Brixmor Property Group Inc. (NYSE:BRX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Operator: The next question comes from Floris van Dijkum with Compass Point. Please proceed.

Floris van Dijkum: Thanks for taking my question guys. I just wanted to make sure, I understand this correctly. And one of the things that I mean, Jim capital allocation is how management provides value to shareholders and you’ve done a very nice job in terms of self-funding your business and generating significant amount of free-cash. One of the things I’m am curious to make sure I understand correctly here. The – one of the ancillary benefits of this reinvestment in your portfolio, is that your small-shop occupancy has increased quite sharply. But there appears to be significant more room to go here. Am I correct that every 100 basis-points of small shop occupancy is 150 basis-points of NOI growth. And would that – does that imply that, if you get your small-shop occupancy to another 300 basis-points higher, which I think is where it’s trending based on your redevelopments. Is that another 600 basis-points of upsides potential?

Angela Aman: Yes. I think over-time, right. I mean, I think when you just think about what a powerful contributor the small-shop occupancy pickup is, when you’re bringing that space online not at portfolio average of 16. And not even at sort of where the sign but not commence overall pool is today at over $19 per square-foot, but at $25 per square-foot, you can really sort of get your arms around how significant the upside and one important driver that is of growth as we move forward. We still have some, remaining upside opportunity in anchor, we’re about 100 basis-points below kind of record anchor occupancy for the portfolio. So there’s still additional opportunity there, but most of the growth over-time, over the next call it three, four, five years on the anchor size, going to be from continuing to roll those rents to-market, as we’ve talked about primarily through reinvestment program and recapture proactive recapture space like we’ve been talking about today from some of those struggling tenants.

So that’s still a contributor to growth, but there’s no question that the follow-on benefit and the momentum we’re seeing in small-shop occupancy and the outsized potential of those rents is going to be a very significant driver of growth over the next several years.

Jim Taylor: Yes, Before, you’re hitting on the flywheel effect, we’ve talked about before which is, as we deliver these reinvestments at attractive returns, we’re fully anticipating follow-on benefit in rate and occupancy, particularly in the small shops of the centers impacted. And it’s part of why we don’t manage the business to a particular occupancy target, we manage the business for growth.

Floris van Dijkum: Thanks. One of the other things I presume your fixed rent bumps in your small-shop or higher as one and they mark-to-market more often than your anchor rents of one of the other benefits of getting that occupancy up. Maybe, if you can talk a little bit about one of the things that we’ve been hearing a lot more about in terms of tenant demand is this mid tail or medical users in your end portfolios and I think you mentioned something like that as well. It’s hard for us to understand what – how did those tenants think about occupancy costs and their ability to pay rents? Can you guys provide a little bit more color into the demand that you’re seeing there and why you feel-good about that portion of your portfolio?

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