Brixmor Property Group Inc.

Greetings and welcome to Bricksmore Property Group's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A 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, Stacy Slater, EVP, of IR. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you all for joining Bricksmore's second quarter conference call. With me on the call today are Brian Finnegan, CEO and President, and Steve Gallagher, Chief Financial Officer. Mark Horgan, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, will also be available for Q&A. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that some of our comments today may contain forward-looking statements that are based on certain assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties as described in our SEC filings, and actual future results may differ materially. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Also, we will refer today to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Further information regarding our use of these measures and reconciliations of these measures to our GAAP results are available in the earnings release and supplemental disclosure on the investor relations portion of our website. Given the number of participants on the call, we kindly ask that you limit your questions to one per person. If you have additional questions, please re-queue. At this time, it's my pleasure to introduce Brian Finnegan.

Thank you, Stacy, and good morning, everyone. Before turning to our results, I would acknowledge the passing of Jim Taylor. Jim's impact on Bricksmore is hard to overstate. He cared deeply about this company, the people who make it special, and the communities we serve. He brought humility, integrity, and purpose to everything he did, and those values remain deeply embedded in our culture today. For me personally, Jim was not only a great leader, but a mentor and a friend. We are grateful for the foundation he helped build here at Brixmore, the tremendous outpouring of support from across the industry over the past month, and our thoughts remain with him and his family. He will be deeply missed. Turning to the results, I am pleased to report another strong quarter of execution by the Brixmore team. We delivered 5.8% same property NOI growth, $0.58 per share of FFO, record small shop occupancy, and a record signed but not yet commenced pipeline. These results again demonstrate the strength of our operating platform and the visibility of growth embedded in the portfolio. The fundamentals for high-quality open-air grocery-anchored retail remain strong. Visits to our centers continue to grow. Retailers continue to prioritize stores as the hub of customer engagement, fulfillment, and distribution, and new supply remains limited. Against that backdrop, our business continues to benefit from strong tenant demand, a low rent basis, and a portfolio that has been materially improved over the last several years. Leasing activity remained broad-based and highly productive. We executed 1.4 million square feet of new and renewal leases at a blended cash spread of 19%, including new lease spreads of 31% and renewal spreads of 16%. New lease spreads have now remained above 30% for three years, while renewal spreads in the mid-teens continue to reflect the lack of available space and the value retailers place in staying in our centers. That value is also reflected in our intrinsic lease terms, as this quarter our team achieved record embedded rent growth of 2.8% across new and renewal leases. The quality of the tenants we continue to attract is every bit as important as the rent growth itself. During the quarter, we continue to upgrade our merchandising with retailers such as Sierra, HomeSense, Barnes & Noble, Ross Dress for Less, and Trader Joe's, while also driving small shop occupancy to a new record through strong demand from restaurant, service, health and wellness, and other growing categories. Total leased occupancy ended the quarter at 94.8%, down 30 basis points sequentially as expected due to proactive move-outs at redevelopment assets and the recaptures from Painted Tree and Wren Kitchens. Importantly, we are already at least on 6 of the 8 recaptured rent and painted tree boxes at spreads of over 40%. In addition, the record small shop occupancy level we achieved this quarter is a clear reflection of the improved quality of the portfolio and the follow-on demand created by our reinvestment activity. Our signed but not yet commenced pipeline reached a record $71 million of annualized base rent. That pipeline remains one of the clearest bridges from the leasing activity we are generating today to future NOI growth and gives us strong visibility into the next phase of earnings growth as leases commence over time. Importantly, a significant portion of that pipeline commences in 2027 and beyond, providing visibility well beyond the current year. Reinvestment remains one of the best uses of capital in our business. and the scale of our pipeline stands out across the open air sector. We ended the quarter with nearly $350 million of active reinvestments at an expected 10% incremental yield. Beyond that, our future pipeline exceeds $700 million across the portfolio. This pipeline continues to differentiate Brixmore, giving us a long runway of high return internal growth in assets we already own and control. We added eight new projects to the active pipeline during the quarter. These include Morris Hills in northern New Jersey, where we are advancing a large-scale redevelopment with a new specialty grocer, South Town in Dayton, Ohio, where we are reconfiguring the center to accommodate HomeSense, Sierra, and Barnes & Noble, and Market Plaza in suburban Dallas, where are repositioning underutilized space to elevate an already highly productive central market anchored asset with Kirby Ice House and a more compelling merchandising mix. Each project reflects the same approach of optimizing our tenancy to create greater long-term value rather than simply filling space. We also added four new out parcel developments during the quarter, bringing the total added in the first half of the year to a record 10 projects at a 16% average incremental return. We continue to build momentum with the program and see significant runway for future densification outside of redevelopments moving forward. On the transaction front, we completed four strategic acquisitions during the quarter for $164 million. These included Mayfair Shopping Center on Long Island, Jones Crossing and College Station, Texas, Vintage Marketplace in Houston, and Stanford Station in Panama City, Florida. These are high-quality, predominantly grocery-anchored assets in markets where we have a large presence and where our platform can create value through re-merchandising, reinvestment, and operating execution. Mayfair was also an important milestone for Brixmore, as it marked the first time we used OP units as acquisition currency for a portion of the purchase price. That structure reflects the importance of relationships and sourcing, and executing these types of transactions, particularly with private owners, and it gives us another tool as we pursue disciplined external growth. Both Mayfair and Jones Crossing were also immediately added to our future redevelopment pipeline, Demonstrating Mark and his team's ability to find assets that fit our reinvestment strategy. Looking ahead, we remain encouraged by the opportunities we are underwriting and expect to continue expanding our footprint through disciplined, relationship-driven acquisitions. Given the strength of first half execution and the visibility we have from our leasing and reinvestment pipelines, we increased our 2026 expectations for both same property NOI growth and FFO, which Steve will discuss in more detail. The increased outlook reflects the durability of our operating platform, the continued strength of tenant demand, and the embedded growth we are creating across the portfolio. In closing, we are pleased with our first half execution and the momentum we are seeing across the business. Our leasing platform continues to deliver strong spreads and exceptional visibility into future growth. Our reinvestment pipeline continues to generate high return internal growth. Our acquisition activity is expanding the portfolio in markets where we can create value. Our balance sheet remains positioned to support disciplined capital allocation. And most importantly, our team continues to demonstrate what Jim established with our first cultural tenant, that great real estate matters, but great people matter even more. And I want to thank the Bricksmore team for their dedication and resilience and what has been an emotional period for the company. With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve for a deeper review of our financial results and updated 2026 outlook. Steve? Thanks, Brian.