Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Mark Langer: Okay. I mean the best example is Ledgewood where we locked in at 180 basis points over treasuries. At Yonkers, we were a little bit above 200 basis points. So I think that’s a fair range for assets of that quality.

Paulina Rojas: Thank you. And so you talked about how the anchors negotiating power, it’s still it sounds like it’s still on their side in terms of how hard it is to really push for higher rent bumps, perhaps less options. So I wonder if that makes you think in any way that when you redevelop properties increasing your exposure to shops, it’s a good idea just to be able to capture pricing mark-to-market?

Jeffrey Olson: Good morning, Paulina. Yes, we’re always looking for the right distribution of shop versus anchor space and in many cases, we look at anchor spaces and say, we don’t have enough shop here and if the physical layout makes sense and the rents make sense, we do want to add more shops. But I would not say that the anchors are still sort of having more control over the process. There was an article yesterday in The Wall Street Journal that talked about how they specifically mentioned Kohl’s, Walmart and Target have anywhere from one-third to 100% of their online fulfillment being done out of the store. So when you think about that and a store let’s take Kohl’s or Walmart for example, if they want to close a store in the Northeast where arguably they’re always going to have higher rates than higher sales than in other parts of the country, they’ve got to be willing to give up the loss of sales from not just from that store, but from fulfillment for a third of those online sales numbers.

So it really is something that we feel like we have better leverage with anchors than we’ve had in a really long time. And when we meet with the anchors what we’re hearing from them is not this store is not doing well, we’re going to close, but where else can you find space for us? I’m very comfortable with our anchor to shop distribution. I know it’s different than a lot of our other peers. But given where we’re located, the size of our properties and the performance of our anchors, we don’t look at our assets and say we wish we had less anchors. We probably would like more shops because they would lease and we’re trying to build them where we can. But we don’t feel like we’re over anchored at all.

Paulina Rojas: Thank you. And maybe one last one, if I may. You said you expect to be at the high end of your FFO — ’25 FFO guidance that you provided in your Investor Day. So I know you don’t go into every single detail, but would you say the improved outlook is mostly driven by accretive acquisitions or more or what percentage you’re truly by same-property operations?

Jeffrey Olson: Look, I think there are three factors that contribute to our increased confidence. The first is just better retail fundamentals. The second is we have done a lot of accretive capital recycling that was not contemplated when we provided numbers at Investor Day. So again a $426 million of acquisitions, 87.2% cap rates offset by $356 million of dispositions at a 5.2% cap rate, so a 200 basis point spread there. And then lastly, just interest expense is now much easier to predict because we’ve completed about $500 million of refinancings. We only have 11% of our debt coming due between now and 2026. Between now and 2025, we only have $147 million mortgage coming due and that comes to December of this year. And then the only other piece of debt is a $24 million mortgage which matures in December 2025. So we just have greater visibility today on NOI and on interest expense.

Paulina Rojas: Thank you for taking my questions.

Jeffrey Olson: Okay, thank you, Paulina.

Operator: Thank you. We have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. And with that, I would like to turn the floor back over to Jeff Olson for any closing comments.

Jeffrey Olson: Great. Thank you. We appreciate your attendance on this call. Please look at our new website and logo, which we posted yesterday. My favorite tab is under the career section because it showcases many of our employees and what they value about our unique culture. I’m proud of our team and the results they have produced in executing our plan. Thank you very much. Look forward to seeing everyone at the upcoming NAREIT Conference.

Operator: This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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