American Assets Trust, Inc.

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the third quarter 2021 American Asset Trust, Inc.' 's earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you'll need to press star 1 on your telephone. As a reminder, today's program is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's program, Adam Weil, President and Chief Operating Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to American Asset Trust's third 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, which 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 as it may relate to the continuing impact of COVID-19. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Ernest Rady, our Chairman and CEO, to begin the discussion of our third quarter 2021 results. Ernest?

Thanks, Adam, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report that we continue to make great progress on all fronts as we rebound from the impact of COVID-19. We knew at the onset of the pandemic that we 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 help us pull through and maybe even come out on the other side better off than at the beginning. We continue to be optimistic as we meaningfully rebounded in 2021 and anticipate further growth in 2022 and beyond. That's why we've aggregated a portfolio comprised of a well-balanced collection of office, retail, multifamily, and mixed-use properties located in dynamic, high-barrier-to-entry markets, where we believe that the demographics, tenant demand, and local economies remain strong relative to others. Our properties are more resilient, in our view, to economic downturns as they are in the path of growth, education, and innovation, and importantly, can likely withstand the impacts of long-term inflation, and perhaps even benefit from the benefits of long-term inflation. Along those lines, during the past quarter, we used our liquidity to acquire two complementary and accretive office properties in Bellevue, Washington, a market that we remain very bullish on and in which we expect continued rent growth. Meanwhile, our development of La Jolla Commons III into an 11-story, approximately 210,000-square-foot Class A office tower remains on time and on budget, for a Q2 or Q3 2023 delivery. We are encouraged about the leasing prospects in the UTC's submarket for high-quality, large blocks of space, where both tech and life science funding continues at record levels and FANG tenants continue to expand, but we don't have specific news to share on that front at this time. The same holds true for our One Beach Street development on the North Warner Front of San Francisco, which we believe to be a unique opportunity for a full building tenant with delivery expected in Q2 or Q3 of 2022. Additionally, I'm happy to inform you that our Board of Directors has improved the quarterly dividend of $0.30 a share for the third quarter. which we believe is supported by our expectations for operations to continue trending positively. It will be paid on December 23rd to shareholders of record on December 9th. Adam, Bob, and Steve will go into more detail on our various asset segments, collections, and financial results and guidance. And I will be available and will all be available for any questions that 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, as we aim to grow our earnings, and net asset values for our shareholders on an accretive basis. I'm now going to turn the call back over to Adam. Adam, please.