Paramount Group, Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Paramount Growth's third 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. Please note that this conference call is being recorded today, October 27, 2022. I will now turn the conference over to Tom Hempsey, Vice President of Business Development and investor relation. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I would like to point everyone to our third quarter 2022 earnings release and supplemental information, which were released yesterday. Both can be found under the heading Financial Results in the Investors section of the Paramount Group website at www.pgre.com. Some of our comments will be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements, which are usually identified by the use of words such as will, expect, should, or other similar phrases, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we expect. Therefore, you should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on them. We refer you to our SEC filings for a more detailed discussion of the risk that could impact our future operating results and financial condition. During the call, we will discuss our non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available in our third quarter 2022 earnings release and our supplemental information. Hosting the call today, we have Mr. Albert Baylor, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the company, Wilbur Pays, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Peter Brindley, Executive Vice President, Head of Real Estate. Management will provide some opening remarks and we will then open the call to questions. With that, I will turn the call over to Albert.

Thank you, Tom, and thank you everyone for joining us this morning. We reported core FFO for the third quarter of $0.24 per share, with slightly positive year-over-year same-store cash and OI growth. These results were in line with our expectations, and as a result, we are narrowing and maintaining the midpoint of our full-year 2022 core FFO guidance of $0.97 per share. Wilbur will review our financial results and guidance in greater detail. During the quarter, we leased about 290,000 square feet, bringing year-to-date leasing to over 740,000 square feet. This quarter's leasing was roughly 40,000 square feet more than our second quarter leasing and 90,000 square feet more than our first quarter leasing results. While our leasing volumes generally remain in line with historical norms, Deals are taking longer to execute, and as such, we have reduced our full year 2022 leasing guidance by 100,000 square feet at the midpoint. In conjunction therewith, we have also reduced our very ambitious same-store leased occupancy goal. These reductions are less a function of the activity in our pipeline. but more a reflection of our view on getting some of the deals executed before year end. Notwithstanding, our portfolio remains well leased at 91.4% with modest role as we continue to lease up vacant space and de-risk future role. Our third quarter leasing was New York driven and was highlighted by the 142,000 square foot lease with O'Melveny & Myers at 13016 Avenue, where they will take over four floors currently occupied by Credit Agricole, which was set to expire in February 2023. The Credit Agricole exploration was our largest expected role in 2023 and has now been de-risked by 47%. We welcome O'Melveny to 13016 Avenue and are proud of our continuous execution at 13016 Avenue, including leasing approximately 450,000 square feet of space at the property over the past 12 months to a diverse roster of industry-leading tenants. The New York portfolio continues to perform well and has accounted for almost 80% of our year-to-date leasing velocity. The increased activity is a strong indication of an acceleration of the workforce returning to the office in New York. Commuter rails such as the Long Island Railroad and Metro North are recording peak ridership. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted that we just passed the highest rate of office use since the pandemic began in late March 2020. We see the return to office manifesting in our own portfolio post-Labor Day as office utilization rates continue to climb. While we are still not where we were Before the outbreak of COVID-19, we see these developments as a very positive trend in restoring the vibrancy back to the New York office market. The San Francisco portfolio continues to lag New York, but both portfolios continue to benefit from a key advantage in each market, namely the flight to quality. While our San Francisco leasing volume is more muted compared to the volume of the New York portfolio, pricing of quality space in the market remains strong. The activity we see remains at strong rates, with initial starting rent on the 35,000 square feet we leased at a robust $114 per square foot and increasing a modest 1.6% on second-generation space on a cash basis and over 14% on a gap basis. We believe our own leasing results demonstrate the prevalence of the flight to quality for office space in our markets as more tenants are returning to work. We expect to continue to benefit from this phenomenon as tenants are seeking well-operated, well-located, well-amortized, and environmentally conscious buildings for their employees. the discerning high-quality tenants we look for when leasing know this and know that Paramount ticks every box in these categories. Turning to the transaction market, activity continues to remain muted. The macroeconomic backdrop and rising interest rates keep buyers at bay and sellers evaluating when conditions will improve. For our part, we have always maintained a disciplined approach with our capital and continue to monitor the markets carefully. To date, we opportunistically repurchased 6.5 million shares at a weighted average price of $6.41 per share or 41.7 million in the aggregate. As has been the case since the pandemic began, we continue to maintain sufficient liquidity, which amounts to about $1.3 billion at the end of the quarter. We have maintained a defensive posture since the onset of the pandemic. With our portfolio of stable trophy assets and our proven ability to allocate capital, we have remained well positioned for the long term. With that, I will turn the call to Peter.