviously in our supplemental, you can see where we own real estate but as important the higher cap rate assets tend to be more capital intensive. And so the AFFO or the cash flow from those assets is in this -- in the fourth quarter, for example, in the mid-fours, and we're taking that capital and we're putting it into new developments at 5, 5.5 plus and new developments don't require capital for a long time. So it's actually cash flow accretive enough and value accretive to make that exchange.

[Operator Instructions].We do have a follow-up question from John Guinee with Stifel. Please proceed with your question.

Great. Tactical question of in this day and age, do you think you can 1031 exchange your dispositions into development or do you have to do it into income producing assets? And then the second what's the status on your land up at Park 94 North of Chicago?

Hey John, it's Scott. I'll take the first part of it; you can 1031 your sales into the land piece of it. So you definitely can do that, if you wanted to, you can also set up a reverse exchange where you title the land with an intermediary and start developing it, you can get more full value doing it that way. But when we've done 1031s in the past, we've just done operating properties in land to offset the gains from sales.

And at First Park 94, as you know, we have two buildings that are 100% leased. The basis in that land is about a buck a foot and we're entertaining discussions up there on a regular basis about build to suit et cetera, we just don't have anything to report right now.

Is that a sub market you would go back or is that something you'd only do a build to suit?

We would consider both.

Our next question is from Bill Crow with Raymond James. Please proceed with your question.

Good morning, guys. Peter is there a point at which the absolute stabilized development deals would become more important than the spread to existing assets. I say that because you're talking about developing the mid low fives and is there just a point at which the risk is too great?

Well the biggest risk in development in our space is obviously leasing because typically, we don't have the same risk that you do building an office building or a shopping center in a close-in. So and we do get certainly environmental challenges on the risk side, but it's mostly leasing. If what you're asking is gee, if you're trading at a three something capital, you build at a high three cap, that that's I don't know the answer to that question. It's -- it's --

Well I mean is in the risk also the second lease, I mean as we as we think about how ecommerce, everything else could evolve, risk could change a little bit, right?

Well, certainly you're making a bet on rent growth. Absolutely and that's where we spend a lot of time. And we have different views in some cases than other players on rent growth in terms of how much of a bet we're willing to take. So yes, you build on a really low yield, you don't get the rent growth that you expected that the total return is not going to be there. So that's definitely a risk.

Well Bill, the other thing I'd add, this is Peter Schultz. Aside from the rent growth as a long-term owner, we're very focused on the flexibility and the features and attributes that we're including in these buildings. So if you compare those to some existing buildings, we feel that this is a superior product for the longer-term. So while yields may fluctuate and rents go up and down, right, year-in, year-out, these are assets they're going to lease and perform.

And in a lot of situation, what we're building is in high barrier into markets. Again, we have a long-term view that you try your best to increase allocation to land constraint heavy entitlement markets that supply to be constraint. And overall, I mean at the end of the day supply is really the one that drives rents lower. But in our situation, we look to invest in the markets, where the supply/demand fundamentals are much better than the national average.

Yes, okay. That's helpful. Any other tenants besides Pier 1 on your watch list?

No, we're pretty granular and everybody seems to be in good shape other than the smaller tenants that Scott referenced.

And we went through our January bad debt review and I think we recognized $60,000, so still very low of bad debt expense.

Yes. And finally from me, how many more markets are left that you could exit in their entirety?

Again, this is an asset-by-asset decision. You've seen where we've been selling. And you can tell by what we own in the supplemental. And it's again; it's all about rent growth and all about future opportunity, which relates back to your last question. So it depends on our view on rent growth. If we don't really look at it, market-by-market, we look at it asset-by-asset.

There's no advantage, economic advantage, margin advantage from exiting the markets entirely as opposed to maybe keeping one asset in one market.

Not really, no. I mean 20% of our real estate is in California, I suppose there would be a difference there. But we're not looking to exit California.

And our final question will come from Sam Shamie with Shamie Development Companies. Please proceed with your question.

Thank you for the opportunity. You mentioned Orlando and South Florida, but what about Tampa Bay any development going on in that region and why?

Not for us. We're not focused on Tampa right now. We like the rent, growth characteristics of the Orlando and the South Florida market better. Jojo, do you have any to add to that?

No, that would be -- that's our choice of sub-market at this point.

Great. And at this time, there are no further questions in queue. We will now turn it back over to Peter Baccile for any closing remarks at this time.

Thank you, operator and thanks to everyone for participating on our call today. Please feel free to reach out to Scott or to me with any follow-up questions and we look forward to seeing some of you in South Florida in a few weeks.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.