Retail Opportunity Investments Corp.

Welcome to Retail Opportunity Investments 2023 Fourth Quarter and Year-End Conference Call. Participants are currently in a listen-only mode. Following the company's prepared remarks, the call will be opened up for questions. Now, I'd like to introduce Laurence Severa, the company's Chief Accounting Officer. Please begin.

Thank you. Before we begin, please note that certain matters which we will discuss on today's call are forward-looking statements within the meeting of federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements involve risks and other factors which can cause actual results to differ significantly from future results that are expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Participants should refer to the company's filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, to learn more about these risks and other factors. In addition, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial results on today's call. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial results to GAAP results can be found in the company's quarterly supplemental, which is posted on our website. Now, I'll turn the call over to Stuart Tans, the company's Chief Executive Officer. Stuart?

Thank you, Lauren, and good day, everyone. Here with Lauren and me today is Michael Haynes, our Chief Financial Officer, and Rich Chauvel, our Chief Operating Officer. Notwithstanding 2023 having been a year of extraordinary challenges for certain commercial real estate asset classes and certain CBD markets across the country, in distinct contrast, the long-term core drivers of the grocery-anchored sector remain fundamentally sound. especially as it relates to our portfolio in highly protected, sought-after West Coast markets. Capitalizing on the strong fundamentals, we achieved a number of new leasing records and milestones for the company. For the 14th consecutive year, we leased essentially double the amount of space that was originally scheduled to mature. Specifically, in 2023, we leased over 1.7 million square feet, achieving a new record for the company in terms of overall leasing activity. Additionally, we again achieved releasing rent growth for a record 11th consecutive year, including 11 years in a row of achieving double-digit growth on same-space new leases. Importantly, we worked at strategically renewing early a number of key valued anchor tenants, including longstanding grocer tenants. By doing so, we enhanced the long-term strength and stability of ROIC's core anchor income stream well into the future. We also continued to implement our longstanding strategy of proactively enhancing the tenant mix across our portfolio through seeking out opportunities to recapture early and release select spaces. Going forward, this will only serve to enhance the strength of our tenant base and appeal of our properties. It will also serve to grow our income stream, having achieved higher releasing rents. In terms of acquisitions, in light of the considerable uncertainty in commercial real estate during 2023, the West Coast acquisition market sat essentially idle through much of the year. While it was sitting idle, we continued to maintain an active dialogue with our longstanding off-market sources in order to be in a strong position to capitalize on unique opportunities when the market began to pick up again. To that end, during the closing months of 2023, certain private owners started to become more active in seeking to transact. Capitalizing on this, in December, we acquired an excellent neighborhood grocery-anchored shopping center that we had our eye on for some time. The property is located in the Los Angeles market in a densely populated, mature, diverse community. The center is anchored by a well-established supermarket that is a longtime national tenant of ours. The seller was a private owner that was in need of a closing before year end. Given our knowledge of the market together with our knowledge of the property and tenant roster, we were in a strong position to facilitate an efficient closing and in return achieved attractive pricing including a cap rate in the high sixes for what is irreplaceable sought-after real estate. Looking ahead, based on what we're currently seeing, market activity for acquisitions could resume on the West Coast in 2024, potentially in earnest. Turning to our balance sheet, during 2023, we worked diligently to enhance our long-term financial strength. and profile through implementing a number of strategic capital market initiatives, including reentering the public bond market, balancing our debt maturity schedule, while also reducing our floating rate debt and extending our credit line maturity, as well as raising a bit of equity in connection with the acquisition. Now, I'll turn the call over to Michael Haynes, our CFO, to take you through the details of our balance sheet initiatives, as well as our financial results for 2023 and initial guidance for 2024. Mike? Thanks, Stuart.