Good morning, and welcome to H and R Real Estate Investment Trust's 2021 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Before beginning the call, H and R would like to remind listeners that certain statements, which may include predictions, conclusions, Forecasts or projections in the remarks that follow may contain forward looking information, which reflect the current expectations of management regarding future events and performance and speak only as of today's date. Forward looking information requires management to make assumptions or rely on certain material factors is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from the statements in the forward looking information. In discussing H and R's financial and operating performance and in responding to your questions, we may reference certain financial measures, which do not have a meaning recognized or standardized under IFRS or Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other reporting issuers. Non GAAP measures should not be considered as alternatives to net income or comparable metrics determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of H and R's performance, liquidity, cash flows and profitability.
H and R's management uses these measures to aid in assessing the REIT's underlying performance and provides these additional measures so that investors can do the same. Additional information about the material factors, Assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements in the forward looking information Any material factors or assumptions that may have been applied in making such statements together with details on H and R's use of non GAAP financial measures are described in more detail in H and R's public filings, which can be found on our website and www.sedar.com. I would now like to introduce Mr. Tom Hofstadter, Chief Executive Officer of H and R REIT. Please go ahead, Mr.
Hofstadter.
Good morning, everyone. I'd like to thank you all for joining us here today. With me on the call are Larry Frum, our CFO Pat Sullivan, COO, Primaris Felipe Lapointe, COO, Lampower Alex Avery, Executive Vice President, Asset Management and Strategic Initiatives and Robin Kestenberg, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development. It has now been over a year since the pandemic began with growth trying to halt. The past year has had challenges and our Q1 results remain impacted by the difficulties some of our tenants face.
The REIT's business, however, has shown stability and resilience despite a few notable areas of softness. We have continued to require to position H and R for success as the pandemic impacts states and the economy reopens broadly. I'll turn it over to our team to provide details of the Q1 2021 financials and operating results. Philippe will review our multi residential operations, Following me, Pat will provide an update on our retail portfolio and Larry will provide some context to our financial results. And finally, I'll make some closing remarks.
Philippe, over to you.
Good morning, everyone. We've got some notable updates for this quarter, and so I'm delighted to share the latest from Lantower Residential. On the JV development front, the Pearl in Austin, Texas is scheduled to fully deliver in the Q3 of 2021. Nightingale in Seattle is in the early stages of pre leasing and the project will be fully delivered by June of this year. Construction of Phase 2 of our Hercules Development, named The Grand, has remained on schedule and is expected to deliver in the Q2 of 2021.
Lastly, Shoreline Gateway, our 35 story tower in Long Beach, California is also on schedule and expected to be delivered in August of 2021. As mentioned last quarter, we plan to supplement our JV development partnerships with our wholly owned development platform within Land Tower. First, I'd like to provide an update on our infill site in Dallas, Texas with proximity to the Dallas Love Field Airport and Medical District. The plan for the 5.4 Acres site that we refer to as West Love is a 5 story rack community with approximately 413 units. We are finishing schematic designs as we speak, and we'll be moving through the drawing process throughout the year with a target date to break ground by the end of this year.
Additionally, on January 28, we purchased a 4.2 acre infill site with direct frontage to North Central Expressway, One of the most traffic thoroughfares in the core of Dallas. We are also in schematic design with this 5 story wrap product that will include approximately 3 50 units. Lastly, we are finishing up schematic designs for garden style property in Tampa, Florida. This development with approximately 2 70 units It's adjacent to Highway 19, one of the most dominant thoroughfare in all of Pinellas County. The development is located in an infill location characterized by low future However, upon working with the local municipality, we were able to increase our density to our current level at no cost, resulting in an increase in development yield.
In light of our strategic shift towards the ground up development to take advantage of the widespread between development yields and prevailing cap rates, We look forward to sharing more exciting development updates in the future. On the Lantaro River Landing front, our leasing pace continues to beat expectations and budget. As of today, we are 45% occupied and have leased over 280 apartments. For context, our budgeted number of occupied units at this time was Approximately 200, underscoring the strength of our lease up efforts at River Landing despite increasing our asking rents multiple times to keep pace with the overwhelming demand for our property. Perhaps most importantly, we would like to share an update on Jackson Park.
While the return to stabilization will largely be driven by the workers returning to the office and students returning to the classroom, We are very encouraged by the return to normalcy in New York City. Social activity is resuming with the successful rollout of the vaccine and the declining new COVID case numbers. Just last week, New York City increased their restaurant capacity from 50% to 75%, and the mayor has targeted a full reopening by July. The property is expected to gain positive absorption as we enter the favorable summer leasing season, a trend that we are already beginning to observe with an increase in traffic. For context, we received nearly 700 pieces of prospect traffic in March April compared to only 156 pieces of traffic in March April of In the span of last month, when including pending applications, we have gone from 60% leased to 69% leased.
We remain confident that Jackson Park is one of the best value propositions for prospective residents in the submarket when considering location, amenities and quality of construction. On the financial front, when excluding Jackson Parker, same asset quarter over quarter operating income growth equates to a positive 4.1 For the Q1 of 2021 compared to the Q1 2020. We are proud to announce that Q1 operating income growth represents over 12 Straight quarters of same asset quarter over quarter positive NOI growth when excluding Jackson Park, a feat that we are particularly proud of when considering the tumultuous And with that, I will pass along the conversation to Pat.
Thanks, Philippe, and good morning, everyone. Following an encouraging 4th quarter from the Retail segment, Q1 same asset NOI declined $8,300,000 or 13.4 percent from Q1 2020, Including an 18.5% decline from enclosed malls. For enclosed malls, temporary rent reductions accounted for 34% of this decline, 28% relates to rent reductions we view as being more lasting in nature, 11% related to lower percentage rents, specialty leasing and miscellaneous revenues, And the remaining 27% was due to vacancy net of new leases commencing. Notably, bad debt expense has declined sharply from the highs of last summer. Throughout the pandemic, our primary focus has been to maintain occupancy.
Occupancy at the end of the Q1 was 91.5% for the Retail division as compared to 92% at the end of Q4 91.1% at the end of Q1 2020. And closed malls contribute 55% of the NOI in the retail division with grocery anchored centers generating 28% of the NOI and other retail contributing just under 17%. For enclosed malls, occupancy at the end of Q1 2021 remained relatively stable at 87.2% compared to 88.1% at the end of Q4 2020 and 86 0.7% at the end of Q1 2020. The pandemic has impacted some retailers more than others, with some filing CCAA As a measure of last resort, to maintain occupancy, we agreed to provide rental relief or restructured rental terms on a short term basis To those tenants whose business has been significantly impacted by the pandemic and others that may have otherwise closed as part of their CCAA filing. Revised terms typically involve lower base or gross rent plus a percentage rent over a reduced sales threshold.
With these temporary lease terms in place, our rental revenue takes on its greater seasonality consistent with the seasonality of our tenant sales. Our 4th quarter results benefited from the seasonally high 4th quarter tenant sales. However, Q1 Results were negatively impacted due to 1st quarter sales, typically representing the lowest share of annual sales compared to other quarters. To better understand the increased seasonality impact of our revised rental terms, In Q1, percentage rent in lieu accounted for 4% of retail rent, up from 2% in Q1 2020, With percentage rent accounting for a higher share of a lower total rent. By comparison, in Q4 2020, percentage rent accounted for 12% of total rent compared to 4% in Q4 2019.
In addition to the amplified seasonality of temporary lease amendments, Q1 results were impacted by the fact Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec malls were closed for a portion of the Q1 with malls in other regions being impacted by occupancy Over the balance of the year, we anticipate higher contribution from revenue categories, including percentage rent and specialty leasing as Collection of rents in the retail portfolio continued to trend higher since the low point in May 2020. In Q1 2021, collected 89% from our enclosed malls and 92% from the Retail segment overall. This is an improvement from the 87% collected from our enclosed malls and 90% from the Retail segment in Q4. While our April rent collection statistics lagged its Q1 2021 figure, We expect improvement in time as we have consistently seen in prior periods. With malls in Ontario being closed again On a positive note, we have seen good leasing traction as retailers anticipate a return to more normal operating conditions.
During the Q1, we completed 98 lease transactions, representing 475,000 square feet, of which 30 were new deals. The 30 new transactions completed is greater than the figure posted during the Q1 of each Q1 2020 and Q1 2019. Our leasing team continues to have positive discussions with retailers about opening new stores across the portfolio and we believe that we will continue making progress Improving our occupancy level throughout the remainder of the year. In terms of impact, we anticipate $1,900,000 incremental contribution from new lease Commencements in 2021 with large format tenants, we anticipate $1,900,000 in incremental contribution from new lease commencements with large format tenants during the remainder of 2021, Including rent from a new 39,000 square foot Save On Foods store that opened from a portion of the former Sears box in Kildonan Place at the end of April 2021. In addition, we have completed or are in the final stages of completing significant transactions that will create incremental rental growth of over $3,000,000 in 2022, including a 27,900 Square Foot lease with the City of Toronto to occupy second floor office at Dufferin Mall at rents 1.8x higher than the prior tenant.
The former office tenant vacated at the end of 2020 with new rents expected to commence December 2021. Last summer, our malls had recovered well following the closures In the spring of 2020, with sales in the Q3 climbing to 83% of Q3 2019 figures. However, mall closures and occupancy restrictions reinstated in Q4 have resulted in notable sales declines, which have continued through the Q1. Sales for the Q1 were 66% of Q1 sales last year, Adjusted for late March declines, sales during Q4 were 69% of Q4 2019. Our 4 malls in Ontario, which typically account for 31% of annual portfolio mall sales, were particularly impacted by closures having reported Q1 2021 sales equaled to 41% of prior year comparable period.
With the majority of our malls being located in secondary markets And typically the only regional mall in their trade area. Once closures and restrictions were lifted, properties have shown solid gains. By way of example, at Plaster, Ryam and Shikudimi, mall sales have rebounded to 90% of pre pandemic levels in February March, following the mall being closed in January. In areas where malls have been opened but operating with restrictions, sales have been relatively strong. Malts in Alberta posted 77% of pre pandemic sales in Q1 despite retailers having occupancy limits in place.
Orchard Park in Kelowna reported 85 percent of former year sales during Q1 with our New Brunswick malls at 81%. Based on feedback from retailers that also operate in the United States, we are optimistic that our malls will experience a return to pre pandemic sales levels once restrictions are lifted. To close, we would like to provide an update on our redevelopment plan for Dufferin Mall. In July 2019, we submitted combined applications for rezoning and redevelopment for the north end of the property to create Dufferin Grove Village. The project is anticipated to include approximately 1200 residential rental units.
Discussions with the city are progressing and we Great rezoning and site plan approval in Q4 2021 and commencement of construction Q4 2022. Upon completion, this redevelopment project will transform a successful established inner city regional shopping center into a vibrant mixed use development. Thank you. And I will now turn it back to Larry.
Thank you, Pat, and good morning, everyone. I'll start with our balance sheet. As at March 31, 2021, debt to total assets was 46.7% compared to 47.7% as at December 31, 2020. The weighted average interest rate of H and R's debt as of March 31, 2021 was 3.6 percent with an average term to maturity of 3.6 years. As at March 31, 2021, liquidity was $55,000,000 of cash on hand and $1,400,000,000 of unused borrowing capacity available under our lines of credit.
In addition, we have an unencumbered property pool of approximately 3,900,000,000 With onset of COVID last year, we increased our liquidity to approximately $1,000,000,000 The increase in current liquidity to $1,400,000,000 It's expected to return to more normal levels as we expect to either utilize part of our unused facilities to repay mortgages or decrease some of the facilities. Bad debt expense has steadily decreased from $23,500,000 recorded in Q2 2020 with the onset of COVID took $12,600,000 in Q3 2020, dollars 3,200,000 in Q4 2020 and now $1,000,000 in Q1, 2021. At March 31, 2021, we had a provision for Credit losses of $14,400,000 against the gross accounts receivable of $32,900,000 While the same asset property operating income, cash basis from our office segment decreased 10% compared to Q1 2020, it is all due to Hess Corp receiving a 7 month free rent period as part of a lease extension and amending agreement. This rent free period ends June 30, 2021. Hessle continues to lease 2 thirds of the property for an additional 10 year term Beyond the original expiry of June 2026, excluding the impact of the Hess lease, same asset property operating income from office properties would have increased by 2%.
Same asset property operating income from our Industrial segment decreased 2.3% compared to Q1 2020 due to the decrease in occupancy from 99% to 97%. Given the pandemic backdrop, we are pleased to report our Q1 2021 FFO was $0.40 The unit compared to $0.45 for Q1 2020. On last quarter's call, we spoke about a few items which we expected to influence 20 21 financial results, and I'd like to now review the impact on Q1's results. Firstly, as our River Landing development has been completed, Less interest is being capitalized to the project. The aggregate interest capitalized on all development projects amounts to 1,600,000 For Q1 2021 compared to $5,600,000 for Q1 2020, We expect a net drag on FFO until the project achieves stabilized occupancy.
Property operating income from River Landing only amounted to US600000 dollars in Q1 2021, and we expect that to grow to approximately US6 $1,000,000 a quarter or US25 $1,000,000 annually once the project is fully leased. Secondly, Jackson Park in Long Island City, New York has been particularly hard hit By COVID, as foreign students left New York and others left for the suburbs, property operating income on a cash basis for Q1 2020 was approximately US3 $1,000,000 of H and R's ownership interest. Prior to the onset of COVID, Q1 2020 Property operating income for Jackson Park was approximately US8 $1,000,000 at H and R's ownership interest. We're encouraged by the recent pickup in leasing activity. The vaccine rollout in the U.
S. Appears to be giving people the confidence to return to the city. And lastly, in January 2021, H and R converted a $140,000,000 mezzanine loan on a 12.4 acre development site in Jersey City to an ownership position. This will reduce interest income by approximately US14 $1,000,000 annually in 2021 compared to 2020, And interest will not be capitalized on the project until development commences. Finance income in Q1 2021 was $5,900,000 compared to $8,200,000 in Q1 2020.
While these factors will temp out 2021 results, they're It is substantially reversed in 2022 with anticipated lease up of River Landing, Jackson Park, Hercules Phase 1 and the commencement of future developments. We also expect the development activities to contribute to NAV per unit growth and improve the overall quality of our portfolio. And with that, I will turn it back to Tom.
Thanks, Larry. After challenging year, we're all finally starting to see promising signs of recovery. We seen a sharp improvement in leasing activity and occupancy at Jackson Park and strong leasing momentum at our largest recent development, River Landing in Miami. Vaccination rates are climbing every day and when restrictions have been lifted, bricks and mortar retail sales have surged. There are several retail properties still closed by mandate, we expect them to reopen over the next couple of months.
We received significant unsolicited interest from many parties looking to acquire a broad variety of our assets and we expect And finally, we remain committed to maximizing value for our unitholders and continue to work towards opportunities in 2021 to evolve H and R to a more narrowly focused REIT consistent with investors' preferences. Last quarter, we outlined plans to create at least one new entity in 2021 and remain on track to achieve that goal and we are currently working on a number of other transactions We look forward to providing more details in this regard over the course of the summer. We'd now be pleased to answer any questions from the call participants. Operator, please open the line for questions.
Our first question comes from Matt Logan with RBC Capital Markets.
Your line is open. Hi, Matt. Thank you and good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning. In terms
of your IFRS fair value marks, Can you tell us what percentage of the $67,000,000 was driven by your enclosed small portfolio? And what cap rate you're carrying Primarisat today?
Hey, Matt. The CHF67 1,000,000 It was mostly due to the Primaris increase in the malls. When the onset of COVID hit last year, we were Very conservative and reduced those cap rates and assumptions on the leasing and the rent rates. Since then, we've had a few appraisals that were done and showed significantly higher than what we were carrying it at. So most of that $6,000,000 to $7,000,000 that you referenced was Primero Small.
What cap rate are we carrying it at? I know in our investor presentation, we have the overall retail. I'm just trying to look it up for you now what the overall retail percentage or cap rate was. I'll get back to that number to you in a second, But I don't think we split it up between malls and other retail. The overall CapEx of 6.8%.
So would it be fair
to think about the enclosed malls in the order of maybe 100 basis points higher, 50 basis points higher than that average?
Yes. I would say, Yes, at least 100 basis points higher than average.
And in terms of your fair value markdowns in Q1 of last Certainly, you're quite conservative in taking about $1,300,000,000 to collect markdowns. Was any of that related to your Canadian grocery Portfolio over those assets largely stable?
No. Last year Q1, Those assets were stable. We did not take a write down in those assets. Those assets have continued to perform well and maybe even the cap rates have even compressed in them Given the demand for grocery these days. And if we turn to
some of your strategic priorities in 2021, Can you talk about how you're thinking about the Bow and maybe give us some insight on where you're carrying that asset in terms of a cap rate today?
Since the day we built it, actually reduced our exposure, as you well know. And it's we're currently my reference at the end of what I spoke about So we are currently working on it. We are in the very advanced stages, but roughly at this stage of the game, I still can't Give you more details. I can't say, as I said in the speech that I expect to fully expect that by the end of this year, we show over the course of the summer, we shall be able to make some announcements. I have to be vague on purpose, but we are this is not something initiative that we're just looking at right now.
We are well advanced in our strategic Thinking where we have actually strategic plans of where we're headed to.
So you want to give the IFRS?
Go ahead.
Sorry, Larry, you want to give the Ipress value? What do you want to do there?
I don't know if we can since we haven't put it in any of our disclosures. Don't know if I can give it on a call because not equal opportunity. Matt, I would say all I can give you a bit of color on is that again in Q1 2020, we took a substantial hit. I think it was in excess of €600,000,000 on our Office portfolio specifically relating to oil tenants, oil and gas tenants in that industry, whether Calgary and Houston. And of that $600,000,000 write down, the bow is the biggest part of that.
What we're carrying out now, we have not disclosed. I don't know if I can give that. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be vague. We think we've been conservative with the value.
We think whether at the sale or whatever we end up doing in the future, We'll be able to achieve at least our reference value, if not quite a bit more.
Appreciate that and completely understand. Maybe just changing gears to the residential side of your business, you've got some great leasing traction River Landing and some very healthy same property NOI growth for the Sunbelt land tower portfolio. Can you give us a sense of what's driving the lease up and The performance more broadly across the Sunbelt?
Hi, Matt. So Great question. So as it relates to your question on River Landing, not to oversimplify the answer, but frankly, I think we just have a terrific product. I think the what was ultimately developed in terms of location, but also in terms of finished product and The amenity base that we're able to offer prospective residents in comparison to the submarket is Dramatically superior and I think that plays a probably an outsized role in the pace of the lease up. As it relates to Sunbelt, I mean, I don't want to belabor the point.
I think everyone's kind of read the reports of the
Hello? Is it something you said?
I'm still here, Philippe.
Okay. I think the operator rang in my ear. I think it's just the resiliency and the strength of the Sunbelt markets. I mean, It's where jobs are being created, it's where the from a tenant perspective, the income per rent ratio is probably the healthiest In the nation and frankly, I think a lot can be said about The taxation or ultimately what the local governments have elected to do to attract those businesses and those tenants. But in any event, I think that The Sunbelt markets are certainly helping River Landing and attracting that net migration to Miami.
But I think 1st and foremost, it really comes down to the quality of the development.
Appreciate the commentary. And maybe just on that same property NOI growth print for This is Ann Taylor. There wasn't like a weak comp in the prior quarter. This is a pretty clean year over year figure.
I'm sorry, Matt, could you repeat the question?
When we think about that 4% growth figure Excluding Jackson Park, there was nothing in the prior period in terms of lease up of certain assets or anything anomalous So that 4% growth was pretty clean?
I think generally speaking, that's true. It's difficult to part them out only because Some assets we bought last year were in stabilization at different levels. But I think generally speaking, the right way in my mind to look at it is Really, that's just general NOI growth produced with a, frankly, a stabilized portfolio. We're generally speaking, a stabilized portfolio.
Appreciate the commentary. That's all for me. I'll turn it back. Thank you.
And we do have a question from Sam Damiani with TD Securities. Your line is open.
Thanks. Good morning, everyone, or good afternoon, wherever everybody is. Just I guess on the both the Bow and then the office portfolio and I think some of the commentary alluded to this, but just with the low industry environment, Investor demand for properties coming back pretty hard in many sectors. Do you see Some fair value write ups, I guess, on some of your long term leased office product in the near term?
I think the answer is yes. It's a little bit early days. There's a little bit of a lot of hesitation on still work from home and how that's But you're right, there's a strong very strong demand. We haven't seen a lot of product change at this point in time, but I think it's coming. And so I expect There will be enough evidence of transactions coming forward.
Again, there's been almost nothing going into the rearview mirror
And sorry, Tom, just on your comment, you mentioned there's been unsolicited bids for assets and you're looking at stepping up dispositions. In what business segments are you focusing on in the near term in that regard?
So it's a cost range. We're not calling our portfolio necessarily because we have bad assets or we have There's tremendous opportunities. Obviously, you have a buyer, which we have right now on for a portfolio of, so let's say, our industrial properties That's a strategic reason for paying a solid price, we look at that. Otherwise, we're looking to raise capital Enhance our balance sheet and further go forward with our strategic initiatives. So it's more of it right across the board.
I don't think it's focused on any one particular sector.
Okay. Last one for me is just on the land tower. I think Last call, Philippe, the messaging was pretty clear that some of those developments or most of those developments were build Sell strategies, is that still the plan as these projects reach completion and stabilization over the next year or 2?
I think that's a fair statement as it relates to the JV developments. Not so much as the as we regard. Well, I mean, we'll remain Opportunistic and we'll want to secure optionality on our own developments in the wholly owned development front, but Those are built to core and meant to come into our portfolio. The JV developments are generally speaking, yes, meant to be sold At some opportunistic moment.
Again, the strategy why we went into those to begin with is it gives us optionality. We get to go ahead and get the first crack at buying it, we want to buy it. The challenge today is that the cap rates are so low for the assets we are building that it's even hard even though we have Profit and higher return on our initial investments of, let's call it, a third investment on those, overall, the pricing is still very expensive. So that's why our strategy under Land Tower is more to turn into a developer rather than acquire it today because CapEx are just quite frankly, they're very, very low and prices are too expensive.
Thank you. I'll turn it back.
There are no further questions in queue at this time. I'll turn the call over to Mr. Tom Hofstadter for closing remarks.
Thanks everybody and we look forward to, I guess virtually seeing you at the AGM. Have a great weekend. Bye.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.