This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.
spk06: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the third quarter 2020 American Assets Trust, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Adam Will, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Please go ahead, sir.
spk04: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to American Asset Trust third quarter 2020 earnings call. Yesterday afternoon, our earnings release and supplemental information were furnished to the SEC on Form 8K. Both are now available on the investor section of our website, AmericanAssetsTrust.com. A telephonic replay and on-demand webcast will also be available for this call over the next week. During this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which are reconciled to our GAAP financial results and our earnings release and supplemental information. We will also be making forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties discussed in our SEC filings. Your caution not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual events could cause our results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements for a number of reasons, including uncertainty related to the scope, severity, and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the actions taken to contain the pandemic or mitigate its impact, and the direct and indirect economic effect of the pandemic and containment measures on us and on our tenants. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Ernest Rady, our chairman and CEO, to begin the discussion of our third quarter 2020 results. Ernest?
spk08: Ernest Rady Thank you, Adam. Good job. First and foremost, I would like to wish all of our stakeholders and their loved ones continued health and safety during these truly unprecedented times. We remain optimistic that a vaccine will be forthcoming over the next six, nine months. And trust me, I'm going to be one of the first in line. But nevertheless, we are prepared to endure a prolonged pandemic with our solid balance sheet, world-class properties, and tenants, and incredibly dedicated and competent employees. Fortunately now, the second and third quarters are behind us. And I can tell you that our operations and financial results were nowhere near as catastrophic as my worst case projections that we modeled in April 2020. As most of you know, for many years, many outsiders believed our asset diversification was perceived negatively relative to many of our best in class peers. However, we now know that our ownership of a combination of irreplaceable office, multifamily, retail, and mixed-use properties, as opposed to a single asset class, provided us with much-needed stability and protection from the risks associated with the changes in economic conditions of a particular market, industry, or even economy, such as those changes created by COVID-19. We have constantly defended our asset class diversity to stockholders and naysayers, but not anymore. And thanks in large to our asset diversification, I wanted to mention that the Board of Directors has approved the quarterly dividend of 25 cents for the third quarter, which is supported by our rent collections in that third quarter. Could we have declared a larger dividend? Yes, probably, and I would have benefited more than anyone. But as fiduciaries to our stockholders and as staunch defenders of our balance sheet, we felt it most prudent to remain conservative on our dividend until there is more visibility into a vaccine and an economic recovery. In any case, a year or so from now, once there is a vaccine, we expect to look back and hope that this will be nothing but a bad memory. Adam, Bob, and Steve will go into more detail on our various asset segments and financial results, and I will be available for any questions you may have at the conclusion of prepared remarks. I'm now going to turn this call back over. to Adam Wilde.
spk04: Adam Wilde Thanks, Ernest. One of our primary focuses over the past quarter has been collections in our retail segment. We are pleased to have made meaningful progress on that front where we began the pandemic initially collecting approximately 40 percent of retail rents in April to collecting approximately 80 percent of retail rents in the third quarter, a number that we expect to get better. No doubt this was in large part due to the tireless work of our in-house collection team, comprised of our property managers, lease administrators, legal staff, and direct engagement by our executives with retailers. And though we remain sensitive and at times accommodating to the financial challenges of certain impacted tenants, we have certainly taken a more aggressive position with better capitalized tenants, knowing the high quality of our underlying real estate and the clear rights we have embedded in our leases. We expect those tenants to adhere to their contractual obligations, and we continue to refuse to agree to deals that are not in the best interest of our company and our shareholders. As such, we expect our third quarter collections to improve further as we continue our efforts, and in fact, we know more significant checks and wires are currently in transit from tenants on account of third quarter collections. Our most notable collection challenges in the retail segment remain with our movie theaters, gyms, and apparel stores, as well as many of our retailers at Waikiki Beach Walk. which until mid-October had no incoming tourism to sustain meaningful revenue for our tenants. It's likely going to take several more months or quarters for us to have better visibility for recovery by these more challenged tenants. That said, our focus continues to prioritize long-term strategic growth over the short term. So we've entered into lease modifications that have provided certain tenants relief during the pandemic by way of deferrals or other monetary concessions where necessary, provided we obtain something in return. whether by lease extensions, waiver of certain tenant-friendly lease rights, or incremental percentage rent. Otherwise, we intend to pursue all means to enforce our rights under leases, including litigation as necessary, particularly for those unilaterally withholding rents when we believe they have the funds to pay. Additionally, we are pleased to report that 100% of our properties continue to remain open and accessible by our tenants in each of our markets. And anecdotally, the majority of our employees are voluntarily working in person at our properties or at our corporate offices each week, while taking absolutely all prudent safety precautions, despite having the flexibility to work from home. We continue to firmly believe that post-pandemic, being together in person will promote much better productivity, collaboration, and innovation. And we expect, and I've heard, similar sentiment from the majority of our office tenants. Finally, on the election front, we are closely following two propositions on the California ballot that take direct aim at commercial real estate. Of course, we are firmly against Prop 15, which would eliminate Prop 13 taxpayer protection. If it passes, we would not expect it to create an immediate meaningful impact to our company, but rather would place a significant pass-through financial burden on our tenants at a time when many are already struggling, not to mention the likely negative impact of those property taxes on future rent growth. And also, we are against Prop 21, which we believe is a flawed measure that would implement a significant amendment to existing rent control laws on the multifamily side, limiting landlords' rights and likely making the housing crisis in California even worse. We are contributing our resources to oppose those propositions. While the challenges we face today are complex, whether relating to the pandemic, racial justice, technology, or legislative matters, to name a few, We do believe that we are well-positioned to navigate through and manage these challenges with, as Ernest mentioned, our best-in-class assets, our 200 talented and dedicated employees, and the strength of our balance sheet. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bob to discuss Q3 results in more detail.
spk07: Good morning, and thank you, Ernest and Adam. Last night we reported third quarter 2020 FFO 44 cents per share and net income attributable to common stockholders of 8 cents per share for the third quarter. Let me begin with my perspective that I am optimistic with the overall performance of this portfolio. Even in light of the pandemic, we are all going through. We too are feeling the bumps along the road like everyone else in our sectors. What makes me optimistic about our portfolio and its future are the following. Number one, our collections of monthly recurring billings continue to improve in Q3 over Q2, with total collections of approximately 89 percent in Q3 versus 83 percent in Q2. Number two, we believe we have ample liquidity to weather the storm that we are going through. We prepared for the worst-case scenario by modeling a $50 million quarterly burn rate at the beginning of this pandemic, not knowing what we were going into. And in Q2, our actual burn rate was approximately $6 million. In Q3, we ended up with a cash surplus of approximately $9 million. And this is after the operating capital expenditures and the dividends. We started Q3 with approximately $146 million of cash on the balance sheet and ended Q3 with approximately $155 million of cash on the balance sheet, primarily as a result of increased cash NOI quarter over quarter due to our successful collection efforts outlined earlier by Adam. Number three, we have additional liquidity of $250 million available on our line of credit, combined with an entire portfolio of unencumbered properties, with the exception of our only mortgage, which is on City Center Bellevue. Number four, we believe we have embedded growth in cash flow in our office portfolio, with approximately $30-plus million of growth in the office cash NOI between now and the end of 2022, as Steve will discuss later. And lastly, once we get a vaccine, we believe our high-quality West Coast portfolio will rebound. We believe our embassy suites, which is currently at approximately a break-even cash NOI, will rebound based on its location and tourism. On October 15th, Hawaii allowed tourists to come back to the island as they can demonstrate that they have had a negative COVID test within the last 72 hours. On the first day, there were approximately 10,000 tourists that landed in Hawaii. We expect that tourism inflow to continue to increase each week and to start benefiting our Hawaiian properties over the coming quarters. Let's take a moment and look at the results of the third quarter for each property segment. Our office property segment continues to perform well as expected during these uncertain times. Office properties, excluding One Beach Street in San Francisco, which is under redevelopment, were at 96% occupancy at the end of the third quarter, an increase of approximately 2% from the prior year. More importantly, same-store cash NOI increased 13% in Q3 over the prior year. primarily from increases in base rent at La Jolla Commons, Torrey Reserve Campus, City Center Bellevue, and the Lloyd District portfolio. Our retail properties continue to be significantly impacted by the pandemic. Although the occupancy at our retail properties remained stable for the third quarter at 95% occupancy, which was a decrease of approximately 3% from the prior year, Our retail collections have been challenging during the pandemic as reflected in our negative same store cash NOI. Our multifamily properties experienced a challenging quarter as same store cash NOI decreased approximately 5.4% due primarily from the increase in average occupancy or I'm sorry, due primarily from the decrease in average occupancy at Haslo. on 8th in Portland, offset by favorable master lease signed with a private university in San Diego area at the beginning of the quarter. On a segment basis, occupancy was at 87.5% at the end of the third quarter, a decrease of approximately 3% from the prior year. We expect our occupancy to return to normal, stabilized levels at Haslo as we have recently adjusted pricing and concessions. With these adjustments, In the last 10 days, we have already seen leasing traffic increase from a weekly average of 4 to 6 tours per week to 10 to 12 tours per week. We have captured a total of 11 new leases in just the last week. Our mixed-use property, consisting of the Embassy Suites Hotel and the Waikiki Beach Walk Retail, is located on the island of Oahu. The state of Hawaii remained in a self-quarantine throughout most of the third quarter. significantly impacted the operating results for the third quarter of 2020. The Embassy Suites average occupancy for the third quarter of 2020 was 66% compared with the average occupancy in the second quarter of 2020 of 17%. The average daily rate for the third quarter of 2020 was $209, which is approximately 40% of the prior year's ADR. Waikiki Beach Walk retail suffered considerably with virtually no tourists on the island until recently. We are working daily with our tenants at Waikiki Beach Walk to formalize a recovery plan that benefits both our tenants and the company, utilizing all resources necessary, including state and city grant programs and lobbying efforts. Let's talk about bad debt expense reserves in the third quarter. As noted in our earnings release, In the third quarter, we collected approximately 89% of what was billed in Q3 to our tenants. We had COVID-19 adjustments amounting to 2% of what was billed in Q3 to our tenants. And the balance of approximately 9% is the amount outstanding of what was billed in Q3. This is compared to the second quarter collections of 81%, COVID-19 adjustments of 5%, and Q2 amounts that were billed and still outstanding of 14 percent. Also, as noted in our earnings release, in the third quarter, we incurred an additional bad debt expense of accounts receivable of approximately 21 percent of the outstanding uncollected amounts at the end of Q3. And we incurred an additional bad debt expense of straight line rent receivables of approximately 11 percent. This is compared to a bad debt expense accounts receivable of approximately 14% of the outstanding uncollected amounts at the end of Q2, and bad debt expense of straight line rent receivables of approximately 7% at the end of Q2. It's easy to get confused in all these percentages. However, from a big picture perspective, at the end of the third quarter, our total allowance for doubtful accounts, which reflects the cumulative bad debt expense charges recorded, totals approximately 39% of our gross accounts receivable and approximately 3% of our straight line rent receivables. Let's talk about liquidity. As we look at our balance sheet and liquidity at the end of the third quarter, we had approximately $405 million in liquidity comprised of $155 million of cash and cash equivalents and $250 million of availability on our line of credit. and only one of our properties is encumbered by a mortgage. Our leverage, which we measure in terms of net debt to EBITDA, was 6.7 times on a quarterly annualized basis. On a trailing 12-month basis, our EBITDA would be approximately 6.0 times. Our focus is to maintain our net debt to EBITDA at 5.5 times or below. Our interest coverage and fixed charge coverage ratio ended the quarter at 3.6 times, on a quarterly annualized basis and 3.9 times on a trailing 12-month basis. As it relates to guidance, as previously disclosed, we withdrew our 2020 guidance on April 3rd due to the uncertainty that the pandemic would have on our existing guidance, particularly in our hotel and retail sectors. Until we have a clearer view of the economic impact of the pandemic or more certainty as to when a vaccine becomes available, we will refrain from issuing further guidance. I'll now turn the call over to Steve Center, our Vice President of Office Properties, for a brief update on our office segment. Steve?
spk03: Thanks, Bob. As Bob said earlier, at the end of the third quarter, net of one beach, which is under redevelopment, our office portfolio stood at over 96% leased, with just under 6% expiring through the end of 2021. Given the quality of our assets and the strength of the markets in which they are located, with technology and life science as key market drivers, we continue to execute new and renewal leases at favorable rental rates, delivering continued NOI growth in our office segment. The weighted average base rent increase for our nine renewals completed during the quarter was 6.7%. And also, as Bob pointed out earlier, with leases already signed, we have locked in approximately $30 million of NOI growth in our office segment, comprised of approximately $6 million 2020, $14 million in 2021, and $10 million in 2022. We anticipate significant additional NOI growth in 2022 and 2023 through the redevelopment and leasing of 102,000 square feet at One Beach Street in San Francisco and 33,000 rentable square feet at 710 Oregon Square in the Lloyds Submarket of Portland. In addition, we have the ability to organically grow our office portfolio by up to an additional 768,000 square feet or 22% on sites we already own by building Tower 3 at La Jolla Commons, a 213,000 square foot tower that is currently into the city for permits, and blocks 90 and 103 at Oregon Square with two configuration options, one at 392,000 square feet and the other at 555,000 square feet, which we recently received the entitlements on from the Portland Design Review Commission. We continue evaluating market conditions, prospective tenant interest, and hopefully decreasing construction costs on these development opportunities. In summary, we have a stable office portfolio with little near-term rollover, significant built-in NOI growth, and additional upside through repositioning and redevelopment within our existing portfolio, plus substantial new development on sites we already own. Operator, I'll now turn the call over to you for questions. Thank you.
spk06: As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Richard Hill with Morgan Stanley. You may proceed with your question.
spk01: Hey, good morning. You got Ron Cambermont for Richard Hill. A couple quick ones for me. The first is just on the bad debt. You know, I just would like to dig into that one a little bit more. I think I heard correctly that bad debt is at 39% of accounts receivables. and 3 percent of straight-line rent receivables. So, I guess the question number one is, has that been increasing from 2Q to 3Q? It sounds like it has, but I just want to confirm that, and maybe a little bit more color on what's driving that, and how are you guys thinking about it, and maybe are you being too conservative, and so forth? Thanks.
spk07: Go ahead. Good morning, Ron. Hey, thanks for the question. Yeah, so what we said in the script was it is 39% of total accounts receivable, the bad debt, and that's on our allowance for doubtful accounts. So from a dollar standpoint, that's about $7 million. We had about another $2.5 million in straight-line rent receivables or bad debt reserves against straight-line rent. So the total of the two of those is about $10 million, just slightly under that. When we look at where we were at the end of Q2, that amount was approximately $3.3 million. So, on the bad debt reserve or bad debt expense for accounts receivable, that increased from $3.3 million to approximately $7.7 million. And the reason why is that each quarter that, you know, until we get this vaccine in, it's difficult on the retail tenants. And so in each quarter what we do is we go through and we evaluate whether, you know, what is the likelihood that we will receive what's billed. We'll take a look at if we can receive what's been deferred, and we'll make a decision at that point in time as to whether it's probable that we'll receive 95 percent of the remaining cash flows. Ernest Owens Thanks, Bob.
spk08: Ron, this is Ernest. As a matter of policy and strategy, we'd much sooner be on the conservative side than the optimistic side. So Bob has made as accurate assessment as possible, but our strategy has always been, if we're going to air air on the conservative side. And thanks for that.
spk01: Got it. That's helpful. Um, you know, my other question, I guess it, it, it sort of ties in to the bad debt was just on the guidance. Um, you know, I, I think historically you, you, the team has provided sort of guidance for, for, for, for the next year at this time. And, you know, obviously I can appreciate there's a lot of moving pieces. But, you know, just what was the thought behind even giving us some broad strokes, you know, for, you know, the retail portfolio, the office portfolio? It feels like you have pretty good visibility on the office portfolio with the presentation you've put out. So just curious why not sort of put a guidance number out there and help sort of the street get some broad signposts.
spk08: You know, Ron, we'd love to give the guidance that you're asking for. There is just so much uncertainty out there from an economic point of view and a health point of view that we thought that we have very little to gain and a lot to lose by saying something that doesn't turn out to be true. So we just as soon remain silent until we know exactly how this is all going to play out. But I understand your concern and our concern too. I mean, we're monitoring where we are and where we're going, and we're doing the best we can. But I wouldn't want to mislead anybody, including ourselves.
spk07: And, Ron, from time to time in our investor presentations, we'll include some foresight as to what we know at that point in time. But we're not issuing guidance, as Ernie said.
spk08: And I think on the office side, we've given some indication of where our sentiment is. And that's because of the high quality of the assets and the high quality of the tenants. There's some, we have some assurance that we say will turn out to be true in the rest of the portfolio. It's so COVID affected. We're just not certain.
spk01: Got it. And then my last one, if I may, you know, I think interesting, your opening comments about Prop 15 and Prop 21. And, you know, I know the governor of California came out in opposition of Prop 21. Just in your mind, you know, obviously the goal is for none of them to pass, but is one more likely or you're more concerned of than the other? So, you know, if you're thinking out loud, is Prop 15 maybe a bigger risk of passing than Prop 21, or you guys just sort of see the same odds? across the board. Thanks.
spk08: I think Prop 15 is a threat to the entire state, not just to us. As Adam pointed out in his presentation, that there's going to be short-term discomfort for us, but long-term pain for the businesses that are involved and for the residents of California. I saw a survey recently that Prop 15 was going to pass, and now they think it's unlikely to pass, somewhat unlikely to pass. So God only knows what's going to happen, but I hope for the sake of Californians and us as long-term residents that it fails to pass.
spk07: Yeah, Prop 15, our assessment is that it's not going to have a huge impact to us initially, but rather to the customers as a pass-through. And then in turn, potentially, you know, on rent growth in California looking forward. So we're definitely opposing Prop 15.
spk01: Great. Thanks for the time. I appreciate all the color.
spk08: Hey, Ron, make sure and say it'll be rich for us, eh?
spk01: Sure thing.
spk06: Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from Craig Schmidt with Bank of America. May we proceed with your question? Morning, Craig.
spk05: Good morning. Thank you. In terms of the reserve for bad debt, you know, primarily being at the foot of a couple of properties, you know, I think I understand Waikiki and Del Monte, and I'm guessing Alamoana Quarry is somewhat related to Regal Centers. But why was Carmel Mountain Plaza, you know, pushing that bad debt number?
spk07: Well, I think a lot of it that you're seeing at Del Monte, Alamo Quarry, and Carmel Mountain Plaza, that's where the three theaters are located. So we've gone through, we've put a reserve on those particular ones. And then we've just had a lot of it in the apparel industry. Adam, maybe you want to talk to some of the, not negotiations specifically, but in general, some of the collection efforts that he's been spearheading.
spk04: Yeah, I mean, sure. Just based on our challenges with a lot of these retailers, not just the mom and pop, but some of the national guys, I mean, I think we're, like Ernest and Bob have said, taking a more conservative view of our probability of collections on those guys. So, you know, we're still all over these guys and working with them as much as possible, but We want to be more conservative in our presentation and hope to surprise to the upside on these guys.
spk08: Would it be safe to say, Adam, that everybody's trying, everybody on for size, see if there's an opportunity, and we're just going to have to speak up on our own behalf, and so far we're being successful with that.
spk04: That's right. I mean, all these guys are operating as if if you don't ask, you don't get, so virtually everyone is asking for some form of relief from us. You know, maybe we've given relief to 20% to 30% of these guys so far, only when needed. But we're just trying to be smart about it and take our time and rush into it. But like we also said, those that are unilaterally withholding rents that have the money, those are the ones we're going after. We're not necessarily having to take reserves against those guys. It's the folks that are more challenged financially.
spk08: I think our stakeholders can be assured that we're doing everything we can on behalf of our stockholders to collect every dollar of rent that we're entitled to. And if we don't collect it, as Adam said in his presentation, we're going to try and get something for what we have to give up. And it's a negotiation with a committee that looks at every opportunity to come up with a transaction that is the best for the company.
spk05: Okay, thank you for that. And then I see a somewhat lower rent collection in October versus September for retail. I think it goes from 82.6 to 77.3. Is that just a matter of timing?
spk07: It's probably just a matter of timing because that's only as of, you know, I think it's like October 16th, October, at a certain point during October. So a lot of it comes in at the end of the month because it's negotiating and some are slow paying.
spk04: but we're getting it. Yeah, even those with recurring payments that are making them are starting to pay later in the cycle. So we do expect that number to increase. That's our expectation now anyway.
spk05: Great. And then just finally, it looks like you had 71,000 square feet of renewals. Could you categorize those, you know, if you were an anchor, what type of tenants they were?
spk07: On the renewals, that would be in the back of the supplemental. I don't have the details on that in front of me, Craig. Is that the office?
spk08: Because I think Steve covered the office renewals. Yeah.
spk05: No, I was talking – sorry, talking retail. But, okay, let me –
spk08: If it's $71,000, I don't have the sheet in front of me.
spk03: It's just a mix of different tenants that have come through the system.
spk08: I don't have a breakout on it. It's just going to be a mix of tenants that have come through. That's a good question, though, Craig. Thanks for asking.
spk05: Okay. Thanks for that.
spk06: Thank you, sir. Thank you, Craig. Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, you'll need to press star 1 on your telephone. Our next question comes from Todd Thomas with KeyBank. You may proceed with your question. Morning, Todd.
spk02: Hi, thanks. Good morning. Just a couple of questions on the office segment. You know, curious for an update. I think last quarter there were no changes to the build-out and floor plans for Google at Landmark. I'm just curious if you can provide an update there, if anything's changed, and then whether there are any other tenants in the portfolio that might be looking to either reconfigure or maybe shed some space.
spk08: Jerry has told me that Google's continuing as per their original plans. And, Steve, are you aware of anything that we should make? Todd, known to Todd?
spk03: Well, I'd add to Google that Autodesk is reconfiguring and investing more in their space. So we're fortunate in that regard. Our bigger tenants are moving forward with plans past this pandemic. Absolutely, yeah.
spk02: Okay. Is there any sublease space in the office segment of the portfolio at all today?
spk03: So it's market by market, so I'll say starting in San Diego, sublease is really muted. Del Mar Heights is 0.6% vacancy for sublease space. UTC is 0.7%. Those are our two main markets. San Francisco, there is a lot of sublease space right now. There's been a big uptick there. Fortunately, Autodesk and Google occupy the entire landmark building, and One Beach is under redevelopment. We won't deliver that until 2022, so hopefully we're through the worst of this at that time. Portland, again, sublease space is muted. The total sublease vacancy in Portland right now is 1.5%. Bellevue has significant sublease space, but it's really kind of not an indicator there. Currently on the east side market, and Bellevue is part of the east side market, it's a 37 million square foot market. There's 4.3 million square feet of office space under construction on the east side, and it's 96% pre-leased. So that's a big block market. Amazon, Google, Facebook, obviously Microsoft, and T-Mobile has affirmed its commitment to that marketplace on the east side. So it's just very, very strong. We've got one floor available for sublease that Cisco has up, and we just got an RFP yesterday for 52,000 feet with an engineering firm that's being displaced from a building that's being torn down to build a new building for Amazon. So Bellevue is just extremely robust, strong, And Subway space really is a big factor there. So hopefully that answers your question.
spk08: Fortunately, being in Bellevue is being in the right place at the right time. And I don't know that we're that smart, but we're certainly that lucky. So we're glad to be there. Thanks for the question, Todd.
spk02: Great. Yeah, that's helpful. Do you have a sense for, you know, what employee occupancy looks like in your assets across the office portfolio? Yeah.
spk03: It's low. It's probably sub 20% in most. It's about 20 to 25%.
spk08: But as I look at that circumstance, the associates want to come back to work and we want them to come back to work. This working from home is not the fun that everybody says. There will be some work from home going forward, but from an operational point of view and a mental health point of view and a company point of view and an individual point of view, back to the office is the way to go is my view. And it will transpire to that or transform to that at some point over the future, depending on what happens to COVID-19.
spk03: To add to that, I've had conversations with tenor rep brokers that represent some of the biggest companies out there. And they said, you know, behind the scenes, CEOs are saying, get the heck back to work. That's what I say. I mean, we feel the same way. So it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And Google, again, is a good example that they did not modify their plan due to COVID in terms of configuration. So we will get there.
spk02: Okay. And then in terms of the embassy suites, Bob, I was wondering if you had any visibility there on occupancy and ADR heading into the fourth quarter and maybe also an update on bookings, you know, as we think about 21.
spk07: Yeah, we ended at 66% occupancy on a weighted average basis for the quarter. During the third quarter, we've seen it tick up to like 75%. And we've been trending in the last probably month somewhere between 52% to 65%. As we go into the fourth quarter, you know, we'll probably keep it in that range, somewhere between, you know, 50% to 65%. And, you know, right now, you know, we do have bookings and we're looking forward, but they have the ability to counsel them if, depending – If the openness of the quarantine in Hawaii remains open, then we'll see a difference.
spk08: Bob, is it safe to say that the ADR is affected by the nature of our tenants now who are mostly government employees and not tourists, and that tourists will, once this thing returns to normal, our ADR will return to normal.
spk07: Male Speaker Yeah, I think that's been very helpful. You know, we can always lean on the DOD. The DOD has been about 80 percent of our occupancy, and then the local Hawaiians have been the other 20 percent. And as a result, both of those are at a much lower ADR. The ADR is probably somewhere between 205 and 225. compared to, I think we hit 360 last year, if not higher, on an average basis. Obviously, some rooms went much higher and some were a little bit lower. But, you know, as I understand it, we are one of two hotels that are open on Waikiki. And we expect more to open as the tourism comes back. But having that open... And being able to have a break even has been a win for us during this pandemic, whereas I think the other eight hotels in Waikiki have been completely closed.
spk08: Not that I can guarantee you, but I think once people can travel, they're coming back to Hawaii, they're coming back to Waikiki. It's a great piece of property. And we've used this time to upgrade the property by painting, fixing the spalling, the salt air damage, upgrading the room furniture. So we're ready to go. And this economy, people will be anxious to travel once this damn thing's over.
spk02: All right. Sounds good. Thank you.
spk06: Thank you. Thanks, Todd. Thanks, Todd. Thank you. And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Ernest Rady for any further remarks.
spk08: I want to thank you all for your patience during this difficult time. I can assure you that everybody at American Assets Trust is working hard to ensure that when things return to normal, the results that we present will be more than adequate. And during this time, we're doing the best we can. And it's not easy for anybody. It's not easy for us. But we're going to get there. And at some point, we'll look back on this as a terrible memory. Thank you all for attending. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
spk06: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
Disclaimer