Urban Edge Properties

and welcome to the Urban Edge Properties fourth quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the 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, Ethan Blumen. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, and welcome to Urban Edge Properties Year-End Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Jeff Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Mualem, Chief Operating Officer, Mark Langer, Chief Financial Officer, Danielle DeVita, Executive Vice President of Development, Rob Milton, General Counsel, Scott Oster, Senior Vice President and Head of Leasing, and Andrea Drazen, Chief Accounting Officer. Please note today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements about the company's views of future events and financial performance, which are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and which the company does not undertake to update. Our actual future results, financial condition, and business may differ materially. Please refer to our filings with the SEC, which are also available on our website, for more information about the company. In our discussion today, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to GAAP results are available in our earnings release and supplemental disclosure package in the investor section of our website. At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Olson.

Jeff Olson Great. Thank you, Eitan, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to announce that we finished 2022 with another strong quarter. FFO as adjusted was $0.33 per share for the quarter and $1.21 for the year. A 22% increase over the fourth quarter of last year and an 11% increase for the full year. This increase is primarily attributed to rent commencements from anchor repositioning projects completed during the year, including ShopRite at Huntington, Uncle Giuseppe's at Briarcliff Commons, Kohl's at Bergen Town Center, and AAA Wholesale at Lodi. Our prior acquisitions of Woodmore Town Center outside of Washington, D.C., and the shops at Riverwood in Boston also contributed to this growth. Same property NOI was up significantly at 6.2%. primarily due to new rent commencements, higher recoveries, and higher percentage and specialty rents. Our leasing momentum was robust during the fourth quarter, setting a company record of more than 1 million square feet of new leases for the year, including 575,000 square feet in the fourth quarter alone. Special thanks to Scott Oster, and all members of our leasing, legal, and administrative teams for generating these record results. The volume was outstanding, but it is equally noteworthy to highlight the quality of tenants being added to the portfolio. Our assets continue to attract best-in-class retailers that drive traffic to our centers and enhance the value of adjacent spaces. This quarter, we signed new leases with Target, TJ Maxx, Golf Galaxy, Kava, Crumble Cookies, and medical users, including BondVet and DaVita Dialysis. During the past year, we increased our consolidated occupancy from 92% to 95%, a notable growth rate following the pandemic. Most importantly, we have visibility to grow our net operating income by 18% or $44 million annually. Las Catalinas, Walgreens at Monte Hedra, Total Wine at Cherry Hill, Nemours Children's Health at Brewmall, and Aldi at Bruckner. On a macro level, the shopping center industry has remained resilient in the face of economic uncertainty and higher inflation. Retailers have recognized the importance of brick-and-mortar stores and the critical role the store plays in omnichannel fulfillment. This has led many retailers to expand their store count, driving U.S. shopping center vacancy to its lowest level since 2007, according to Cushman and Wakefield, which bodes well for our ability to continue to increase occupancy and rents. Of course, Tenant turnover is an expected part of our business. Notable at-risk tenants for us today include Bed Bath & Beyond, Regal Cinema, and Party City. We are comfortable that we will generate strong backfill opportunities should any of them vacate as our properties are in many of the most densely populated supply-constrained markets throughout the Northeast. It is important to note that housing demand in the New York metro area, our largest market, remains strong relative to the rest of the country. A recent Bloomberg article noted that home asking prices increased by more than 10 percent year over year in Westchester County and in northern New Jersey, where home bidding wars still occur due to the area's dense population with high-earning professionals and lack of inventory. This further supports the trend we have seen throughout our suburban shopping centers, where work-from-home policies have resulted in more frequent shopping trips. On that point, foot traffic within our portfolio increased by 6% in 2022 as compared to 2019. We expect this trend will continue as new anchor tenants like Target, ShopRite, and TJ Maxx open in spaces previously occupied by Kmart, Toys R Us, and other underperforming retailers. Our goals for 2023 include achieving at least $1.14 per share in FFO, successfully addressing the $300 million mortgage maturing at Bergen Town Center, commencing $15 million of annualized gross rent included in our $29 million executed lease pipeline, activating another $50 to $75 million in new redevelopment projects at a 10% or greater incremental return on cost, obtaining entitlements for approximately 450 residential units at Burgantown Center, and advancing our redevelopment plans at Sunrise Mall. We look forward to seeing many of you at the City Conference in early March and at our Investor Day on April 18th at the New York Stock Exchange. Lastly, I am delighted that Jeff Muellem, our new Chief Operating Officer, started with us in January. As I previously mentioned on our last earnings call, Jeff worked with me and Mark during our time at Equity One, and it is wonderful to see him hit the ground running. I will now turn the call over to Jeff so that he can share a few thoughts about his first month at Urban Edge. Jeff?