Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone to the Plaza Retail REIT Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question- and- answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time for you to queue up for questions. If anyone has any difficulties during the conference, please press star zero for operator assistance at any time. I would like to advise everyone that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Michael Zakuta, Plaza's Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Mr. Zakuta.
Thank you, operator. Good morning. Thank you for joining us on our Q2 Results Conference Call. We are legally obliged to tell you that today's discussions include forward-looking statements. We'd like to caution you that such statements are based on management's assumptions and beliefs. Please refer to Plaza's public filings for discussion of these risk factors. As we've now completed the most challenging quarter in our history, we're definitely feeling positive about our business. Collection levels have gone through 90% in July. We recently received the bulk of the CECRA funds owing to us. Over 98% of our stores are open, and in general, we have more tenants providing positive feedback regarding their businesses versus negative feedback. The soft areas remain in fashion, sit-down restaurants, cinemas, and fitness centers. Our essential needs retailers continued to perform very well.
Our fast food, pet shops, sports stores, hardware, value stores, hair salons, and others have adapted well to the new reality facing retailers. Jim will take you through the collection numbers in his presentation. We are clearly facing retail headwinds, as evidenced by our unit price. Our sector is oversold as retail REITs are undervalued. I have two comments regarding retail headwinds. One, we will continue to see an oversupply of retail space. This will create real opportunities for Plaza to rightsize these challenged assets and turn them into sustainable retail properties. Don't forget that we have been rightsizing retail properties for some time, whether it's a vacant Sears, Zellers, an enclosed mall with significant vacancies, or an overbuilt strip center. Secondly, the size of the retail property market will likely shrink. Plaza is positioned to increase its relative market share at the expense of the passive property investor.
We believe that Plaza's many years of experience in redeveloping challenged retail properties and its strong leasing and development capabilities will allow us to effectively navigate against these retail headwinds. In the midst of the pandemic, we were able to execute on two interesting projects. The first is the upcoming purchase of a grocery-anchored strip located in secondary market Ontario, which presents a significant redevelopment opportunity. Our capital partner has agreed to fund the majority of our portion of the equity requirement during the redevelopment period. The second is an Atlantic Superstore anchor development in a fast-growing suburb of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Construction on the grocery anchor store has begun, and leasing activity for remaining space has been positive. As a result of the pandemic, we've also been able to take back space from unproductive retailers that will be recycled to more productive and successful operators.
We did 172,000 square feet of renewals and 78,000 square feet of new leasing in the second quarter. We did 153 and 46 in Q1 as a comparison. Let's look at the top 30, as this provides good color. Our top 30 tenants, this provides good color regarding the security of our future revenues. I've included a schedule in the presentation section of our website. Our top 13 of the 30 are very solid and are performing well on all accounts. We have one fashion tenant, Reitmans, in the 14th position, representing 1.3% of our rents. Other soft spots are GoodLife, MTY, Recipe, Cineplex, and Movati. We have now concluded COVID deals with these tenants and anticipate that they will make it through this crisis. Our core portfolio of pharmacies, grocery stores, dollar stores, and other essential needs tenants continues to deliver as advertised.
We see our value retailers as being in a position to prosper in our open-air retail strips during difficult economic times. In many cases, we see our open-air property network as an important part of any retailer's strategy to sell products through multiple channels. Our strategy being diversified across a wide geography with open-air properties that often dominate within their community will allow us to continue to grow. We have included some recent photos showing various projects that are underway, along with our top 30 list and our collection numbers on our website.
We continue to build and offer a portfolio of defensive style assets anchored by essential needs and value-oriented retailers. 93% of our revenue is generated from open-air centers, with national tenants representing 91% of our revenue. As we look forward, we remain confident in our future. Our portfolio, our business plan, have remained relevant, and we believe that we have a solid foundation from which to build as Canada emerges from this pandemic. I will now turn the call over to Jim Drake, Plaza's CFO. Jim?
Thank you, Michael. Although this was obviously a challenging quarter, as Michael mentioned, we are positive about the prospects for our business going forward. Some of the reasons for this outlook become evident when we look through the noise in Q2. Excluding the impact of lease buyouts, write-offs under the CECRA program, and bad debt expense, year-to-date NOI was up 7% over last year, and same asset NOI was up 2%. Also excluding the impact of these same items, FFO and AFFO per unit were up 13% and 15% respectively. We leased approximately 450,000 sq ft year to date, with renewal spreads of 3% for open air centers. Committed occupancy remains strong at 96.2%.
Under our development program, we completed the redevelopment of a retail strip plaza in Brampton, Ontario during the quarter, and year to date transferred CAD 18 million of fair value to income producing properties. We also commenced construction on a few expansions at existing properties, and as Michael mentioned, started construction on a new grocery-anchored development in Halifax and went firm on the acquisition of a grocery-anchored strip in Ontario. These transactions are a testament to our ability to adapt on both source and fund deals. On asset sales, we sold a QSR during the quarter and anticipate closing on the sale of a 50% interest in five Shoppers Drug Mart properties in August, which will generate CAD 4.5 million of cash for Plaza.
For fair value, we recorded a CAD 28.6 million loss on investment properties as a result of increased cap rates and more conservative assumptions for underwritten NOI and releasing costs. Our liquidity at June 30th included CAD 7.5 million of cash, CAD 3 million available on our operating line, and CAD 42 million of unused development and construction financing facilities. We also have unencumbered assets with a value of approximately CAD 26 million. Subsequent to quarter end, we added CAD 4 million of cash, comprised of CAD 3 million of funds from the renewal of our Series X mortgage bonds and CAD 1 million of collections from the federal government under the CECRA program.
For long-term debt, as of June 30th, we had CAD 55 million of mortgage maturities remaining in 2020. Subsequent to quarter end, we extended CAD 6 million of that into early 2021. For the remaining mortgage maturities, most of which relate to grocery or pharmacy-anchored properties, the overall loan to value is below 60%, and we are confident we can renew or refinance these mortgages at lower interest rates. We also signed a term sheet for long-term financing on a recently completed redevelopment in Quebec and anticipate closing that mortgage later this summer. An update on rent collections. For Q2, we collected 82% of gross rent, including the federal government contribution under the CECRA program.
Collection rates are increasing as well, starting at 80% in April and May, rising to 86% in June and 92% in July. We have also signed deferral agreements with certain tenants totaling 7% of Q2 rent, with repayment of the deferred rent over definitive timelines, generally commencing in Q3 of this year. We continue to work actively with our tenants to determine acceptable payment solutions for any remaining unpaid rent. To mitigate the short-term cash flow impacts from uncollected rent, Plaza is continuing with a proactive cost management program to reduce general and admin expenses both in the short and long term, reduce property operating costs, and defer elective capital expenditures. Those are the key points relating to our results for the quarter and year to date. We will now proceed to open the lines for any questions. Operator?
Your first question comes from the line of Kyle Stanley from Desjardins.
Thanks. Good morning, guys.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about the Shoppers dispositions that are expected to be completed this month. I'm just wondering, were you looking at it as a way to generate a bit of liquidity for the REIT? If so, do you see any other similar opportunities down the road?
This was purely a reaction to COVID and the deferred rents that we have to deal with. We put a plan in place earlier in the year, I guess in the middle of COVID, where we organized a syndication to, we call it a limited partnership style investment, about 20, 25 investors, and that will create liquidity. We still own 50% of and manage the asset. That is something you might see next year as a means of raising capital because obviously at the current unit price, we're not issuing equity.
Right. No, that makes sense. That's what I thought. Okay. Just looking at the IFRS value of the portfolio for a minute. You mentioned an increase in cap rates was the primary driver there. I'm just wondering, is that driven by a few select assets or was that just kind of a broad increase across the portfolio?
It was generally a broad increase across the portfolio, more geared towards enclosed malls, for sure. We'd obtain a cap rate matrix from a third-party appraiser, and other than freestanding assets, like a freestanding Shoppers Drug Mart, the increase was generally widespread.
Okay, thanks. I'm not sure if you'll have this offhand, but I'm just wondering, do you have the gross rental revenue figure for the quarter? I know that in some of the other REITs we've seen, sometimes there's some other additions in there. It helps when trying to look at your rent collection stats.
Yeah, absolutely. It was about CAD 26 million gross rent for the quarter.
Okay, great. Lastly, thanks for the slide in the deck on your rent collection. That's very informative. I'm just wondering, looking at the rent abated, it's a very small number. Obviously, the rent deferrals thus far in July have come off significantly. I'm just wondering, in your agreements with tenants, has Plaza been able to enter any kind of favorable new leases or make any changes to the existing leases as a result of extending that help?
Yes, in certain circumstances, we obviously were able to make certain adjustments and changes that were favorable to the landlord in exchange for our support. That's pretty standard practice. Can't say that we did a ton of it. Clearly, we're not giving away rent. We have done abatements where we felt necessary. We've obviously focused on deferrals, and we were part of the CECRA from the get-go. We felt it was the right thing to do so that there is a cost there. You're not trading with tenants with respect to CECRA.
Okay, great. That makes sense. Okay, thanks. That's it for me. I'll turn it back.
Thank you.
Mr. Zakuta, I show there are no further questions at this time.
Well, thank you, operator. Thank you, everyone, for participating.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. Thank you for participating. Please disconnect your lines.