American Assets Trust, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2021 American Assets Trust, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will 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 Weil, EVP and COO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to American Asset Trust's first quarter 2021 earnings call. Yesterday afternoon, our earnings release and supplemental information were furnished to the SEC on Form 8K. Both are now available on the Investors 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. You are cautioned 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 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 first quarter 2021 results. Ernest? Thank you, Adam.

First and foremost, once again, we hope that this letter finds you and your loved ones safe. Thankfully, as several vaccines have been broadly administered and as we begin to reach herd immunities, We are very optimistic that the pandemic is nearing its end and our lives will soon return to normalcy and our financial results will continue to improve into 2021. Over the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic severely affected most industries, commercial and real estate being no exception. We knew at the onset of the pandemic that American assets trusts would not be impervious to its economic impact. But we were confident that the high quality, irreplaceable properties and asset class diversity of our portfolio combined with the strength of our balance sheet and ample liquidity would pull us through this. As we've worked our way through these past 12 months, however, we realized that it is the resiliency of our properties and our company's employees that has enabled us to weather this storm. and fortunately to embark on the path to recovery. We are proud of our response to the challenges presented to us in 2020 and our ability to successfully operate for our company while keeping our employees and customers as safe as possible. We've been through hard times before, and each time we emerge stronger, which is our expectation now. As we celebrate our 10th anniversary of being a New York Stock Exchange listed company, we are reminded that our commitment to our stockholders has always remained front and center. We will continue to do our best to accretively grow our asset base and shareholder wealth. focusing on both organic growth and development opportunities, as they present themselves within our existing portfolios, as well as acquisitions in our targeted coastal West Coast markets, with a primary focus on the off-sector going forward at this time. Finally, I want to mention that the Board of Directors has approved the quarterly dividend of $0.28 a share for the first quarter, consistent with our previous dividend, which we believe is supported by our collection efforts in the first quarter. The board is looking for the rebound in Waikiki, which impacts our embassy suites and retail on Waikiki Beachwalk. Once the mandatory quarantine has been eliminated, we see the beginning of a recovery in Waikiki, which will allow the board to consider an increase in the dividends. We hope that this will recur in the third quarter and hopefully sooner. Adam, Bob, and Steve will go into more detail on our various asset segments, collections, and financial results, and I will be available for any questions you may have at the conclusion of our prepared remarks. On behalf of all of us at American Assets Trust, we thank you for your confidence in allowing us to manage your company and for your continued support, now more than ever. I'm going to turn the call back over to Adam.