Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

20 of those were new and expansion leases and leases over 10,000 square feet represented over 80% of our total activity. Our higher volume this quarter included two important sizable long-term renewals. One for 121,000 square feet at 3348 Peachtree in Atlanta and another for 112,000 square feet at Corporate Center in Tampa. The latter was a somewhat early renewal with that customer previously due to expire in early 2025. With this quarter’s leasing activity, we now only have 15.1% of our annual contractual rent expiring through the end of 2025, including only 5.6% in 2024. Further, no more than 10% of our annual contractual rent expires in any given calendar year through 2030. We’re pleased with our lease expiration profile and the stability it should provide our operating portfolio in the near term.

Average net rent this quarter came in at $33.94 and which was sequentially lower, but substantially in line with the full year 2022. However, average leasing concessions, defined as the sum of free rent and tenant improvements were also lower at $7.57, about 9% below our last four quarter run rate. As a result, average net effective rent remained strong at $23.77, only about 2% below our last four quarter run rate. Lastly, second-generation net rent growth improved this quarter, coming in at a strong 9.8% on a cash basis. We also saw cash net rent grow in every market this quarter. Again, these results are solid across the board. Now for a quick update on our leasing pipeline. Our late-stage leasing pipeline consisting of leases currently in negotiation sits in line with last quarter at approximately 615,000 square feet.

As a reminder, our late-stage pipeline remains almost double what it was at the beginning of 2023. We also continue to be pleased with our medium and early-stage pipelines, with overall tour activity up again relative to the prior quarter. As we look across the Sun Belt, we see firsthand in our portfolio at the highest quality office buildings that provide occupants with a better lifestyle while it work continued to outperform. This is very evident in Atlanta. As JLL has noted, in Atlanta assets built since 2010 have absorbed 5.1 million square feet of space over the last three years while assets built prior to 2010 saw over 12.2 million square feet of negative absorption. In our Atlanta portfolio this quarter, we signed 257,000 square feet of leases with over 80% of the activity in Midtown and Buckhead, Further, 49% of our leases signed in Atlanta this quarter were new and expansion leases.

Our recently redeveloped Promenade campus in Midtown continues to see strong activity with over 219,000 square feet of leases signed there year-to-date. I’m also excited to report that this quarter, we signed a 25,000 square foot expansion with Snowflake at Terminus 200 in Buckhead and that we are also in lease negotiations for 57,000 square feet of new occupancy at 3350 Peachtree in Buckhead. The latter is a nice validation for another one of our recently redeveloped properties. In Nashville, we remain encouraged by the office and retail interest in our new half mixed-use development. While no new leases were signed this quarter, we have almost 50,000 square feet of leases in negotiation, of which 49,000 square feet is office. In addition, we continue to have a robust prospect list with over 140,000 square feet of active proposals currently outstanding.

The momentum at this project continues with exciting retail announcements on the horizon and the apartments set to open early next summer. Finally, I want to reiterate that our Austin portfolio is very well-positioned to weather the near-term supply challenges coming into view in that market. At the end of the third quarter, our Austin portfolio was 94.6% leased with relatively little availability to lease and no material near-term expirations and enjoying 5.9 years of weighted average lease term. Our Austin team signed 45,000 square feet of leases this quarter, rolling up cash net rents 24.9%. Before handing it off to Greg, I want to thank our best-in-class operations team for the great work they do every day. Each of you play a truly critical role in our continued success.

Greg?

Gregg Adzema: Thanks, Richard. Good morning, everyone. I’ll begin my remarks by providing a brief overview of our results, as well as some details on our same-property performance. Then I’ll move on to our development pipeline, followed by a quick discussion of our balance sheet, before closing my remarks with an update to our earnings outlook for the balance of 2023. As Colin stated upfront, our third quarter earnings were solid, and the operating economics behind them remain very strong. Second generation cash, cash leasing spreads were positive for the 38th straight quarter. That’s over nine years of uninterrupted rent growth. Leasing velocity accelerated and same property year-over-year cash in line increased. It was also a very clean quarter.

The only item of note was a non-core land sale in Atlanta for $4.3 million that generated a gain of approximately $0.5 million. Before discussing same-property numbers, I wanted to take a moment to step back from this quarter’s results and look at our performance since the onset of COVID. While FFO has been flat, it was $0.64 per share in the second quarter of 2020, excluding Norfolk Southern fees compared to $0.65 per share this quarter. Quarterly AOI has actually steadily increased over this period of $18 million or 15%. So why is an FFO up as well? The answer is higher interest expense. I’d point this out to highlight the underlying cash flow growth from our properties over the past three years. We’ve driven cash flow through increased rents and the completion and lease-up of new developments and redevelopments.