Theodore Klinck
Analyst · Dave Rodgers with Baird. Please go ahead
Thanks Ed and good morning. As Ed noted we remain upbeat about our outlook given healthy fundamentals. Southeastern markets continue to benefit from a positive jobs and economic environment. Our markets have met or beaten the national average for annual employment growth 27 consecutive quarters. These regions continue to retain and attract highly qualified candidates, ranging from recent college grads to seasoned professionals, who are drawn to the diverse and dynamic career opportunities, high quality of life, and below average cost of living. Employers benefit from access to this robust talent pool as well as the business friendly environments. Turning to the quarter, we leased 857,000 square feet of second gen office space with an average term of six years. We garnered net effective rents of $15.84 per square foot, 9% above our prior five-quarter average. We signed 220,000 square feet of new second gen office leases and 171,000 square feet of expansions. New deal volume was roughly in line with our recent average while the expansion activity was approximately double our typical volume. Our strong leasing activity makes us optimistic for the remainder of the year. Rent spreads were strong this quarter. GAAP rent spreads were positive 19.7%, well above the prior five quarter average of 14.7%, and we were able to post healthy cash rent spreads of positive 4.6%. In addition to our second gen leasing activity, we signed 74,000 square feet of first generation office leases since our Q4 call in February. Our development pipeline is now 83% pre-leased on a dollar-weighted basis. Average in-place cash rents were 3.8% higher at quarter end compared to a year ago, which is indicative of solid rent growth over the last several quarters, healthy annual escalators on nearly all of our leases, and strong rents at recently delivered development projects. Our first quarter same property cash NOI growth was plus 2.9% despite average occupancy being down 50 basis points compared to Q1 2017 and operating expenses up around 3%. We’ve increased the bottom end of our year-end occupancy outlook 25 basis points to 91.5% while maintaining the high end of 92.75%. We anticipate occupancy to decrease over the next couple of quarters to around 91%, with an uptick at the end of the year to around 92%. The largest known move-out this year is Fidelity, who will give back 178,000 square feet in the Raleigh division’s Weston submarket in the third quarter. As a reminder, Fidelity’s natural lease expiration is the end of November, and we’ll receive the remainder of their full rent through the end of the natural term in Q3. Our 1.2 million square foot in-service portfolio in Weston was 100% occupied at the end of the first quarter. Raleigh’s job growth continues to fuel demand for high-quality office space. Raleigh posted 2.0% office employment growth year-over-year, 60 basis points higher than the national average. We expect the positive trends to continue with announced hiring initiatives from Credit Suisse, MetLife and Ipreo, among others. Per Avison Young, the overall market’s Class A vacancy was 9.2%, a 100 basis point improvement since December 31st. Class A rents were up 3.5% year-over-year. There is 2.5 million square feet under construction spread across six submarkets. We believe 1.1 million square feet is competitive to our BBD-located portfolio and is approximately 50% pre-leased. We continue to generate strong rents as evidenced by GAAP rent spreads of positive 22.2% on signed deals in Q1. Our in-service Raleigh portfolio is 94.3% occupied, up 180 basis points year-over-year. We’re pleased to announce a recently signed deal for approximately 35,000 square feet at our 5000 CentreGreen development. This deal brings the project to 66% leased. There is strong interest in the remainder of the space and we remain confident in our lease-up plans. Turning to Atlanta, market fundamentals remain healthy fueled by Q1 2018 year-over-year job growth of 2.0%, spurring Class A annual rent growth of 5.7% as reported by CBRE. Net absorption moderated this quarter to positive 130,000 square feet compared to the recent average of around 250,000 square feet, but this quarter’s absorption was solely driven by Class A properties, indicating continued demand for high-quality product in Atlanta. We signed 217,000 square feet of second gen leases in Atlanta with an average term of 8.3 years. Although TI's moved up, we continue to push rents as evidenced by the quarter’s positive 20.5% GAAP rent spreads. During the quarter, we signed 11 leases totaling 82,000 square feet in Buckhead. We remain very bullish on the Buckhead submarket and our portfolio, particularly given its quality and competitively-advantaged location. The FBI vacated 137,000 square feet in Century Center in the first quarter. As we discussed on the last call, we’ve backfilled 28% of the vacancy and continue to see steady activity on the remaining space. Finally, as Ed mentioned, we’re now 90% leased at Riverwood 200 and have prospects to bring the building to the mid-90s. In Nashville, the unemployment rate is 2.6%, reported by Cushman and Wakefield to be the lowest of any U.S. metro area with more than 1 million people. Nashville’s office employment growth year-over-year was 2.5% versus the national average of 1.4%. As mentioned in the last call, approximately 2 million square feet delivered in Nashville throughout 2017. The market is responding well to the new product as overall vacancy held steady in Q1 at 8.5% and Class A vacancy improved 20 basis points, ending at 9.3%. Our Nashville portfolio occupancy was 95% at the end of Q1. We signed 141,000 square feet of second gen leases at robust GAAP spreads of positive 31.5%. Lastly in Tampa, net absorption as reported by JLL was 247,000 square feet, the highest in the last seven quarters. Overall vacancy was 11.4%, down 60 basis points compared to year-end, and Class A vacancy decreased 40 basis points to 8.3%. Tampa’s absence of development, stapled with 2.5% year-over-year office employment growth and dwindling supply of available quality office space, all contribute to a positive backdrop for rent growth. We are excited by the overall progress of Tampa and our portfolio, which was 94.2% occupied at the end of Q1. In conclusion, positive fundamentals across our markets offer a healthy environment for our business. We anticipate demand for quality, well-located office space will continue. Mark.