Regency Centers Provides Update Related to COVID-19

Lisa Palmer

JACKSONVILLE, FL,  March 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Regency Centers Corporation (the “Company”) provided the following updates related to COVID-19.

Statement from Lisa Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer:

“First and foremost, thank you to all of the people who are placing their lives at risk by going to work every day to help provide our country with essential goods and services, such as healthcare workers, grocery store employees, delivery personnel and public service workers, just to name a few.

"You have our deepest gratitude and our thoughts and prayers are with you. As to Regency, our priority is the well-being of our team members, tenants, and the people in the communities that our properties serve.

"Our dedicated teams are committed to working with our tenants and vendors to ensure that our properties continue to seamlessly provide the essential goods and services that the surrounding neighborhoods need during this time.

 “Although the impacts of this unprecedented crisis are evolving rapidly and are difficult to quantify, Regency is built to withstand challenges and adversity with its strong balance sheet, exceptional people and a high quality portfolio of open air shopping centers that are 80% grocery anchored."

2020 Guidance

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company announced today that it is withdrawing its full year 2020 guidance that was previously issued on February 12, 2020.

 A supplement to the investor presentation, which provides further information, has been posted on the Company’s website at investors.regencycenters.com/events-and-presentations/presentations. The Company will provide additional updates with its First Quarter 2020 earnings results.

Liquidity

To further strengthen Regency’s already strong balance sheet and liquidity position in this rapidly evolving and uncertain situation, the Company has taken additional steps to increase its liquidity.

 The Company settled its forward equity offering from September 2019 at $67.99 per share resulting in net proceeds of approximately $125 million.

The Company also drew down $500 million from its existing $1.25 billion revolving credit facility. Including the aforementioned credit facility draw, Regency now has a cash balance of approximately $720 million and an additional $545 million available under its revolving credit facility, which together represent total liquidity of approximately $1.27 billion.

 Regency has no unsecured debt maturities until 2022. The Company’s pro rata share of secured mortgage debt maturities in 2020 and 2021 is $153 million and $174 million, respectively.  

Investments

The Company has approximately $350 million of development and redevelopment projects currently in process and in various stages of construction.

Approximately $225 million remains to be spent to complete these in-process projects. Due to impacts of COVID-19, construction has been suspended at some projects due to municipal orders, or has slowed substantially due to health concerns and labor limitations.

Regency is assessing the impact of these project delays and will provide additional updates with its First Quarter 2020 earnings results. The Company is also closely assessing all pipeline development and redevelopment projects as well as non-essential capital expenditures.

Annual Shareholder Meeting

Due to the emerging public health impact of COVID-19 and to protect the safety of participants, the in-person Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “Annual Meeting”) being held on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. EDT, has been changed to a virtual format only.

The virtual meeting will utilize online tools that ensure shareholders have the same rights and opportunities to participate as they would at an in-person meeting.

A live stream webcast, including closed captioning, can be accessed on the following website: virtualshareholdermeeting.com/REG2020. Online access to the webcast will open 15 minutes prior to the designated start time.

A replay of the webcast will be available on the Company’s website at investors.regencycenters.com until October 29, 2020.

Laura Clark

As described in the proxy materials for the Annual Meeting, a shareholder is entitled to vote in the Annual Meeting if the shareholder was a shareholder as of the close of business on March 9, 2020, the record date, or holds a legal proxy for the meeting provided by the shareholder’s bank, broker, or nominee.

To vote in the virtual meeting, a shareholder must enter the control number found on the shareholder’s proxy card, voting instruction form or notice the shareholder previously received.

Shareholders may submit questions in advance when they register for the meeting and at the conclusion of the virtual meeting through the webcast. 

CONTACT:

Laura Clark
904-598-7831
LauraClark@RegencyCenters.com

regencycenters.com. 

Blackton Flooring and Roofing Supply To Open Third Central Florida Location in Leesburg, April 1

Michael “Micky” Blackton

LEESBURG, FL and  ORLANDO, FL  --- Blackton, Inc., one of Central Florida’s largest and most active suppliers of roofing and flooring materials to the homebuilding industry will open their third location April 1 in Leesburg.    

Michael “Micky” Blackton, chairman and CEO, said Blackton will open the new branch location at 105 Park Center St. , Leesburg FL 34748 to better facilitate current and new customers.

“This expansion will enable us to service current and new customers with greater turnaround time,” he said.   

Blackton added that his father Charles launched the roofing and flooring supply company the first week of April 66 years ago in a warehouse next to the train tracks on Alden Road near Ivanhoe antique row.   

Charles Blackton

 The company currently employs 50 and will initially operate the Leesburg facility with a staff of 18.  

Headquartered at 1714 Alden Rd. near Ivanhoe Row north of downtown Orlando with a retail location at 2200 N. Orange Blossom Trail.

Blackton has been supplying the home building industry from Jacksonville to Tampa for more than six decades.

CONTACTS:

Michael “Micky” Blackton, Chairman, Blackton Inc.

407-898-2661 Micky@Blacktoninc.com

Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications

407-644-4142 or 407-461-3781 Lvershelco@aol.com

JLL arranges $29.4 million financing for S’PARK Railyards in Boulder, CO

S’PARK Railyards (Railyards), a 69,263-square-foot, Class A office building at 3401 Bluff Street in Boulder, CO

CHICAGO, IL – JLL Capital Markets announced it has arranged $29.4 million in construction financing for S’PARK Railyards (Railyards), a 69,263-square-foot Class A office building in Boulder, Colorado.

Keith Largay

JLL worked on behalf of a joint venture between The John Buck Company, Kinship Capital and Element Properties to secure the five-year, floating-rate construction loan through Wintrust Financial Corporation. 

Railyards is the fourth out of a total of six planned buildings to be built by the joint venture. The last two projects will break ground by the end of year.

Railyards is located at 3401 Bluff Street in the S’PARK master-planned community, which upon completion will comprise 288 multifamily units, 106,029 square feet of office space, 31,363 square feet of ground floor retail and approximately 350 parking spaces across six separate buildings. 

Brian Walsh 

The project is located just two blocks from Boulder’s new Rapid Bus Transit Station and immediately adjacent to a future Northwest Rail Line Station. 

Additionally, Railyards has convenient access to a wide array of employment and entertainment options, including University of Colorado Boulder, the Google Campus, Lockheed Martin, and the Twenty Ninth Street and Pearl Street Malls, among others.

Anticipated for completion in March 2021, the four-story Railyards building will feature 64,000 square feet of Class A office space and 5,263 square feet of ground floor retail space.  

The office layouts have been designed with 25-foot spans between columns, providing nearly column free floor plates that offer uninterrupted views of the Flatirons.  Railyards is currently 92.4% pre-leased.

Leon McBroom

The JLL Capital Markets team representing the borrower was led by Senior Managing Director Keith Largay and Senior Directors Brian Walsh and Leon McBroom.

According to Walsh, “The lending community was very excited about the opportunity to provide financing to market-leading sponsorship in one of the highest barrier-to-entry markets in the U.S.”

For more news, videos and research resources on JLL, please visit the firm’s U.S. media center Web page: U.S. newsroom.

 December 31, 2019. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. 

Contact:

 Kristen Murphy

 JLL Senior Manager

 Public Relations 

Phone: +1 617 848 1572

Email:  Kristen.Murphy@am.jll.com

jll.com.

Residential Refinance Mortgages More Than Double in Fourth Quarter 2019

Todd Teta

IRVINE, CA — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), released its fourth-quarter 2019 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report, which shows that 1.27 million refinance mortgages secured by residential property (1 to 4 units) were originated in the fourth quarter of 2019.

That figure is up 20 percent from the third quarter of 2019 and up 104 percent from the fourth quarter of 2018, to the highest point since the third quarter of 2013.

With interest rates near all-time lows, the refinance mortgages originated in the fourth quarter of 2019 represented an estimated $391.3 billion in total dollar volume, up 19 percent from the previous quarter and up 138 percent from a year ago to the highest level since the first quarter of 2013.

Total residential loan originations rose 40 percent, year-over-year, in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 2.27 million, the highest point since the third quarter of 2016.

  

“The fourth quarter was a banner period for residential mortgages across the United States, as declining interest rates and a strong economy helped spur more than 2 million borrowers to sign on for new or refinanced loans,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions.

 “Refinancing largely drove the trend, with more than twice as many homeowners trading in higher-interest mortgages for cheaper ones than in the same period of 2018.

"These trends could all change when the economic fallout from the Coronavirus outbreak hits. But the last few months of 2019 saw a burst of lending activity not seen in the U.S. housing market for several years.”

For detailed highlights of the report, please contact:

Christine Stricker

949.748.8428

christine.stricker@attomdata.com

Data and Report Licensing:

949.502.8313

datareports@attomdata.com

KBS Repositions and Rebrands Five-Building Office Campus in San Jose, CA; Leases 314,710 SF in Less Than Six Months Post Renovation

Kelly Yoder

SAN JOSE, CA – KBS, one of the largest investors in prime commercial real estate, has repositioned and rebranded District 237, formerly Corporate Technology Centre, a five-building, 415,000 square-foot office campus in San Jose, California. 

The repositioning resulted in a combined total of 314,710 square-feet in new leases with three global companies at the property, all of which were completed in less than six months post renovation. The building is owned by KBS Real Estate Investment Trust II.

Brent Carroll

The new leases include a new long-term lease for 142,710 square-feet with Raytheon, a global technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions; 96,000 square-feet to NXP Semiconductors, a global semiconductor manufacturer; and 76,000 square-feet to CDK Global, an automotive software company.

“Our ability to lease four out of the five buildings within the campus in such a short period of time is a true testament to how the project was repositioned to appeal to those firms actively looking to upgrade their facilities and enhance their ability to attract talent in this competitive environment,” says Brent Carroll, senior vice president and asset manager of District 237.

Rod Richerson

 “We are also in talks with several companies to lease the final fifth building at 100,000 square-feet, which we anticipate will be leased quickly as well.”

According to Carroll, a key differentiator for KBS was committing the necessary capital required to update the office park’s exteriors, install new modern landscaping and fully build out one of the buildings, similar to the model home approach used by residential developers. 

Rather than white boxing the five buildings, we took one building and completely built out the interior which included a more open layout, updated common areas, a new tenant lounge, fitness center and private outdoor amenity areas that we believed would drive new leasing activity by infusing new energy into the project.

KBS has repositioned and rebranded District 237, formerly Corporate Technology Centre, a five-building, 415,000 square-foot office campus in San Jose, CA

“We took a unique approach at District 237 by creating a large amount of square footage in spec space, which was very successful,” says Carroll. 

“Many office owners are incorporating spec space into their assets; however, not many are incorporating it at this high level. Because of this, we saw an influx in leasing activity and were able to attract a variety of top companies that were looking to lease large amounts of space within the campus.”

Rather than white boxing the five buildings, KBS took one building and completely built out the interior which included a more open layout, updated common areas, a new tenant lounge, fitness center and private outdoor amenity areas.

Driven mostly by the tech sector, job growth in the San Jose metropolitan area increased by 32,400 jobs in 2019, according to a Q4 2019 report from Cushman & Wakefield. This brings regional employment to 1.2 million.

“San Jose continues to benefit from Silicon Valley’s thriving economy and remains a key market for some of today’s top tech players,” says Rod Richerson, regional president, Western United States, for KBS.

Erik Hallgrimson

 “This asset is located within 15 minutes of San Jose’s CBD, near a new BART station, and is surrounded by quality retail and entertainment. The renovations we implemented created a campus feel with unbeatable access to the freeways.”

The team representing KBS in the leases included Erik Hallgrimson, Kelly Yoder, Jeff Cushman and Steve Horton of Cushman & Wakefield.

“KBS is a forward-thinking owner and this is demonstrated in the caliber of office properties they offer,” says Hallgrimson, vice chairman for Cushman & Wakefield. “District 237’s newly renovated look and sophisticated amenities are truly in line with today’s tenant demands.”

Jeff Cushman 

District 237 is located at 350, 300, 250, 200 Holger Way and 100 Headquarters Drive in San Jose, California.

Please find photos of the property here.

About KBS:

KBS is one of the largest investors in premier commercial real estate in the nation.  As a private equity real estate company and an SEC-registered investment adviser, KBS and its affiliated companies have completed transactional activity of approximately $40 billion on behalf of large institutions, such as public and private pension plans, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, seven public non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), and having served as the US asset manager for two REITs listed in Singapore.  

Steve Horton

Founded in 1992 by Peter Bren and Chuck Schreiber, KBS acquires and operates prime commercial real estate in some of the most successful epicenters in the country. 

The firm is committed in its business ethics, its business relationships and its constant focus on exceeding the expectations of its investors, partners and tenants. 

SEC registration as an investment advisor does not imply any particular level of skill or training. For more information on KBS, please visit www.kbs.com.   

CONTACT:

Micaela Fehrenbach 

mfehrenbach@brower-group.com

JLL expands its Orange County, CA office investment advisory platform by hiring Blake Bokosky as a Senior Director focused on office assets

                                              Blake Bokosky

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – JLL Capital Markets announced it has hired Blake Bokosky as a Senior Director focused on office investment advisory transactions in its Orange County office.

Mr. Bokosky is a 10-year commercial real estate professional that joins JLL from Newmark Knight Frank’s Orange County office, where he ran the Middle Markets group. 

In 2019, Mr. Bokosky led more than $340 million of office and industrial dispositions in Orange County. Throughout his career, he has marketed and sold more than $2.8 billion in total consideration comprising more than 11 million total square feet of commercial real estate. 

Mr. Bokosky is an active member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), Urban Land Institute (ULI), UC Irvine Alumni Association and NAIOP YPG Alumni Committee. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine.

 Sean Deasy

“Blake embodies the qualities and integrity we seek as we expand our capital markets team,” said Sean Deasy, Senior Managing Director and Co-head of JLL’s Orange County Capital Markets Team. 

“Our goal is to provide best-in-class service and solutions to our clients and Blake’s key hire will elevate the platform we currently have in place in Orange County and Southern California.”

For more news, videos and research resources on JLL, please visit the firm’s U.S. media center Web page: U.S. newsroom.

Contact: 

Kristen Murphy

 JLL Senior Manager

 Public Relations 

Phone: +1 617 848 1572

Email:  Kristen.Murphy@am.jll.com

 jll.com

Chatham Lodging Trust Implements Plan to Mitigate COVID-19 Impact

Jeffrey H. Fisher

WEST PALM BEACH, FL —Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE: CLDT), a lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels and owns 134 hotels wholly or through joint ventures, announced actions it is taking to address the operating and financial impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

“The hotel industry is in the midst of unprecedented disruption due to the extreme severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and occupancy across the hotel industry has plummeted to levels never before experienced,” commented Jeffrey H. Fisher, Chatham’s president and chief executive officer.

“Our hotels are no different, but contrary to other hotel companies that are closing the majority of their hotels, our hotels are faring a bit better with occupancy over the last week of 19 percent across our portfolio.

"Thankfully, we have been able to provide accommodations to our nation’s military, infrastructure related workers, first responders and critical medical workers dedicated to ending this pandemic.

"Unfortunately, our hotels also have had to lay-off, furlough or significantly reduce hours for thousands of team members over the last few weeks. Conditions may change that warrant closing certain locations, but as of today, all hotels are open.

“As we have previously stated, our best-in-class operating platform with Island Hospitality gives us the tools to act more expeditiously than others which has a meaningful impact on the top- and bottom-line.

"This also enables us to generate the highest operating margins of all lodging REITs and to remain open at historically low occupancy levels,” Fisher concluded.

CONTACT:

PATRICK DALY

OFFICE MANAGER

DALY GRAY PUBLIC RELATIONS, INC.

620 Herndon Parkway, Suite 115 | Herndon, VA 20170

Main: 703-435-6293

Mobile: 703-300-8289

patrick@dalygray.com | www.dalygray.com