HOUSTON, April 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) (“Whitestone” or the “Company”) today announced the acquisition of Scottsdale Commons in Scottsdale, Arizona for $22.2 million. Scottsdale Commons sits on the second most trafficked intersection in Scottsdale and acts as a gateway linking North Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. The 69,000 square foot center is 96.6% occupied with 20 tenants including Rosati’s Chicago Pizza, specialty butcher Rusty Nail Meats, U.S. Egg, winner of Phoenix Magazines 2023 Best Breakfast Award, pet care service provider Companion Pet Partners and BevMo which serve a surrounding community with a 3-mile average household income of $138k.
“Whitestone has the perfect opportunity to leverage our leasing and operations skills in order to drive performance at Scottsdale Commons,” said Whitestone REIT COO, Christine Mastandrea. “We have a great team and a strong presence in the Scottsdale market. This acquisition is accretive on day one and we believe our team can add significant additional value.”
The acquisition is funded through Whitestone’s capital recycling program, which is intended to improve the overall quality of its portfolio through targeted dispositions and the acquisition of greater long-term value properties. The program began in 2022, is intended to match disposition proceeds with acquisition funding amounts, and now totals over $100 million in acquisitions with an annual base rent of approximately $27 per square foot and combined capitalization rate of 7.1% based on actual or projected year one NOI. The properties sold to date have an annual base rent per square foot of approximately $18 and were sold at an aggregate capitalization rate of 6.2%, based on trailing twelve-month NOI.
About Whitestone REIT
Whitestone REIT (NYSE: WSR) is a community-centered real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns, operates, and develops open-air, retail centers located in some of the fastest growing markets in the country: Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
Our centers are convenience focused: merchandised with a mix of service-oriented tenants providing food (restaurants and grocers), self-care (health and fitness), services (financial and logistics), education and entertainment to the surrounding communities. The Company believes its strong community connections and deep tenant relationships are key to the success of its current centers and its acquisition strategy. For additional information, please visit the Company’s investor relations website.
Forward-Looking Statements
This Report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations, statements related to our expectations regarding the performance of our business, and other matters. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts but are the intent, belief or current expectations of our management based on its knowledge and understanding of our business and industry. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “potential,” “predicts,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” or the negative of such terms and variations of these words and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements include these words. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made in this Report include: the imposition of federal income taxes if we fail to qualify as a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) in any taxable year or forego an opportunity to ensure REIT status; uncertainties related to the national economy, the real estate industry in general and in our specific markets; legislative or regulatory changes, including changes to laws governing REITs; adverse economic or real estate developments or conditions in Texas or Arizona, Houston and Phoenix in particular, including the potential impact of public health emergencies, such as COVID-19, on our tenants’ ability to pay their rent, which could result in bad debt allowances or straight-line rent reserve adjustments; increases in interest rates, including as a result of inflation operating costs or general and administrative expenses; our current geographic concentration in the Houston and Phoenix metropolitan area makes us susceptible to local economic downturns and natural disasters, such as floods and hurricanes, which may increase as a result of climate change, increasing focus by stakeholders on environmental, social, and governance matters, financial institution disruption; availability and terms of capital and financing, both to fund our operations and to refinance our indebtedness as it matures; decreases in rental rates or increases in vacancy rates; harm to our reputation, ability to do business and results of operations as a result of improper conduct by our employees, agents or business partners; litigation risks; lease-up risks, including leasing risks arising from exclusivity and consent provisions in leases with significant tenants; our inability to renew tenant leases or obtain new tenant leases upon the expiration of existing leases; risks related to generative artificial intelligence tools and language models, along with the potential interpretations and conclusions they might make regarding our business and prospects, particularly concerning the spread of misinformation; our inability to generate sufficient cash flows due to market conditions, competition, uninsured losses, changes in tax or other applicable laws; geopolitical conflicts, such as the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the conflict in the Gaza Strip and unrest in the Middle East; the need to fund tenant improvements or other capital expenditures out of operating cash flow; the extent to which our estimates regarding Pillarstone REIT Operating Partnership LP’s financial condition and results of operations differ from actual results; and the risk that we are unable to raise capital for working capital, acquisitions or other uses on attractive terms or at all and other factors detailed in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other documents the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This release contains supplemental financial measures that are not calculated pursuant to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) including EBITDAre, FFO, NOI and net debt. Following are explanations and reconciliations of these metrics to their most comparable GAAP metric.
NOI: Net Operating Income: Management believes that NOI is a useful measure of our property operating performance. We define NOI as operating revenues (rental and other revenues) less property and related expenses (property operation and maintenance and real estate taxes). Other REITs may use different methodologies for calculating NOI and, accordingly, our NOI may not be comparable to other REITs. Because NOI excludes general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization, equity or deficit in earnings of real estate partnership, interest expense, interest, dividend and other investment income, provision for income taxes, gain on sale of property from discontinued operations, management fee (net of related expenses) and gain or loss on sale or disposition of assets, and includes NOI of real estate partnership (pro rata) and net income attributable to noncontrolling interest, it provides a performance measure that, when compared year-over-year, reflects the revenues and expenses directly associated with owning and operating commercial real estate properties and the impact to operations from trends in occupancy rates, rental rates and operating costs, providing perspective not immediately apparent from net income. We use NOI to evaluate our operating performance since NOI allows us to evaluate the impact that factors such as occupancy levels, lease structure, lease rates and tenant base have on our results, margins and returns. In addition, management believes that NOI provides useful information to the investment community about our property and operating performance when compared to other REITs since NOI is generally recognized as a standard measure of property performance in the real estate industry. However, NOI should not be viewed as a measure of our overall financial performance since it does not reflect the level of capital expenditure and leasing costs necessary to maintain the operating performance of our properties, including general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization, equity or deficit in earnings of real estate partnership, interest expense, interest, dividend and other investment income, provision for income taxes, gain on sale of property from discontinued operations, management fee (net of related expenses) and gain or loss on sale or disposition of assets.
Investor and Media Contact:
David Mordy
Director, Investor Relations
Whitestone REIT
(713) 435-2219
ir@whitestonereit.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/508bd724-1bc3-48a6-8d77-b02d360212d3
