Urban Edge Properties (NYSE:UE) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 14, 2024 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Jeff Olson - Chairman and CEO

Jeff Mooallem - Chief Operating Officer

Mark Langer - Chief Financial Officer

Rob Milton - General Counsel

Scott Auster - Executive Vice President and Head, Leasing

Andrea Drazin - Chief Accounting Officer

Conference Call Participants

Floris Van Dijkum - Compass Point

Samir Khanal - Evercore ISI

Ronald Kamdem - Morgan Stanley

Paulina Rojas - Green Street

Operator

Good morning. And welcome to the Urban Edge Properties 2023 Year End Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Jeff Olson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Jeff Mooallem, Chief Operating Officer; Mark Langer, Chief Financial Officer; Rob Milton, General Counsel; Scott Auster, EVP and Head of Leasing; and Andrea Drazin, Chief Accounting Officer.

Please note today’s discussion may contain forward-looking statements about the company’s views of future events and financial performance, which are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties in which the company does not undertake to update. Our actual results, financial conditions and business may differ. Please refer to our filings with the SEC, which are also available on our website for more information about the company.

In our discussion today, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to GAAP results are available in our earnings release and supplemental disclosure package in the Investors section of our website.

At this time, it is my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Olson.

Jeff Olson

Great. Thank you, Areeba, and Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. As highlighted in our press release, 2023 was a record year from virtually every perspective. Leasing, development, refinancings, acquisitions, dispositions, executive and board refreshment, simplification, and earnings growth.

Our total return to shareholders was 35%, the highest in the shopping center REIT sector, outperforming our peers by 2,300 basis points. Moreover, we are optimistic about our future, particularly due to several points of differentiation relative to our peers.

First, our portfolio is concentrated in the D.C. to Boston corridor, the most densely populated supply-constrained area in the country. This not only results in high embedded land values, but further limits new supply due to lack of available land and high costs to develop in our markets.

Second, we have executed leases that will generate $27 million of rent upon commencement, representing 11% of our current NOI. We also have $168 million of anchor repositioning and redevelopment projects underway, expected to generate a 15% return. Importantly, over 90% of this pipeline is pre-leased.