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.
spk05: Good morning and welcome to the Highwoods Properties Earnings Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, we will conduct a question and answer session. At that time, if you have a question, please press the 1 followed by the 4 on your telephone. If at any time during the conference you need to reach an operator, please press star 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, October 27, 2021. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Mulhern. Please go ahead, Mr. Mulhern.
spk08: Thank you. This is Brendan Majorana. Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call this morning are Ted Klink, our Chief Executive Officer, Brian Leary, our Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Mulhern, our Chief Financial Officer. As is our custom, today's prepared remarks have been posted on the web. If any of you have not received yesterday's earnings release or supplemental, they're both available on the Investors section of our website at highwoods.com. On today's call, our review will include non-GAAP measures such as FFO, NOI, and EBITDAIR. The release and supplemental include a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Forward-looking statements made during today's calls are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the ongoing adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and operating results. These risks and uncertainties are discussed at length in our press releases as well as our SEC filings. As you know, actual events and results can differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and the company does not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statements. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Ted.
spk01: Thanks, Brendan. We are pleased with our solid financial and operational results in the third quarter. Given the emergence of the Delta variant, Utilization across our portfolio did not increase as much in the third quarter as we anticipated, leveling off around 40%. We now do not expect usage to meaningfully increase until the new year. While the progression of the pandemic and the resulting impact on office utilization remain difficult to predict, customers and prospects fortunately continue to sign leases and our parking revenues continue to recover nicely. As I mentioned on our last call, leasing activity has been healthy, particularly for new deals. We signed 672,000 square feet of second leases, including 245,000 square feet of new deals. In total, we signed 96 leases during the quarter, including 46 new deals, consistent with our long-term average. So far this year, we have signed 140 new deals, which puts us on pace to eclipse or annual high water mark. Plus, we find 83,000 square feet of first gen leases on the development pipeline. In addition to healthy volume, rents on sign leases increased 19.3% on a gap basis and 4.3% on a cash basis. The weighted average term was also solid at 6.3 years, reflecting growing confidence in the long term value of the office for our customers. Leasing capex increased, but this was offset by higher face rents and longer terms. We're often asked about the effect of the pandemic on net effective rents. We don't track apples to apples net effective rent spreads. However, if you look solely at the change in second gen net effective rents on signed deals from 2019 to 2021 year to date, the decline is roughly at the midpoint of the 5% to 10% average decline across our markets we've mentioned previously, which in our experience is also consistent with a typical recessionary pattern. As we noted last quarter, we continue to believe net effective rents have stabilized. As you may have seen from local media reports, two customers in our top 20 announced this quarter plans to move out upon expiration and relocate to new developments. In both cases, We have at least three years of lease term remaining. In-place rents are substantially below market, and these buildings are among the best in their BBDs. As the war for talent accelerates, we are strong believers that well-located office space and highly amenitized best business districts will become a competitive recruiting advantage for employers. This flight to higher quality buildings in the best locations and with capitalized owners, plays to our strengths. Our markets and our portfolio continue to generate activity and growth, further demonstrating their resilience and quality. Turning to our results, we delivered strong FFO of 96 cents per share in the third quarter. Our same property cash NOI growth was also strong at 6.4%, including the repayment of temporary rent deferrals agreed to during the first months of the pandemic excluding these repayments same property cash noi growth would still have been a healthy 5.2 percent consistent with last quarter in last night's release we updated our 2021 ffo outlook to three dollars and seventy three cents to three dollars and seventy six cents per share up seven cents at the midpoint from our prior outlook and up 16.5 cents from our initial 2021 FFO outlook provided in February. We also raised our same property cash NOI growth outlook to 6% to 7%, up more than 150 basis points at the midpoint from our prior outlook. Moving to investments. As we previously disclosed, we acquired the office portfolio from PAC in late July for a total investment of $683. including planned near-term building improvements. We've already signed leases ahead of schedule and healthy rents, and are seeing strong interest across the portfolio in Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as in the development parcel in the Cumberland Galleria BBD of Atlanta, around the corner from where the Braves are hosting the World Series at Truist Park. As you know, we plan to bring our balance sheet back to pre-acquisition levels by accelerating the sale of $500 to $600 million of non-core assets by mid-2022. We closed two dispositions for $120 million in the third quarter, bringing our total to $163 million since we first announced the acquisition. We are confident we'll end the year towards the high end of our outlook of $250 to $300 million. Turning to development, we delivered our $285 million bill to suit for Asurion in Nashville. the largest development project in Highwood's history. Completing this project ahead of schedule and on budget in the midst of a pandemic is a true testament to the strength of our development team and our partners at Brasfield Glory and Hastings Architecture. We delivered the keys of this incredible workplace to our new customer three months early. Following the delivery of the Shuri and Build-A-Suit, Our $109 million development pipeline consists of Virginia Springs II and the Brentwood BBD of Nashville, and Midtown West and the West Shore BBD of Tampa. We signed 83,000 square feet of leases on these developments during the quarter, bringing leasing to 59% for both buildings. We have a pipeline of strong prospects to bring these properties to stabilization by the second half of next year. We increase the low end of our development announcement outlook from zero to 100 million, demonstrating the growing confidence we have in potential announcements before year end. The high end remains at 250 million. We continue to see strong interest from prospective build to suit and anchor customers. We believe companies planning significant investments in physical workplaces is yet another sign of a return to healthy fundamentals across our markets. Our well-located land bank, which can support more than $2 billion of future development, is a true differentiator for Highwoods and will drive value creation over the long term. We are thrilled to have acquired the remaining 77 acres of development land at Ovation in the Cool Springs District of Franklin, Tennessee, one of Nashville's BBDs, for a total purchase price of $57.8 million. We will partner with the City of Franklin to reimagine Ovation as one of the premier mixed use addresses in the country and anticipate working with high quality retail, multifamily, and hotel developers to realize the tremendous potential of this live, work, play property while retaining full control of the office development sites Before I turn the call over to Brian, I'd like to reiterate the strong financial and operating performance we have delivered so far in 2021. We delivered the $285 million Asurion project on budget and ahead of schedule. We acquired a $683 million portfolio of office properties with attractive long-term returns. Since announcing the acquisition, we have sold $163 million of non-core properties to attract evaluations. We raised our quarterly dividend over 4%. We increased the midpoint of our FFO outlook 16.5 cents per share since the beginning of the year. And we did all this while maintaining a strong and flexible balance sheet with a debt to EBITDA ratio of 5.6 times. Brian?
spk06: Thanks, Ted, and good morning, everyone. While the economy bore the brunt of the Delta Variance impact in the third quarter, We believe our positive results for the period are a product of the clear and consistent BBD strategy Highwoods has been focused on for a long time. Developing, operating, and keeping BBD located in talent-centric workplaces has proved our portfolio's resiliency in the face of unprecedented times and provides a strong foundation for future growth. Customers are returning to the office, some sooner than others, But the common chorus we hear is that place matters, and that while many see a more flexible workplace and perhaps more accurately work week ahead, most have told us that they are at their very best when they are together versus being remote. This sentiment is inherent in the healthy quarterly leasing volume and metrics our team posted. This is also consistent with our markets being highlighted in the most recent edition of of ULI and PWC's emerging trends in real estate, and where we have a significant best-in-class workplace options across 11.8 million square feet in the BBDs of Nashville and Raleigh, which rank number one and number two, respectively, and where 44% of our third quarter NOI was generated. The Great Migration continues to accelerate as talented companies and individuals migrate to the Sunbelt, where cities and states are open for business, housing is affordable, and commute times and modes more manageable. At 90.4%, occupancy increased 90 basis points from last quarter, and we foresee occupancy holding steady for the balance of the year. Tour and RFP activity is getting back to pre-pandemic levels, as many organizations that delayed decision-making of any scope or scale since the spring of 2020 are now ready to discuss their long-term office plans. With 140 new customers signing on to join the portfolio so far this year, led by engineering and healthcare life science customers, we're enthusiastic about where their plans may take them, with many new to the market and with plans for growth. Now, to our markets, which are increasingly being discovered by individuals, organizations, and investors, It's on the prevalence of out-of-state license plates at the grocery store and the unending stream of housing sales above listing, sometimes sight unseen. There continue to be more data points supporting open for business and let's-get-back-to-work mentality, such as JLL noting Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville pushed above 2019 leasing levels and the Atlanta market posting a positive net absorption of 478,000 square feet for the quarter. In Raleigh, we signed 135,000 square feet of leases for the quarter, and activity there is off to a quick start in the fourth quarter. Market vacancy decreased slightly year over year, and market rents are up nearly 4%. We expect Raleigh to be at or near the top of many lists for years to come, with several additional new job announcements this quarter, including three new headquarter relocations, adding to the strong list of relocations from the first half of 2021. In Nashville, we signed 76,000 square feet of second-generation leases and achieved quarter-end occupancy of 95.3%. Our development team completed the new 553,000-square-foot Asurian headquarters, anchoring our Galt Central mixed development that stretches the better part of three city blocks and is adjacent to Nashville's Amazon HQ2. In addition, we had a strong leasing quarter in our development pipeline. We signed 83,000 square feet of first-generation leases at Virginia Springs 2 and Midtown West, bringing the lease rate up from 59% from 24% last quarter. We continue to see strong interest in both projects and are tracking well towards their projected stabilizations in the latter half of 2022. As Ted mentioned, we have a sizable land bank that can support over $2 billion of future development. Having completed nearly $1 billion of successful development since 2016, we're confident development will continue to drive future growth and value creation. To this end, we're extremely excited about our purchase of the remaining acreage elevation in Nashville's suburban Williamson County, listed by Kiplinger as the 10th most affluent in the nation. These 145 acres, already home to Mars Pet Care's U.S. headquarters that we developed in 2019, represent one of the premier mixed-use opportunities in the nation and is where we can build an additional 1.2 million square feet of Class A office amid significant densities of complementary residential, retail, and hotel uses. In conclusion, we're fortunate to be weathering the storm well. With our high-quality portfolio and our unmatched all-under-one-roof team to develop, lease, operate, and maintain it, we are supporting our customers' ability to achieve together what they cannot apart. Because of this, our customers are growing more than they're not. They're investing in new space, and they see their workplaces as competitive currency to retain and recruit the very best talent available. Our development team has delivered the very best examples of our work placemaking and is busy reloading the pipeline for the next generation of commute worthy buildings. Our exceptional people and portfolio of produce results were proud of this quarter and throughout the pandemic. It truly is a team effort and each and every member of the highway family plays a meaningful role in our success mark.
spk03: Thanks, Brian. In the third quarter, we delivered net income of $72.1 million, or $0.69 per share, an FFO of $102.8 million, or $0.96 per share, an increase from $0.93 in the second quarter. As Ted mentioned, closed on the acquisition from PAC in late July, delivered the $285 million Asurion development in September, and sold 120 million of non-core assets at the end of the quarter. While there were a lot of moving parts from investment activity in the quarter, there weren't a lot of unusual operational items that impacted our financial results. Turning to the balance sheet, our leverage obviously ticked up temporarily due to this quarter's acquisition. However, we are very pleased that our debt to EBITDAIR was 5.6 times in the third quarter, less than half a turn increase at .2 times in the prior quarter. We are making solid progress on our non-core disposition plan, having sold $163 million of the planned $500 to $600 million, and are on track to return our balance sheet to pre-acquisition metrics by mid-2022. Further, we have ample liquidity with $615 million currently available on our revolving credit facility, limited debt maturities until late 2022, and expected disposition proceeds over the next several quarters. During the quarter, we issued a modest amount of shares on the ATM at an average price of $45.81 per share, for net proceeds of $6.8 million, consistent with the ATM activity in the second quarter. ATM issuances remain one of the many arrows in our quiver and we continue to believe are an efficient and measured way to fund incremental investments, particularly our development pipeline, on a leverage neutral basis. As Ted mentioned, we increased the low end of our development announcement outlook to $100 million, signifying our growing confidence in future development starts. The modest ATM issuance so far in 2021 gives us a head start on funding these future investments. Regarding our expectations for the rest of the year, we've updated our 2021 FFO outlook to $3.73 to $3.76 per share, with the midpoint up 7 cents since July and up 16.5 cents from our original 2021 outlook provided in February. Rolling forward from our prior outlook in July, the rationale for the increase was one cent higher per share impact from the combination of the acquisition and corresponding non-core dispositions, one to two cents higher per share impact due to earlier than expected delivery of the Asurion build to suit, and four to five cents higher per share impact from core operations due to our robust third quarter results and the outlook for the remainder of the year. Compared to our original FFO outlook provided in February, here are the major moving parts. $0.05 to $0.07 higher per share impact from acquisition and disposition activity on a net basis, $0.03 to $0.05 from the early delivery of Asurion and faster than expected lease up of the remainder of the development pipeline, approximately $0.02 from rising parking revenues, particularly transient parking, and $0.04 to $0.05 from better than expected core operations. In addition to our improved 2021 FFO outlook, we also increased our same property cash NOI growth outlook to a range of 6% to 7%, up more than 150 basis points at the midpoint from our July outlook. Since the onset of the pandemic, we've regularly commented on parking revenues and operating expenses given the reduced utilization rates. We're still tracking below normal on both OPEX and parking revenues, but recently we've seen a notable increase in transient parking revenue. The trajectory of OPEX and parking revenues continues to be challenging to forecast, but with that said, we do expect an increase in both line items in the fourth quarter compared to our quarterly averages so far in 2021. In addition to our solid FFO, our cash flows continue to strengthen. Since 2016, we've sold nearly $1.8 billion of non-core properties. We've acquired $1.3 billion of high-quality assets in the BBDs of our Sunbelt markets and delivered $940 million of developments. We are very proud to have consistently grown our FFO per share while simultaneously making meaningful improvements to the quality of our portfolio. The strengthening of our cash flows since 2016 is evidenced by a 22% increase in average in-place cash rents, an 18% increase in our dividend, and a steadily declining payout ratio over that same time frame. Our strengthening cash flows and continuous portfolio improvement combined with a land bank that can support $2 billion of future development and our proven track record as a developer makes us confident about our long-term outlook. Finally, this is my 28th and last quarterly earnings call at Highwoods. I really appreciate all your interest in Highwoods and the great questions over the years. As you know, Brendan is well qualified for the CFO role and will do a great job helping to continue Highwood's strong track record of success. Operator, we are now ready for your questions.
spk04: Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to register a phone question, please press 1-4 on your telephone keypad. You will hear a three-tone prompt to acknowledge your request. If your question has already been answered and you'd like to withdraw, you may press 1-3 to remove yourself from the queue. Once again, if you would like to register a phone question, please press 1-4 on your telephone keypads now. One moment, please, for the first question. And our first question comes from Manny Korchman with Citi. Please go ahead.
spk02: Hey, good morning, guys. This is Parker Dikranian from Manny. My first question is just about the Ovation site. if there's been any changes since what you guys were initially entitled to several years ago, if there's been any changes since then.
spk06: Hey, Parker, good morning. It's Brian here. Thanks for the question on ovation. Couldn't be more excited to now have. the full side under control, specifically your question regarding entitlements. Let me just remind everyone what we've got out there right now on the 145 acres of which about 138 are developable. Two are the roads and curb that are actually already in place out there. So there's been the better part of $20 million already put in the ground and part of the grading and sewer system. So we're entitled to 1.4 million square feet of office, of which about 200,000 square feet have already been built. It's part of Mars Petcare's US headquarters, which is just a fantastic customer and a truly innovative building. It's our first full pet building, too, so if you're ever out there, you should come see it. 950 residential units and approximately 400,000 square feet of retail. We would argue that it's probably more retail than the site needs or could support at the moment, but to having that flexibility, we're bullish about. And then 450 hotel rooms. That's the existing. entitlement and we think that's kind of plenty to say grace over at the moment. We will probably reimagine the master plan into a more integrated mixed use development so we can really get the benefit of all of those complementary uses being adjacent to each other and we'll be partnering with the City of Franklin to kind of go through an expedited repositioning of that. We don't necessarily see the need for much more density. The city of Franklin would be supportive of more office density, but that's kind of the plan right now. What we're going to be doing since now that we've closed on it, we're going to be spending the next few weeks identifying and inviting a select group of high-class developers and operators in these other uses to come in and be part of the reimagination of the master plan to work with the city of Franklin, and then ideally hit the ground running early next year. Is that helpful?
spk02: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks. And then just my second is just around concessions. You know, concessions and TIs are still pretty high overall for your leasing volumes right now. I think you guys mentioned that it's offset by some of the face front stuff and term. But, you know, as you guys are mentioning in your opening remarks, this growing, you and some of the strong leasing volumes that are in a few of your markets, when are you starting to think that you may see concessions start to tick back down towards a more normalized sort of arguably pre-COVID level, I would say?
spk01: Hey, Parker, I can start if Brian or Brendan want to jump in. Look, things are still competitive. I do think concessions have started to level off. in most of our markets, but it's still competitive. Companies, we're thankful that we've signed 245,000 square feet of new leases, new customers to Highwoods this past quarter, which is sort of on par with our first couple quarters. But it's still competitive out there, and we're going to try and meet the market. But we've been able to hold face rates, and as you alluded to, TIs have been higher. Free rent has been a little bit higher, but we think net effective rents are hopefully stabilizing now.
spk02: All right. Thanks, guys. That's all for me. Thank you.
spk04: And our next question is from Rob Stevenson with Janie. Please go ahead.
spk00: Good morning, guys. Ted, when you talked earlier about the 40% utilization rate, when you look at your key card data, is it the same people day in and day out that constitute that 40%? Are you having more people starting to rotate in on a regular basis?
spk01: Yeah, that's a great question. You know, one, really the only real data point we have is Bank of America in Charlotte that is really bringing their folks back. You know, most of our pre-pins, or as the return to work started, most of that 40% is our smaller customers, right? Those are the ones that have come back to the office early. Our larger customers have continued to sort of push out their return to either later this year or early 2022. So the one exception is really Bank of America. They started bringing their people back right after Labor Day. I think they brought roughly 700 people back in the first wave, and they've got a few more increments coming back between now and the end of the year. So really don't have any real data on the different people within each company or not, but the smaller companies are generally back.
spk06: Hey, Rob, Brian here. One thing maybe to add to that is I think you kind of sensed it in maybe some of the other things you've seen is that Those card swipes say there's 100 card swipes from a company. We are still seeing something we kind of saw last summer when companies are doing these kind of waves or, you know, this team in and this team out. So you might get 200 different people with 100 card swipes over a period of time. So I think we are seeing that. There are planning to kind of ramp that back up to have both of those people in at the same time early next year.
spk00: Okay, because I wonder how that's altering how tenants thinking about space for the future. If you, there's a big difference between having, you know, people where everybody's in two days a week, but that that's only sort of call it 40% utilization versus the same people in five days a week only and the other people remote and what they're looking at in terms of, you know, off both, you know, exterior office space, conference rooms, cubicles and things of that nature. and just overall space needs. So that's interesting. I guess the other question for me is any push on the part of buyers to get any of your acquisitions or dispositions, I guess I should say, from year end done by year end? Is the disposition pace expected to accelerate into November, December here? Are we likely to be more ratable you know, to close the remaining whatever it is, $340, $440 million of dispositions through mid-2022. With what you're marketing, how does that sort of pace look like today?
spk01: Sure. Rob, so as we stated on the remarks, we've closed thus far about $163 million. of transactions and our initial guidance was five to 600 of which half of that are 250 to 300 we thought would get done by year end and then the other 250 to 300 by mid year 2022. So we're over halfway there to our initial 250 to 300 and we feel very confident we're going to be at the upper end of that range of that 250 to 300 range by the end of this year. So that should give you some indication. We do have several deals that are under contract with hard money that should close by year end. And then the remaining, again, we've actually got a few of the second half already in the market as well. So I think you'll see a continual cadence of dispos into the first and second quarter next year.
spk00: And how is pricing coming in on the stuff that's under contract today? Is it where you expect it, a little bit better, a little bit softer? How would you characterize that?
spk01: Sure. Of the $163 million we've closed, it's been roughly a gap cap rate of six, cash cap rate of the low fives. Then what we have remaining to sell, call it gap in the mid to high sixes, cash low to mid sixes. So in total, when you put it all together, that $500 to $600 million, we think it's going to be a mid sixes gap, low sixes cap, which is better than we had indicated initially.
spk00: Okay.
spk08: Rob, I just wanted to just follow up on your timing question. So, you know, unlike our normal practice, we have layered in the dilution from the dispositions into the guidance for the outlook for the remainder of 21. And really, at sort of the midpoint, for the sales that we expect to close in the remainder of 21. I think it's fair to assume that that's a mid-quarter, fourth-quarter close on balance on average for all of those. So it's not all at the end of the year. It's going to be roughly, call it, in the middle of November for an average.
spk00: Okay, that's very helpful, Brendan. Thank you. And then lastly for me, Mark, just want to say you'll be missed. Thanks for everything.
spk03: Hey, thanks, Rob. I appreciate it. Very nice of you.
spk04: And our next question is from Dave Rogers with Baird. Please go ahead.
spk07: Yeah, Mark, echo those sentiments. Thanks for all the help over the years, and best of luck. You left us in good hands. I wanted to ask Brian, I'll start with you, two questions maybe on leasing. First is it's obviously clear across the market, across obviously your developments, there's this demand for a really high-quality brand-new space. So the two questions, I guess, would be can you talk about the second-generation leasing you did in the quarter, and was there anything – consistent, a trend through any of that, certain types of buildings, CBD, suburban, et cetera, that you can kind of decipher for us. And then the second question is, as you talked to Pinnacle and Bass Berry, was there anything in their conversations that you could have done to keep them in that space, or are they just kind of moving on to even better space? Just any color around that would be helpful.
spk06: dave great great question so let me get the second one first uh pinnacle bass berry um they're basically still staying in the same kind of bbd and in town uh nashville they have the need to you know kind of update their space and it's hard to do when you're in it um in some cases they're growing and we couldn't accommodate growing um and so that's really you know part of it i think the pinnacle one is it's even been kind of written about in the local press it's even a bigger player partnership than leasing space. It's a bigger partnership on the performing events venue that's there. So some kind of, we're super excited for them and staying in the neighborhood and keeping that occupancy and the BBD and being a civic citizen. So like Pinnacles, less than 100,000 square feet. So not that big of one. And the other thing is we've never really had the ability to mark this building to market and lease it in the middle of You know, the booming kind of Sobro micromarket of the VBD right next to the Four Seasons that is selling out. So our leasing team is chomping at the bit, so they're pretty excited about that one. I see a global question on the second-gen leases. I have to say it's a little bit of suburban and urban in that regard. depending on the different markets. We have a lot of work underway on sort of repositioning and amenitizing our suburban assets to make sure that they have some of those same kind of amenities, walkability, access to food and beverage that you might have if you walked right out of the CBD location. And so as we start laying out the vision for those renderings, plans, timelines, they're being received very warmly by the market. So I don't know if Brendan or Ted had any more specifically, but it felt like it was kind of across the board on the second-gen renewals and leasing.
spk01: No, I think that's right. The only thing I would add on Bathsbury and Pinnacle and could even throw Novellus in there is we've got plenty of time, right? We've got a minimum of three years, three and a half, almost four years, on maybe Pinnacle just shy of four years. They're in great buildings and the best BBDs and our best markets. And just to reiterate, they're well below market from a rent standpoint. So we feel like we're in pretty good, you know, we'll be in pretty good shape.
spk07: One more on leasing, if I could. The activity at Midtown and in Nashville at the new developments, I mean, were those meeting prior expectations? Any level of discounts that we should take note of?
spk01: No, we've, um, um, you know, the activity has been fantastic. I mean, I think we'd get a little more TI not too dissimilar to our second gen leasing. Uh, we've been able to hold face rates, maybe a little bit more free rent, a little bit more TI. So net effect is maybe they're down a little bit, but in terms of the lease up timing, uh, you know, we're, we're sort of on track on both those. So we're, we're, uh, very pleased with Virginia Springs too. We took it from 50 to 59% during the quarter. And then Midtown Tampa went from 11% last quarter to 59%. And our pipeline with strong prospects is very, very good. So we're encouraged.
spk07: Great. Last one, maybe, Ted, just specifically for you. You guys obviously saw the opportunity to double down on some existing markets with the PAC transaction and exit some others. But I guess as you continue to move through this year, is there anything additional that is causing you to think about what the bottom of the portfolio is today or what the bottom markets are? Or are you still pretty confident that as leasing comes back, you've got the right set?
spk01: Look, I think that's just part of our normal business, right? We're constantly evaluating what's core, what's non-core, looking at our markets, looking at what customers want. We look at demand, and we're trying to meet demand and make sure we have that portfolio that we can meet the demand with. So it's a constant process for us. We're all about capital recycling and upgrading the portfolio. So it's something I think you're going to see us continue to do over time.
spk06: Dave, Brian, here to clip on to Ted's statement. One of the things that we're laser focused on is are these assets becoming tools that our customers use to retain and recruit their talent, not just against who they're competing with day in and day out for their own business, but even against the couch. So we're laser focused on this, and we'll be doing that for the coming years.
spk08: Yeah, and Dave, just to maybe pile on again, as Mark mentioned in the prepared remarks, we've sold $1.8 billion of assets since 2016, so really just over the past five or six years. And then as Ted mentioned on the sales to help fund the PAC acquisition. I mean, those are coming in at a gap cap rate in the mid-sixes, a cash cap rate in the low-sixes. So the non-core that we have currently, I think, is a lot higher quality than what the non-core was five or ten years ago. So I think we'll continue to do that, but I think we feel very good about where the portfolio has gone to over the past several years.
spk07: All great points. Thanks for all the time, guys.
spk04: Our next question is from Ronald Camden with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
spk10: Hey, just a couple quick ones from me. Just one, we're hearing clearly a lot about sort of supply chain delays and so forth. And, you know, when you're thinking about the billion dollars you've delivered successfully since 2016 and then looking forward, thinking about, you know, the $2 billion pipeline, how should we think about what are you thinking about differently in um, should we expect more delays? Should we expect, um, you know, what's going to be the differences sort of looking forward versus looking back, um, given what we're hearing about supply chains. Thanks.
spk06: Hey, Ronald, Brian, Larry, let me take a first shot at this one. So two things about supply chain and, you know, and there's plenty of people talking about this, right. From Janet Yellen to, you know, construction leaders, there's, um, hard kind of commodity supply chain issues than there's labor supply chain issues. I think we all feel pretty bullish that the commodity raw material supply chain issues will work its way out. I mean, you just need to look at the satellite photo of the hundreds of boats off the Long Beach or LA ports to know that at some point those boats are all going to be getting in, get unloaded and stuff. So on the labor side, it's forcing the industry into more efficient delivery of construction through pre-construction work, through precast work, through prefab work. So I actually think we're going to get through this, and I think it's going to add a dose of innovation to that. But we've got to plan that in right now, the longer timetables and potential costs for supply chain disruption. The good thing is that most of the customers we're talking to about new development, new construction, believe that that investment in rent to cover that is more than worth it when they focus on the much larger investment they make year in and year out on their talent. So it is not necessarily slowing us down in terms of starting new construction, particularly for those customers that value their workforce.
spk10: Great. And then my second question was just going to be sort of piggybacking on one of the other questions. Clearly, there's the $500 million, $600 million of disposition, and that seems to be on track and on target. Once those are completed, when you take a step back and you look at the portfolio, is it fair to say that you have a portfolio you want, or is there still some sort of lower-quality portfolio? or lower, not lower quality, but sort of bottom of the portfolio, lower growth that you would want to call just thinking about where are we in sort of this portfolio recycling? Are we mostly done after that or should we expect more? Thanks.
spk01: Sure. You know, we're always recycling, as I mentioned a minute ago. We always rank our assets 1 to 10. It's just a process we go through each year. And so if you look at our capital recycling over the last, you know, 15 years, we're always selling, you know, $50 to $150 million a year on average. So I would expect that's going to continue over time as we continue to upgrade the portfolio.
spk08: Great. I thought I questioned it. Hey, this is Brendan. Just to add on to that, I mean, as Ted mentioned, we have been active recyclers of capital. We will continue to be active recyclers of capital, but that is not detracted from our track record of earnings and cash flow growth over the past decade plus. So I think we've proven that we're able to recycle capital while still growing earnings per share, dividend per share, and cash flow. So I think we feel like we have the ingredients to be able to continue that formula going forward. Helpful. Many thanks.
spk04: Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you'd like to register a question, please press the one followed by the four on your telephone keypad. One four for questions. And our next question is from Jamie Feldman with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
spk09: Great. Thank you. Good morning. So I know you made the comment about some of your larger tenant move outs coming. Can you just walk us through the largest expiration through the end of 22? I know some of those might not be on the top tenant list, or is there really not much there?
spk01: Sure, Jamie. So through 2022, our largest is a 62,000-square-foot customer that expires December 2022. And they're actually going to be – it's a known vacate. They're going to be vacating. We've got a 50,000-footer. and then a 44. So those are our top three. And below that, we've got a couple 30s, and then it falls into the 20s. So not a lot of large customer exposures through 2022. Okay.
spk09: And the 50 and the 40, do you think those will renew or too early?
spk01: 50 we're not sure about, and the 44 is a known vacate.
spk09: Okay. And what about the potential to backfill?
spk01: Uh, I don't think that one's in September 22. I don't think we have any prospects for that space yet.
spk06: But on the 44 though, it's arguably one of our best buildings in that market. And with what's going on, you know, with improvements and amenities, I think we do have some folks looking at something good about that. Where is that one?
spk09: In Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh. And then where's the 50, the 62?
spk01: The 62 and the 50 are both in Tampa, and we have a prospect for a lot of that space.
spk09: Okay. Thank you. And then I guess just taking a step back and thinking about your market, kind of assuming we're coming out of the pandemic here, I mean, which would you say, whether it's markets or even submarkets, has the most kind of structural change from the pandemic in terms of, you know, a change in tenant sentiment around whether it's hybrid work or wanting to be downtown versus the suburbs. I mean, is there anything that you can read from at this point?
spk01: I think it's just too early, Jamie. I mean, we've got to get everybody back in the office. You know, E&Y just came out with a study the other day that said three out of five companies haven't decided what their workplace is going to look like post-pandemic. I think that's sort of what we're seeing as well. I think the customers have got to get in get their folks back to work and before they figure out what the workplace is going to be. So I think it's still pretty early to figure that out.
spk09: Okay. And then I see that you increased the development such guidance at the low end to 100 million. You still have your 250. Sorry, at the low end to 100 million, you have the 250 at the high end. Can you just provide more color on what's the start there and what would get you to the 250?
spk01: So, sure, we've still got several discussions ongoing for both, you know, build the suit and what would be a pre-lease on a spec building. So multiple conversations. Don't know exactly what's going to hit yet, but just given where those discussions are, it just gives us confidence that we're going to have, you know, a start or two before the end of the year.
spk09: Okay. And sorry, just to go back to like the 62,000 expiration in the 44, like what percentage of NOI would you say that is? or occupancy?
spk01: Revenue-wise, they're all, you know, no higher. It's from a million to a million five. Yeah, that's on an annual basis.
spk08: Yeah, that's annual basis, and that's on a base of, call it $730 million of annual revenue. So it's a pretty small percentage of annual revenue.
spk09: Okay. All right, great. Thank you.
spk01: Thanks, Jamie.
spk04: And those are all the questions we have at this time. I'll turn the call back over to Mr. Klink for any closing remarks.
spk01: Thank you. And before we conclude the call, I just want to thank Mark again for his significant contributions to Highwoods, first as a member of our board of directors and then as our CFO since 2014. On behalf of the entire Highwoods family, we wish Mark well as he transitions into a well-deserved retirement, and we look forward to seeing him around town. Thanks, everybody, for joining the call, and thank you for your interest in highwoods. Look forward to seeing many of you at NAREIT in a couple of weeks.
spk04: And, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our call for today. We thank you all for your participation. Have a great rest of your day. You may disconnect your line.
Disclaimer