Veris Residential, Inc.

And welcome to Veris Residential Inc. Third Quarter 2023 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 or pray for 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, Taryn Fielder, General Counsel. Thank you, Ms. Feeler. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Veris Residential's third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. I would like to remind everyone that certain information discussed on this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law. Although we believe the estimates reflected in these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot give assurance that the anticipated results will be achieved. We refer you to the company's press release and annual and quarterly reports filed with the SEC for risk factors that impact the company. With that, I would like to hand the call over to Mahbub Nia, Veris Residential's Chief Executive Officer, who is joined by Amanda Lombard, Chief Financial Officer. Mahbub?

Thank you, Saren, and good morning, everyone. In the third quarter, we continue to build upon the strong results we delivered during the first half of the year. Since redeeming Rockpoint's preferred interest in July, we've closed on the sales of four non-strategic assets, releasing $122 million of net proceeds, which we'll use to repay the balance of the term loan and revolving credit facility, and refinance approximately $350 million of debt, proactively addressing near-term debt maturities and enhancing our overall debt maturity profile. Operationally, we continue to outperform during the third quarter, achieving a blended same-store net rental growth rate of 9.3%, and same-store NOI growth of 17.1%, despite widespread softening of rents across the multifamily sector. The $122 million of non-strategic assets closed since the end of the second quarter puts the total value of transactions closed this year at over half a billion dollars. Specifically, the most recent transactions completed include two further office buildings, Harborside 6 and 23 Main Street, and two land plots, Harborside 4 and 3 Campus. The net proceeds realized from these sales, combined with the excess cash flow from our now positive cash flowing operations and equity released from the refinancing of House 25, enabled us to fully repay the balance of our term loan and revolving credit facility in just three months, resulting in a substantial interest expense saving in the process. 107 Morgan and 2 Campus remain under binding contract and are anticipated to provide the company with additional liquidity upon closing. Turning to operations, during the quarter, same-store occupancy and our retention rates remain stable, 95.5% and 55% respectively. The blended same-store net rental growth rate remains strong at 9.3%, despite the end of the third quarter typically marking the start of a slower leasing season across the multifamily sector, and rent increases being based on high growth periods from 2022. While we anticipate further cooling of rents, consistent with peers, we believe our highly monetized Class A portfolio continues to be well positioned for the less active winter leasing season. Our continued outperformance relative to the broader market, which saw rents rise by only 1% nationally year over year and by 5% in New Jersey, reflects the resilient demand for our high-quality Class A portfolio and the strength of our operational platform in capturing that demand, approximately 30% of which was comprised of move-ins from New York City. Furthermore, New supply in the Jersey City waterfront market continues to be muted, with very few new deliveries expected in the next 18 to 24 months. The sustained revenue growth we achieved during the quarter, coupled with our continued focus on expense management, contributed to a 17.1% growth in same-store NOI compared to the third quarter of 2022, representing an additional $17.9 million of NOI generated in the nine months ended September 30th, excluding the significant contribution from House 25. This continued outperformance is reflected in our decision to once again raise NOI guidance to 14% to 15%. Amanda will discuss this in further detail. As one of our industry leaders in ESG, we were proud to be named global listed and regional sector leaders by the 2023 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, or GRESP, earlier this month. Despite 2023 being only the second year in which we participated in the benchmark, we once again earned a five-star rating for our performance. a testament to our ongoing commitment to sustainable operations, diversity, and the advancement of ESG action supporting the well-being of our residents, employees, suppliers, and communities. With that, I'm going to hand it over to Amanda, who will provide an update on our financial performance during the quarter.