Regan Sweeney: Hi, good afternoon. This is Regan Sweeney on the line with John. Just wanted to follow up on those cash spreads. Was that concentrated in one lease or asset, or is that kind of spread out across all of your leases in Manhattan, the positive 35.6%.
Tony Malkin: Well, this quarter, we had 10.1% positive spreads for our entire office and retail portfolio. And then just under 15% for our Manhattan office space for both new and renewal office leases. And that’s our eighth straight quarter with positive spreads for our Manhattan office portfolio.
Tom Durels: I think it’s really important to make the, that no one should leave this call without a real understanding of the single most important message here. We have outperformed our peers. We got proven leasing results with an increase in lease rate of 330 bps over second, in the second quarter year-over-year. We’ve got increased occupancy, 360 bps second quarter year-over-year. This whole narrative that only the AAA brand new stuff will lease, we’ve said that’s wrong for several quarters. It just look at the points on the board. And I think that’s really, the key issue here. And we get quality tenants who are prepared to pay rents, which are good for us and a great and attractive value for them, and are modernized and monetized energy efficient buildings with indoor environmental quality.
So, I think that’s the biggest, most important thing. I think that, I don’t know if that addresses your question. Regan, if you have other questions you might like.
Regan Sweeney: Yes, I appreciate the color. Thank you. And then just shifting to the observatory, what percentage of these visitors are international versus domestic, and has there been any sign of the pickup in international tourism or demand?
Tony Malkin: So look, the headline on the observatory clearly is that we are the number one attraction in the United States according to Tripadvisor for the second year in a row. And that is a terrific indication of what people think of our value proposition, the quality of our experience and, the experience they have when they’re with us, number one. Number two, international is definitely not back to where it was, and yet we still deliver in excess of 2019 NOI. And as I said, we’ve, because we’re all reservations and we want to maintain that quality experience, we only allow a certain number of people in park at a time. And because of that, we’ve added hours. We’re going 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. right now at the observatory.
So we’ve got good demand. Look, international travel is extremely positive. It’s mostly Americans going back and forth across the ocean right now. Nonetheless, it’s a tailwind for us as we go forward and as that tourism visit normalizes.
Regan Sweeney: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And congrats on the quarter.
Tony Malkin: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. With that, I’ll turn the call back over to Tony Malkin, Chairman, President, and CEO for closing remarks.
Tony Malkin: Thank you very much, everybody. A few final notes. First and foremost, a call of gratitude and appreciation for points on the board by the entire ESR Team. Everyone is executed at a high level from Christina and her team to Tom and the property team, Jean-Yves Ghazi, and the entire observatory team, Jean-Yves, Dan Rogoski and I have promised the entire observatory team that we will take pies in our faces if we win the Tripadvisor Award three years in a row. Tom Durels, Ryan Kass, Mike Prunty, Dana Schneider, and Pete Sjolund have made and delivered on promises for our building’s modernization, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and amenities and tenants just lease it up. Christina Chiu, John Hogg, Steve Horn, are the engine behind our reporting, financial planning and analysis, and fantastic work with our capital partners.
Christina has also been a tremendous partner to me and her added title of COO, and Abi Rickards and her team successfully spread the word. Special callout to the Empire State Building Observatory besties, and their new rookie board member Grant Hill, and of course, Emma Pire. All of you can follow us and what we do on Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. Second on transitions, we salute Bill Regan, who’s done a fantastic job as SVP Financial reporting. Thank you, Bill for your decade of contributions. Finally, we welcome Christina Van Tassell and Hannah Yang to our board, I encourage everyone to read through our latest investor presentation, as it includes many great improvements including tenant testimonials that speak to the flight to quality from which our portfolio benefits and also our sustainability report shows you the future here now, science-based targets and numbers, not fluffernutter.
Thank you all for your participation in today’s call. We look forward to the chance to meet with many of you at non-deal roadshows, conferences, and property tours in the months ahead. Until then, thank you for your interest, onward and upward.
Operator: Thank you. This does conclude today’s teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.
