Regency Centers Corporation

Greetings and welcome to Regency Centers Corporation fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Kristi McElroy. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning, and welcome to Regency Center's fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Lisa Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Moss, Chief Financial Officer, Alan Roth, East Region President and Chief Operating Officer, and Nick Wibbenmeyer, West Region President and Chief Investment Officer. As a reminder, today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements about the company's views of future business and financial performance, including forward earnings guidance and future market conditions. These are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. It's possible that actual results may differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements we may make. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements may be included in our presentation today and are described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, specifically in our most recent Form 10-K and 10-Q filings. In our discussion today, we will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures. The comparable GAAP financial measures are included in this quarter's earnings materials, which are posted on our investor relations website. Please note that we have also posted a presentation on our website with additional information, including disclosures related to forward earnings guidance. Our caution on forward-looking statements also applies to these presentation materials. Finally, as a reminder, given the number of participants we have on the call today, we kindly and respectfully ask that you limit your questions to one and then rejoin the queue if you have additional follow-up questions. Lisa?

Thank you, Christine. Good morning, everyone. We are proud to report another quarter and year of exceptional performance and execution of our strategy. Same property, NOI, and earnings growth were strong, reflective of continued robust tenant demand, and opportunities for us to drive value. This was evident in the strength of our base rent growth, the size of our leasing pipeline driving new record high lease rates, the activity within our expanding development program, and continued growth in our dividend, which we increased another 5% in the fourth quarter. Our operating fundamentals continue to benefit in part from a relative lack of new supply in our sector over the last 15 or so years. At the same time, while supply growth has remained muted, Regency has found opportunities to create meaningful value through development. We had another great year of project starts, hitting our target of $250 million or more for the second straight year, with nearly half in new ground-up developments. We have close to $500 million of projects in process today and are having a lot of success continuing to build our shadow pipeline for future growth. Our development platform is and will continue to be a meaningful differentiator for us. And as I've said before, we have the best national development platform in the business. Our creative investment activity totaled more than a half a billion dollars in 2024 with the funding of this growing development pipeline combined with our high-quality acquisitions and our opportunistic share repurchases, all while maintaining the strength of our balance sheets. In closing, I'm so appreciative of all the hard work of our team to generate this impressive performance, and I'm even more excited about continued strong momentum as we look ahead. We believe the positive trends and tailwinds we are experiencing in our high-quality shopping centers, combined with our sector-leading balance sheet and liquidity position, will continue to serve as a strong foundation for the long-term success of our business. Alan?