Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc.

and welcome to the innovative industrial properties inc q4 2022 earnings conference call all participants will be in a listen-only mode should you need assistance please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero after today's presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions to ask a question you may press star then one on a touchstone phone to withdraw your question please press star then two Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Brian Wolf, General Counsel. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you for joining the call. Presenting today are Alan Gold, Executive Chairman, Paul Smithers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Hastings, Chief Financial Officer, and Ben Regan, Chief Investment Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that statements made during today's conference call may be deemed forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and actual results may differ materially due to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Please refer to the documents filed by the company with the SEC specifically the most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. We are not obligated to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. In addition, on today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial information, such as FFO, normalized FFO, and adjusted FFO. You can find this information, together with reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure, in our earnings release issued yesterday, as well as in our 8-K filed with the SEC. I'll now hand the call over to Alan. Alan?

Thank you, Brian, and welcome, everyone. Today, we are pleased to discuss our results for our seventh full year of operations and our recent activity. As reflected by our total revenue growth of over 35% over 2021, the company performed well in 2022, especially in the context of the significant macroeconomic headwinds experienced across industries and in the regulated cannabis industry in particular. That financial performance drove dividend growth per share of 24% over 2021, totaling $7.10 of dividends declared over the course of 2022. We also closed on a new acquisition with Tilt in Pennsylvania earlier this month, as well as lease amendments for additional real estate improvements at our properties in New Jersey and New York with Ascend, Pharmacan, and Goodness Growth. Ben will provide additional detail on those transactions and on additional portfolio activity and statistics. As we enter 2023, we continue to see headwinds for the regulated cannabis industry, driven by a number of factors that Paul will touch on in detail. Price compression, a restrictive capital markets environment, and inflation on inputs and construction costs are driving many companies, including larger MSOs, to streamline their operations. This is no doubt a challenging time for the industry we serve. We are steadfast in our belief of the long-term growth prospects and future of the regulated cannabis industry with longer term projections still for double digit growth and certain Eastern States driving growth well in excess of that average with expected introduction of adult use programs in the near future. In fact, notwithstanding the many challenges faced by the cannabis industry in recent months, U.S. legal cannabis sales are projected to grow 14% in 2023. As we noted in our January 2023 press release, certain tenants are experiencing difficulties and have defaulted on their obligations to pay rent. Paul will discuss the status of those situations, and we are here to answer any questions you have to the extent we can. That said, the vast majority of our tenant base continues to perform, and we expect that these near-term challenges will contribute to driving operators to be more and more efficient. As with any industry, there will be ebbs and flows, and I am proud of the way our dedicated and experienced team has responded and managed through the challenges that our industry has faced in recent months. I will now turn the call over to Paul to discuss licensing and industry dynamics. Paul?