Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on 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, Laura Campbell, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Marketing. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Hudson Pacific Properties' fourth quarter 2020 earnings call. Yesterday, our press release and supplemental were filed on an 8K with the SEC. Both are available on the investor section of our website, HudsonPacificProperties.com. An audio webcast of this call will also be available for replay by phone over the next week and on the investor section of our website. During this call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures which are reconciled to our GAAP financial results in our press release and supplemental. 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, including various ongoing developments regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Actual events could cause our results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, which we undertake no duty to update. Moreover, today we've added certain disclosures, specifically in response to the SEC's direction on special disclosure of changes in our business prompted by COVID-19. We do not expect to maintain this level of disclosure when normal business operations resume. With that, I'd like to welcome Victor Coleman, our chairman and CEO, Mark Lamas, our president, Art Suazo, our EVP of leasing, and Harut Dhiramarian, our CFO. Victor?

Thank you, Laura. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Hudson Pacific's fourth quarter 2020 earnings call. 2020 certainly presented everyone with unprecedented challenges, and I remain extremely proud of the Hudson Pacific team and how we've navigated the pandemic to get to this point. To roll out the vaccine in the new year gives us a line of sight on getting our tenants and employees safely back to their offices. And as you know, we believe the vast majority of the companies, it's not a matter of if, but when. We specialize in leasing workplace facilities to the world's most creative and innovative businesses. Their success did not happen in a remote context. It happened because of the connections, culture, and facilities that gave them a competitive edge. Those environments designed to inspire and be infinitely better than your home office attracted the best talent and fostered optimum creativity. I expect everyone still working from home can probably attest that hours of Zoom calls from your couch just doesn't do the same thing. Hudson Pacific didn't slow down in 2020, and our accomplishments for the year were numerous. Even with many tenants on the sideline, we leased over 800,000 square feet with strong rent spreads, 21.5% gap, and 14.3% cash. We collected 98% of our rents during the three quarters of 2020 impacted by COVID, including 99% of office and 100% of studio rents, showcasing the exceptional quality of our tenants. Our portfolio remained open and fully operational as we swiftly implemented industry-leading health and safety protocols. We completed Harlow and kept One West Side on time and on budget. And in August, we monetized a portion of our Hollywood studio and office properties, generating $1.3 billion of proceeds, which further fortified our balance sheet and liquidity position. We significantly expanded our Seattle and Denny Triangle footprint and our relationship with Amazon with the acquisition of 1918-8. Capitalizing on the disconnect between public and private valuations, we repurchased over 3.5 million shares of our stock at an average price of $23, and we continue to set ourselves apart as an ESG leader in the real estate circles and beyond, launching our proprietary Better Blueprint platform, achieving 100% carbon neutral operations and earning Energy Star Partner of the Year awards, and the Green Star Awards, among other things. As we look to 21, we're ideally positioned to capitalize on opportunities before us. Our markets are the center of gravity for media and technology industries, both of which have accelerated as a result of the pandemic. Our balance sheet remains strong with no material near-term maturities and ample liquidity. And we also have excellent JV partners, and we're actively evaluating a variety of opportunities, both office and studio. We're tackling our 21 expirations with good momentum and coverage to date, and our nearly 600,000 square foot, fully one west side leased project will deliver in Q1 next year. And our development pipeline contains some of the best sites and most exciting projects in our markets, a large portion of which are fully entitled and will be ready to break ground as conditions warrant. In 21, we'll take further action to ensure our cities and communities remain vibrant places to work, live and play, be it through policy and advocacy, impact investing, philanthropy, or other civic engagement. This will especially be important as we recover from this pandemic. Just last week, we pledged $20 million over five years to support innovative approaches to addressing the homelessness and housing affordability crisis in our markets. In Southern California especially, there's been a lack of leadership from the business community on this issue, and certainly not on par with what we've seen in the Bay Area. It's imperative that more LA Bay CEOs and companies become part of the solution. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Mark.