Lisa Palmer
Analyst · Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question
Thank you, Mac, and good morning, everyone. We had another impressive quarter of same property NOI growth that was primarily driven by base rents. As Jim said, base rent growth contributed 3.5% for the quarter, and 3.7% year-to-date, a reflection of the strength of the portfolio, with healthy embedded rent steps as well as the result of accretive asset management in redevelopments. This strong performance during the first half of the year, combined with less tenant fallout than we originally projected, allowed us to raise our expectations around same property NOI growth. We have removed the potential for finishing in the bottom half of our previous range, and now expect to finish the year at 2.75% to 3.25%. As we’ve communicated previously, we will experience a deceleration in the back half of the year, with some property growth in the low 2% range for both the third and fourth quarters. Timing and the lumpiness of certain NOI line items are the primary factors, as our guidance range does include very healthy base rent growth of 3%-plus through the remainder of the year. I think it would be helpful to take a minute and walk you through the primary drivers of this deceleration. First, we expect recovery rates to normalize through the back half of the year, and end the year in line with 2017 levels. Second, as Jim mentioned, while we are making great progress on the toys boxes that we acquired out of bankruptcy, we will experience downtime in the third and fourth quarters. Third, we’re going up against tough comps as we completed the major redevelopment of Serramonte, in the fourth quarter of last year. And finally, the timing of other income was front end loaded this year versus last. As we look through these timing impacts, the growth in the second half of 2018, I’d like to reiterate that base rent growth is on track to remain above 3%, in both the third and fourth quarters. Turning to earnings, we have modestly increased our Nareit FFO and operating FFO guidance ranges, incorporating the better performance through the second quarter, driven by same property NOI growth. And as a reminder, operating FFO eliminates non-comparable onetime items as well as certain non-cash accounting items, like straight line rent and above-below market rent amortization. And I also think it’s important to remind you, that these non-cash items are expected to total $54 million this year, which at the midpoint – it’s $54 million at the midpoint, which is $0.32 per share. Before turning the call over for questions, I would like to quickly touch on the new lease accounting rule that will go into effect in 2019. Many of you are aware that this accounting change will impact that way REITs will recognize certain internal leasing costs. Some of these costs have been capitalized with leasing activity, but after adopting the new standard next year, these internal costs will need to be expensed. We anticipate the impact to be in the range of $0.06 to $0.07 per share, on 2019 earnings. And while this will impact reported earnings, it does not impact AFFO, or cash flow, and we do not have any intention of allowing this accounting change, which doesn’t have a true economic impact on the business, to influence our structure or compensation strategies. That concludes our prepared remarks, and we now welcome your questions.