Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (NYSE:DEA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Bill Crow: Okay. All right. And then finally for me, I think you’ve had a decent sized debt maturity next year. Are there extension options on that, or what are you thinking about from the cost of redoing that debt? I think it’s $100-some-odd million.

Meghan Baivier: Yes. So, we’ve got the two components would be our $100 million term loan with a subset of our bank syndicate and just a little over $50 million mortgage. What I would tell you is we consistently are able to differentiate ourselves with the banks today, while they are all certainly undergoing a lot of deep dives into their office portfolio, right? The thing I consistently hear is no credit issues, top of — I don’t even want to call you office, looking at your position in the market and ability to continue to grow. That’s obviously an attractive longer-term relationship. And so I’m very comfortable with our ability to continue to maintain capacity at the banks. And from the perspective of the mortgage, we have capacity on our revolver today, but we’ll continue to pull that in and evaluate the whole — our entire debt structure as we move forward and look at the marginal most attractive place to refi debt.

But for — certainly, we have the capacity to kind of warehouse it on the line.

Bill Crow: Are you — okay. Are you in discussions about those maturities? And you give a sense for how much the interest rates may gap up?

Meghan Baivier: Yes, in conversations on the term loan, expecting consistent spreads there and not looking to refinance the mortgage on that existing asset looking to roll that into the broader context.

Bill Crow: Perfect. Thank you all.

William Trimble: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question is from Aditi Balachandran of RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Aditi Balachandran: Hi, good morning. I know, Bill, you kind of touched on this in your prepared remarks. But I guess, can you go into a little more color about your outlook for, I guess, the next one or two years? And what types of deals you’re looking to target?

William Trimble: Absolutely. I think it’s important to note that we had a nice slow run, and we took advantage of it over the summer. We saw some great opportunities for accretive transactions. And I think we’ve been very consistent in saying we’re not interested in doing things that aren’t accretive. Right now, the market, I think, slightly shocked by recent increases in interest rates or on the sellers I think they’ve gone back into their holes in hiding for a little bit, but I’m sure they’ll be right back out soon like they were before. But I think the next several years, you’re going to see just what Darrell and I were discussing, which we’re going to see some incredible development opportunities. I’m quite sure of that.

I think we’re going to continue to see some accretive opportunities primarily federal, and I think some interesting state ones as well. So, I think the one thing you can expect is that we’re going to see some opportunities. We’re going to do them accretively. And I think that the buildings that we buy will continue to inure to our benefit and we’ll be right in the middle of the bull’s eye.

Aditi Balachandran: Got it. And I guess just how different are development cap rates from acquisition cap rates and assuming the development cap rates are much higher, but just for an idea?

William Trimble: Well, I think we’ve got two things metering in there. We obviously want to be accretive from our cost of capital on one standpoint. And obviously, we realize the risk inherent in development and we need a premium for that as well. And I think we’ve always done that. And the great news is anything we’re going to do. Obviously, we’ll be a signed lease, and we’ll have something at the end and fabulous building. So I think from that standpoint, it has always been the most, I think, best — and the highest and best use of our capital.

Aditi Balachandran: Great. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Peter Abramowitz of Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.