Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESRT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

John Kim: Thank you. Tony, kudos on your stance on legal work, I know a lot of us give you a hard time on that a few years ago. But speaking of blowback, you did receive a lot in the press when Empire State Building celebrated the Eagles NFC Championship victory that irked a lot of New Yorkers, both in the giants and jet side. I guess my question is, any publicity good for the observatory or has your — has the blowback really reconsidered your stance on which teams you celebrate?

Tony Malkin: First of all, to be fair that was very funny. Not your question, but the whole event at number one. Number two, we’ll always celebrate the major sports events. Our integration into the NCAA tournament, what we do with the World Series, what we did, we do with the Olympics. And I — so the answer is we’re a global brand. The vast majority of our visitors come to us from outside New York City. We have a big driver in our office properties, our retail properties, our residential properties, along with the Empire State Building and the Empire State Building Observatory. And I appreciate your calling attention to what became actually an international phenomenon, and that’s what the Empire State Building is.

John Kim: I agree. It wasn’t using when it came out. The question on guidance, I know a lot of people are focused on this, but Christina, you mentioned the same-store revenue being conservative, but I would’ve thought with increased occupancy that you’re expecting this year coupled with escalators that you have in place, that you would start off at a — starting point in the low-to-mid single-digits on the revenue side. Can you comment on what’s offsetting that?

Christina Chiu: We have the modest revenue increases as you just mentioned. The key driver is we have operating expenses going up as well. So combined that’s where we get to the 4% to 6% as year progresses. We allow room for timing to lag and what hits the numbers. We can certainly address that as we get more clarity. But I think it’s no secret. This is an uncertain year. We’re working very hard to drive positive results and we’ll deliver more in communication on guidance as we do that.

John Kim: And just to clarify, this same-store guidance does not include termination fees, correct?

Christina Chiu: Correct, excluding.

John Kim: Okay. My final question is on the Mamaroneck sale. What are the use of proceeds on this? I know you cited that this will be used to fund 298 Mulberry Street, but there are some excess funds on the sale side. So have you determined what the use of proceeds are?

Christina Chiu: We have not determined on the balance. So most of it will be redeployed. And as we have more information, we will deliver that to the market.

Operator: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Dylan Burzinski with Green Street. Please proceed with your questions.

Dylan Burzinski: Hi guys, thanks for taking the question. Just curious you’ve done a good job executing the suburban office sales, a little bit of standalone retail. Here’s how you’re thinking about the portfolio in terms of disposition candidates for the Manhattan office portfolio. I know there’s obviously tax considerations that take into account, but just wanted to hear your thoughts on that.