John Kilroy
Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead
Thank you, Tyler. Hello everybody and thank you for joining us today. I'll begin this morning with a review of 2018 highlights and fourth quarter results and finish with the status of conditions in our markets that are driving our development activities and shaping our 2019 outlook and objectives. First, last year's highlights, 2018 was an excellent year for us across the company. Our West Coast markets remain healthy and vibrant and we in turn delivered a record high leasing performance signing 3.4 million square feet of leases in our stabilized portfolio and development program. Cash and GAAP rents were up 15% and 36% respectively in the stabilized portfolio. We proactively addressed our 2018 and 2019 expirations. We signed a 12-year lease with Netflix for all -- of the 355,000 square feet of our office space at the mixed-use development project that is under construction in Hollywood. We also signed leases on 91% of the retail space and have commitments on roughly 2/3rds of the office space at our One Paseo mixed-use project in Del Mar. We commenced revenue recognition on all of the office space at 100 Hooper in San Francisco. We added a key life science development opportunity to our pipeline with the acquisition of Kilroy Oyster Point, a fully entitled approximately 40-acre waterfront site in South San Francisco. We made two strategic property acquisitions, totaling $257 million, one in South San Francisco and the other in San Francisco's technology corridor, on Brannan Street. Both acquisitions are adjacent to existing KRC assets. We generated $373 million in our capital recycling program through the disposition of three non-strategic assets. We increased our dividend by 7.1% or 30% over the last three years. We strengthened our balance sheet, lowered our overall cost of capital and successfully managed earnings dilution with the issuance of $1.1 billion in equity and debt. And we reinforced our commitment to building a sustainable enterprise with a pledge to achieve carbon-neutral operations by year-end 2020. We also ranked number one in sustainability across all publicly traded real estate companies in the world by GRESB and received numerous other awards for our leadership positions from the EPA and NAREIT. Now, let's get into the fourth quarter details. We had another outstanding quarter in leasing. In our stabilized portfolio, we signed new or renewing leases on 768,000 square feet of office space. Rents were up 25% on a cash basis and 51% on a GAAP basis, included in the fourth quarter was a five-year renewal with Microsoft, for 76,000 square feet in Silicon Valley that was to expire this year. The deal addressed the last of our five 2019 expirations, exceeding 75,000 square feet. We also signed a 10-year 71,000 square foot lease at Orange County, property that backfilled our 2019 expiration. We were equally busy closing out our investment activities for the year. We completed the disposition of three non-strategic assets for $373 million across three markets, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay area and the 101 Corridor in Los Angeles. The average cap rate on those three transactions was in the low 5% range. We also completed in December the $146 million acquisition of 345 Brannan Street in San Francisco. This building is connected to our 333 Brannan Street project that we developed and delivered in 2015 and both properties are currently occupied by Dropbox. Along with 301 Brannan, these buildings will serve as GM Cruise's new headquarters, following Dropbox's move to The Exchange later this year. Now, I'll make a few comments about the market tone across the West Coast. From San Diego to Seattle, every market we compete in is benefiting from broad-based economic growth, fueled by the growing number of companies and industries competing for space and talent, not only in technology, media and life science, but also a broader cross section of sectors of the economy. This dynamic has resolved in one of the strongest market conditions we have seen with very limited supply and solid demand driving, declining vacancy rates and higher rents. Other indicators we monitor also remain healthy. 2018 VC funding was at a record level in this cycle and our West Coast markets accounted for 60% of the funding. Sublease activity in San Francisco remain disciplined with 1.7 million square feet or just about 2% of inventory. Job growth in our markets also outperformed the rest of the nation, led by strong growth in San Diego and Seattle. And in terms of the investment market, high-quality, well-located assets in our markets continue to command strong valuations as we have seen pricing in the $1,500 per square foot range in San Francisco, over $1,000 per square foot in Seattle and Los Angeles and now $700 per square foot for older products in the San Diego submarket of Del Mar. Now, let's move to development. We have two projects that are nearing stabilization, 100 Hooper and The Exchange on 16th, once stabilized, in 2020, these two development properties will generate approximately $70 million of cash NOI. Based on current market cap rates, we believe the value creation on these two projects is approximately $850 million, doubling the value of our investment. We have three projects currently in the construction process: 333 Dexter, a 650,000 square foot project in the South Lake Union Submarket of Seattle; One Paseo, a 1.1 million square foot mixed-use office, retail and residential project in coastal San Diego's Del Mar community and our Hollywood development of 570,000 square foot mixed-use project. In Seattle, we continue to make progress on lease negotiations with several tenants at 333 Dexter. The strength of the market in Seattle remains robust and we expect to have a substantial leasing on this project by shell completion that is scheduled for later this year. Also, I would like to bring you up to speed on the new tunnel that connects South Lake Union to the South end of the city. Just yesterday, SR-99 tunnel opened to traffic after five and a half years of construction, improving traffic flow and transforming the pedestrian environment around our 333 Dexter project. Travel time from the South end of the city to the north end of the city is now estimated to be less than three minutes, that is a really big deal for our development and for South Lake Union. At our One Paseo project, the retail space is essentially fully leased, marketing is underway for the 608 residential units to be delivered over the time beginning mid-summer and office pre-leasing activity is roughly 67%. The office component is commanding premium rents that are 25% to 30% higher than existing top of class product in the market. With the Netflix lease down in place for all of the office space at our Hollywood development project, we commenced construction on the project's 193 residential units. We expect to deliver the office space to Netflix in mid-2020 and the residential tower later that year. Taken together, these three projects represent a total estimated investment of over $1.5 billion, with an average delivery timeframe of early 2020. Upon stabilization, projected cash NOI is close to $100 million, with the product components to be 65% office and 35% residential and retail. In terms of our development pipeline, we are making progress on both the Flower Mart and Kilroy Oyster Point. With regard to the Flower Mart, in early December, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Central SOMA Plan, which allows for Prop M allocations to be allocated this spring. As anticipated, there have been a few lawsuits filed that opposes Central SOMA Plan and the timing on how those get sorted out is still unclear. We continue to see significant interest from a variety of large users in what is arguably one of the most sought-after commercial submarkets in the country. At Kilroy Oyster Point, we are extremely well positioned with 2.5 million square feet of entitlements in the supply constrained market that has a vacancy rate of about 2%. We are in numerous discussions with potential tenants in connection with Phase 1, which includes three buildings totaling 600,000 square feet. Wrapping up, we will be focused on three key objectives in 2019. First, execution in our development pipeline. We continue to believe that development is the best way to create shareholder value at this point in the cycle and our focus is to ensure that our current projects deliver on time and on budget and we make progress in securing entitlements for the Flower Mart. Second, maximizing value in our stabilized portfolio. This includes leasing up our vacancies, driving rents where possible and proactively addressing expirations. And third, maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet. This includes keeping our metrics conservative and having access to multiple forms of capital. That completes my remarks. Now, I'll turn the call over to Jeff for a closer look at our markets. Jeff?