Don Miller
Analyst · Robert W. Baird. Please, go ahead
Good morning everyone and thank you all for taking the time to join us on today's call. We are extremely pleased with our results this quarter. Almost every key measure that we focus on in the management of Piedmont excelled during the third quarter, from the amount of leasing activity we accomplished, to economic terms realized in each negotiations. We achieved strong same-store cash and same-store GAAP NOI increases, excellent cash in GAAP rent rollups, and particularly strong vacant space leasing especially in some of our tougher markets of Houston and Washington, D.C. We also managed our G&A tightly, made progress on our capital recycling plan, and our CapEx per square foot per year of lease term was only slightly above long-term averages despite most of the leasing being done within our heaviest CapEx markets. Looking first most closely at our recent results for the quarter, there was a noticeable increase in leasing activity across the portfolio. We completed approximately 613,000 square feet of leasing, and we are particularly pleased to say that the majority of that leasing related to new leases for currently vacant space in our portfolio. As a result, our reported occupancy for the in-service portfolio reached over 93% at quarter end, up 2.5% from last quarter alone. Significant leasing was announced a couple of weeks ago, but the largest single transaction for the quarter was a 17-year first-generation lease for the entirety of Enclave Place, our 300,000 square foot newly-constructed building in the energy corridor west of Houston. While not achieving development's original forecasted returns due to the decline of oil prices, we did obtain a lease under much better conditions than we thought possible just two years ago. Based upon the terms of the lease we realized an approximately 7% GAAP and cash yield, and achieved net effective rents equivalent to our original pro forma. Combining last quarter's Schlumberger lease renewal and expansion with this Enclave Place transaction, Piedmont has been recognized as completing two of the three largest leases in Houston thus far in 2018. In addition, a good portion of our remaining leasing for the quarter was in Washington, D.C., and included almost 90,000 square feet of new leasing of currently vacant space. We are encouraged with the activity in this market, but the market remains quite competitive. A list of all leases over 10,000 square feet that were signed during the quarter is detailed for your review in the quarterly supplemental information that was filed last night, and is available on our Web site. Given that we have no significant expirations for the remainder of the year, any continuation of the leasing momentum for vacant space could push our occupancy up even further by year-end. Our one sizable expiration over the next 18 months is, of course, the New York State at 60 Broad. And we continue to make steady progress towards a prospective renewal. We are devoting appropriate resources towards this negotiation, along with other upcoming expirations, and there is solid activity taking place to backfill portions of the known smaller move-outs in 2019, well in advance of current tenant expiration dates. Turning to acquisition and disposition activity during the third quarter, we entered into a binding contract to sell 800 North Brand Boulevard for approximately $160 million, and expect to close this transaction during the fourth quarter, which will conclude our exit from the West Coast. With this sale, we are down to only two projects outside of our eight strategic operating markets, 1901 Market Street, in Philadelphia, and our Enclave properties in Houston. These two projects are currently at 100% leased, with an average lease term remaining of 13 years. We would anticipate selling these remaining assets as well as fully valued assets in our operating markets as market and company conditions allow. Considerations such as use of proceeds and tax implications will impact the eventual timing of these transactions. However, I will note that we'll continue to model that Piedmont will be a net seller in 2018 and 2019. Disposition proceeds will be used in several ways to enhance shareholder value, such as improving our balance sheet by paying down debt, prudently buying strategic assets in our core operating markets, redeploying funds into build-to-suit developments at our relative located parcels, particularly in Atlanta and Orlando, funding redevelopment projects that will enhance the value of our existing assets to drive occupancy and rental growth, and judiciously acquiring our own stock when it is trading at meaningful discounts to NAV. And as always, we will evaluate the options available to us and strive to select the use of funds that we believe maximizes value for our shareholders. As an example, subsequent to quarter-end, we acquired 9320 Excelsior Boulevard, a seven-story approximately 268,000 Class A property built in 2010 that is 100% leased to Cargill Incorporated. This value-added property is located in Minneapolis in close proximity to our Norman Pointe building that we acquired in 2017. The purchase price was $49.4 million, which represents almost a 50% discount for replacement cost. And the property provides an immediate 10% GAAP and cash yield, along with upside to a restructure of the Cargill lease that is currently set to expire at the end of 2023. Piedmont had a great quarter. And all of our employees are committed to carrying this momentum into the rest of the year and into next year. Obviously, I am very pleased and appreciative of all the effort by our team, from property management leasing, treasury and capital transactions. It's a great group of dedicated people. For several years, the Board and I have been working with each of our senior managers as part of an ongoing robust succession planning program in all areas of our business, from finance to real estate operations. This task obviously applies equally to senior leadership as well. Yesterday, the Board voted to promote our Chief Investment Officer, Brent Smith, to President and Chief Investment Officer. This promotion is certainly merited by Brent's outstanding performance and strategic leadership skills. His promotion does not change my role as Chief Executive Officer, but Brent will be working more closely with me on corporate strategy and taking a broader role across the platform. With that, I will turn the call over to Bobby to review the third quarter financial results and financing activities. Bobby?