John Hendrickson
Analyst · KeyBanc Capital Markets
Thank you, Dennis. Good morning, everyone. As Dennis said, we are clearly in a very transitional time for our industry. But for our portfolio, we generally continue to enjoy a good operating environment. Demand from tenants for high quality space has remained consistent and this quarter we were able to continue to execute on the leasing, redevelopment and operating goal I discussed during our year-end call. Let me first spend a moment on Sports Authority. We filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early March and last week indicated that it likely will no longer seek to organize, but rather will liquidate. We have four Sports Authority in our portfolio, totaling 172,000 square feet and $1.9 million of annual base rent, which is only 1.1% of the company’s total base rent. Of these four locations, one store at Clinton Pointe in Metro Detroit was previously on the closing list and we already are in active conversations with multiple replacement tenants at not only accretive rents, but also significant upgrades in merchandising, which will help to drive value at the asset for years to come. We’re currently expecting to recapture the space sometime in 2Q and expect a replacement to likely open in the second half of 2017. Regarding our other three Sports Authority locations in Colorado, Wisconsin and Florida, it is currently too early to know their outcome. We do know that there is tenant interest for each location at rents sequentially equal to or above current levels, but it is uncertain if any or all of these leases will be purchased and assumed within the bankruptcy process. We expect to have more clarity on these locations in the next 60 to 90 days. Keep in mind, bankruptcies are natural part of our business and when anchor tenant liquidates, while often a net positive long-term, it creates a short-term drag on our operating results. The Sports Authority bankruptcy is no exception and likely will have a short-term impact on operating results, but it is too early to know its full effect. During 1Q, we took our $810,000 bad debt charge associated with all accounts receivable, including [March timeframe] for the four Sports Authority locations. This charge reduced our same-center growth for the quarter by 200 basis points since the four locations are all within our same-center pool. Without this impact, our same-center growth would have been 3.4% with redevelopment and 2.5% without redevelopment, right at the midpoint of our annual guidance, even against a strong first quarter 2015 comp. While we believe that the closure of the Clinton Pointe location is within our standard budgeted reserve, without further information on the other locations, we’re currently leaving our same-center guidance for the year unchanged. Now, turning to the balance of the portfolio, first on leasing. We finished the quarter at lease occupancy of 94.9%. Small-shop occupancy improved 20 basis points during the quarter and finished at 87.7%. Keep in mind, we typically lose small-shop occupancy during the first quarter of a year and lost 120 basis points in the first quarter 2014 and 90 basis points in the first quarter 2015. This current occupancy expansion shows that we continue to have good demand for our space that more than offset the closure that typically happen after the holiday season. In addition to gaining occupancy, we continued merchandising upgrades. For example, during the quarter, we converted vacant small-shop to acre space at Jackson Crossing [indiscernible] to Shops on Lane and Columbus and added a great local operator in the HW Home at Front Range Village. Thus, in additional to considering to upgrade the portfolio following, we are well on the way to achieve this small-shop lease occupancy goal I outlined last quarter of 88.5% to 89.5% by the end of this year. Regarding redevelopment, our current pipeline of projects was $75 million. During the quarter, in addition to executing existing projects such as starting a new Michael’s fleet for Spring Meadows, we started another expansion of our Town & Country shopping center, which will add quality acre to our already impressive acre line up [indiscernible]. Furthermore, before the end of the year, we expect to add $15 million to $40 million of projects, including our first phase of the placemaking and densification at two of our largest assets, Front Range Village in Fort Collins and Woodbury Lakes in Minneapolis. These additional projects added in the next few quarters will offset the $33 million of projects we will complete later this year. Our redevelopment pipeline is an important part of our internal growth plan and we expect to maintain a pipeline of at least $65 million. In summary, we are on target to meet our operating goals this year. Despite a potential short term issue related to Sports Authority, our properties are performing well. As Dennis mentioned, our regional dominant centers located in metropolitan markets not only mitigate, but also provide the opportunity and flexibility to meet an evolving retail environment. Now, let me turn the call over to Geoff for his prepared remarks. Geoff?