Easterly Government Properties, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to Eastern Lee Government Property Second Quarter 2022 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 a conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Lindsey Winterhalter, Vice President of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning. Before the call begins, please note the use of forward-looking statements by the company on this conference call. Statements made on this call may include statements which are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking. The company intends these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Act reform of 1995 and is making this statement for the purpose of complying with those safe harbor provisions. Although the company believes that its plans, intentions, expectations, strategies, and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these plans, intentions, expectations, or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and factors that are beyond the company's control, including, without limitation, those contained in Item 1A, Risk Factors, of its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2021, which was filed with the FCC on February 28th, 2022, in its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter-ended June 30th, 2022, to be filed with the FCC on August 2nd, 2022, and in its other FCC filings and risks and uncertainties related to the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. regional and global economies and the potential adverse impact on the financial condition and results of operation of the company. The company assumes no obligations to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Additionally, on this conference call, the company may refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as funds from operations, funds from operations as adjusted, and cash available for distribution. You can find a tabular reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable current GAAP numbers in the company's earnings release and separate supplemental information package on the investor relations page of the company's website at ir.easterlyrete.com. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Daryl Crate, Chairman of Easterly Government Properties.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for this second quarter conference call. Today, in addition to Lindsay, I'm also joined by Bill Trimble, the company's CEO, and Megan Bevere, the company's CFO and COO. We have another strong quarter at Easterly Government Properties. We continue to add high-quality, mission-critical assets to grow and diversify our portfolio. Like others, we are seeing a shift in the market. It seems we are entering a period of price discovery for our assets. We are optimistic about the effect this market dynamic will have on our business, particularly in the medium and long term. We're seeing marginal buyers exit the market, and we believe that there are developers in our space that have bid on projects with the expectation that cap rates would continue to decline. They may find themselves overextended as these projects approach completion. We expect both of these dynamics will have a positive effect on our ability to gain bullseye assets over the next 24 months. Further, during times of uncertainty, we believe our strategy delivers predictable results to investors. We concentrate on mission critical assets that serve enduring missions. During challenging times, our assets become more relevant and valuable. The gun toters can't work from home. Critical response functions can't be executed from home offices. And if a recession is near, the crime business will be up. These agencies that we serve will be called to action. Our facilities will be serving their occupants effectively. While the asset side of our balance sheet is well curated, our liability structure also provides investors with confidence. Megan's done a great job terming out our debt. Additionally, we have limited rollovers in the next several years. We do hear questions about the effects of inflation on the value of our assets. As many of you know, our leases have provisions that protect our investors from accelerating operating costs. Inflation also improves the value creation related to renewal activity. Megan will further describe some of the positive effects that inflation has on our portfolio. We're pleased with how the company is positioned as we look forward and will continue to execute our business strategy with the intent to deliver safety and stability to our investors. The goal is to deliver an attractive risk-adjusted return to our shareholders that is backed by tenants that represent the full faith and credit of the United States government. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bill to give you insights into the second quarter results.