Slate Office REIT

Welcome to the Slate Office REIT fourth quarter 2023 financial results conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during the call you require immediate assistance, please press star and then zero for operator assistance. This call is being recorded on Thursday, February the 15th, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer Piper. Please begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Q4 2023 conference call for Slate Office REIT. I am joined this morning by Brady Welch, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Robert Armstrong, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Evan Meister, Managing Director, Sarah Jane O'Shea, Vice President, Andrew Broad, Vice President, and Jeremy Kopp, Vice President. Before getting started, I would like to remind participants that our discussion today may contain forward-looking statements, and therefore we ask you to review the disclaimers regarding forward-looking statements as well as non-IFRS measures, both of which can be found in Management's Discussion and Analysis. You can visit Slate Office REIT's website to access all of the REIT's financial disclosure, including our Q4 2023 Investor Update, which is now available. I will now hand over the call to Brady for opening remarks.

Thank you, Jen, and good morning, everyone. 2023 was a challenging year for much of the real estate industry, and office was no exception. But we believe we are starting to see green shoots in the office sector and accelerating demand from emerging and established companies looking for high-quality office space. We are very pleased with the leasing activity and interest we are seeing in all markets that we operate in. Our team has done a great job building a strong pipeline of near-term leasing opportunities with large and small users. We are actively touring tenants through our spaces and are in discussions regarding new leases, renewals, and extensions. Our team has completed over 624,000 square feet of leasing in the year, which is up almost 11% from 2022. And after quarter end, our team completed an additional 150,000 square feet of new leasing across Ontario and Atlantic Canada at a waltz of over 13 years. This includes the 107,000 square foot deal we announced yesterday with the leading financial technology company in Etobicoke, Ontario. In terms of pipeline, we are in active discussions with two users in the GTA for new or expansion leasing totaling over 240,000 square feet, which would add to the REITs net operating income beginning in late 24 and into 25. And more importantly, only 4.8% of the REITs portfolio GLA, or gross leaseable area, is set to mature in 24, and renewal negotiations for those spaces are ongoing. This interest and momentum in leasing is a contrast the market sentiment around office. We are seeing and hearing large users increasingly thinking strategically about where they want to be long-term and where they want to commit. We believe this demonstrates the value of leading companies that see that physical spaces are critically important for their operations and their employees, where they can train, collaborate, and innovate. In addition to our leasing momentum, we've made progress on the REITs portfolio realignment plan, which is intended to improve the REITs liquidity, strengthen our balance sheet, and improve the REITs portfolio. In February, we completed the disposition of an asset in Mississauga, Ontario for a gross purchase price of $19.2 million at our share. We currently have approximately $120 million at share in assets that are under contract for disposition or in various stages of negotiation, representing almost 13% of the REIT's GLA. The REIT has already repaid approximately $18 million of debt using proceeds from the dispositions completed in February and remains focused on executing our portfolio realignment plan to further improve the REIT's liquidity and strengthen our balance sheet. On behalf of Slate Office REIT and the team and the Board, I'd like to thank the investor community for the continued support. And I now hand it over for questions.