New York City REIT Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Results

New York City REIT, Inc. (NYSE: NYC) (“NYC” or the “Company”), a real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of high-quality commercial real estate located within the five boroughs of New York City, announced today its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

Fourth Quarter 2020 and Subsequent Event Highlights

• Revenue was $9.9 million
• Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $16.6 million or $1.30 per share
• Collected 82% of cash rent due in fourth quarter 2020 1 , including 89% among the top 10 tenants 2
• 73% of the top 10 tenants portfolio-wide rated as investment grade or implied investment grade 3
• Portfolio occupancy 4 of 87% 5 as of December 31, 2020
• Forward Leasing Pipeline 6 of 33,216 square feet that is expected to provide an annual base rent increase of $1.4 million if these leases commence
• Executed a short-term lease and an LOI for a five-year lease with a Fortune 50 technology company and a two-year lease with a global human resource company covering 23,400 square feet at 123 William Street that was previously leased to Knotel, expected to add over $1.2 million in new annual gross rent

Full Year 2020 Highlights

• Revenue was $62.9 million
• Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $41.0 million or $3.21 per share
• High quality 1.2 million square foot, $860.6 million 7 portfolio composed of eight office and retail condominium assets primarily located in Manhattan
• Weighted-average remaining lease term of 7.2 years, up from 6.8 years at year-end 2019
• Conservative balance sheet with net leverage of 37.3%, no debt maturities in the next three years and a weighted average debt maturity of 6.1 years
• Early 10-year 8 lease extension with City National Bank, the largest tenant at 1140 Avenue of the Americas, adding $44 million of gross rent from an investment-grade tenant

CEO Comments

“New York City REIT continues to drive results through a proactive asset management strategy, highlighted by our cash rent collection and leasing efforts, despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Michael Weil, CEO of NYC. “We recently expanded our asset management team and have achieved success leasing space formerly occupied by Knotel. We have already replaced 68% of the Knotel rent at 123 William Street, including a five-year lease with a Fortune 50 tenant. Our long weighted average remaining lease term and conservative balance sheet provide our portfolio with stability, and we are encouraged there will be a return to a high degree of normalcy in 2021. We remain highly confident in the long-term strength of New York City real estate.”

Financial Results

Real Estate Portfolio

The Company’s portfolio consisted of eight properties and comprised 1.2 million rentable square feet as of December 31, 2020. Portfolio metrics include:

• 87% leased, compared to 89.6% at the end of fourth quarter 2019, with 7.2 years remaining weighted-average lease term 9
• 73% of annualized straight-line rent 10 from top 10 tenants derived from investment grade or implied investment grade tenants
• 76% office (based on an annualized straight-line rent)

Capital Structure and Liquidity Resources

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $31.0 million of cash and cash equivalents 11 . The Company’s net debt 12 to gross asset value 13 was 37.3%, with net debt of $374.0 million.

All of the Company’s debt was fixed-rate as of December 31, 2020. The Company’s total combined debt had a weighted-average interest rate of 4.4% 14 .

Rent Collection Update

Fourth Quarter of 2020

For the fourth quarter of 2020, NYC collected 82% of the cash rents that were due across the portfolio, including 89% of the cash rent payable from the top 10 tenants in the portfolio (based on annualized straight-line rent) and 86% of the cash rent payable from office tenants and 64% of the cash rent payable from retail tenants.

Of the fourth quarter 2020 cash rent remaining, lease amendments providing for either a rent deferral or a rent credit have been approved for 7% of the unpaid cash rent, while another 10% 15 of rents are currently in negotiation for similar lease amendments. The remaining 1% generally consists of tenants who have made partial payment and/or tenants without active communication on a potential approved agreement.

Footnotes/Definitions

Webcast and Conference Call

NYC will host a webcast and call on March 16, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. ET to discuss its financial and operating results. This webcast will be broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed by all interested parties through the NYC website, www.newyorkcityreit.com , in the “Investor Relations” section.

Dial-in instructions for the conference call and the replay are outlined below.

To listen to the live call, please go to NYC’s “Investor Relations” section of the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to register and download any necessary audio software. For those who are not able to listen to the live broadcast, a replay will be available shortly after the call on the NYC website at www.newyorkcityreit.com .

Live Call
Dial-In (Toll Free): 1-888-317-6003
International Dial-In: 1-412-317-6061
Canada Dial-In (Toll Free): 1-866-284-3684
Participant Elite Entry Number: 4331071

Conference Replay*
Domestic Dial-In (Toll Free): 1-877-344-7529
International Dial-In: 1-412-317-0088
Canada Dial-In (Toll Free): 1-855-669-9658
Conference Number: 10151957
*Available one hour after the end of the conference call through June 16, 2021

About New York City REIT, Inc.

New York City REIT, Inc. (NYSE: NYC) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the NYSE that owns a portfolio of high-quality commercial real estate located within the five boroughs of New York City. Additional information about NYC can be found on its website at www.newyorkcityreit.com .

Supplemental Schedules

The Company will file supplemental information packages with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to provide additional disclosure and financial information. Once posted, the supplemental package can be found under the “Presentations” tab in the Investor Relations section of NYC’s website at www.newyorkcityreit.com and on the SEC website at www.sec.gov .

Important Notice

The statements in this press release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause the outcome to be materially different. In addition, words such as “may,” “will,” “seeks,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “would,” or similar expressions indicate a forward-looking statement, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements, including those set forth in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of NYC’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and NYC’s most recent Form 10-Q, as such Risk Factors may be updated from time to time in subsequent reports. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and NYC undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time, except as required by law.

Accounting Treatment of Rent Deferrals

The majority of the concessions granted to our tenants as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are rent deferrals or temporary rent abatements with the original lease term unchanged and collection of deferred rent deemed probable. As a result of relief granted by the FASB and the SEC related to lease modification accounting, rental revenue used to calculate Net Income, NAREIT FFO and Core FFO have not been, and we do not expect it to be, significantly impacted by these types of deferrals.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release discusses the non-GAAP financial measures we use to evaluate our performance, including Funds from Operations (“FFO”), Core Funds from Operations (“Core FFO”), Adjusted Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”), Net Operating Income (“NOI”) and Cash Net Operating Income (“Cash NOI”). While NOI is a property-level measure, Core FFO is based on our total performance and therefore reflects the impact of other items not specifically associated with NOI such as, interest expense, general and administrative expenses and operating fees to related parties. A description of these non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure, which is net income, is provided below. Adjustments for unconsolidated partnerships and joint ventures are calculated to exclude the proportionate share of the non-controlling interest to arrive at FFO, Core FFO and NOI attributable to stockholders.

Caution on Use of Non-GAAP Measures

FFO, Core FFO, Adjusted EBITDA, NOI and Cash NOI should not be construed to be more relevant or accurate than the current GAAP methodology in calculating net income or in its applicability in evaluating our operating performance. The method utilized to evaluate the value and performance of real estate under GAAP should be construed as a more relevant measure of operational performance and considered more prominently than the non-GAAP measures.

Other REITs may not define FFO in accordance with the current National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“NAREIT”), an industry trade group, definition (as we do), or may interpret the current NAREIT definition differently than we do, or may calculate Core FFO differently than we do. Consequently, our presentation of FFO and Core FFO may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures presented by other REITs.

We consider FFO and Core FFO useful indicators of our performance. Because FFO and Core FFO calculations exclude such factors as depreciation and amortization of real estate assets and gains or losses from sales of operating real estate assets (which can vary among owners of identical assets in similar conditions based on historical cost accounting and useful-life estimates), FFO and Core FFO presentations facilitate comparisons of operating performance between periods and between other REITs in our peer group.

As a result, we believe that the use of FFO and Core FFO, together with the required GAAP presentations, provide a more complete understanding of our performance, including relative to our peers and a more informed and appropriate basis on which to make decisions involving operating, financing, and investing activities. However, FFO and Core FFO are not indicative of cash available to fund ongoing cash needs, including the ability to pay cash dividends. Investors are cautioned that FFO and Core FFO should only be used to assess the sustainability of our operating performance excluding these activities, as they exclude certain costs that have a negative effect on our operating performance during the periods in which these costs are incurred.

Funds from Operations and Core Funds from Operations

Funds from Operations

Due to certain unique operating characteristics of real estate companies, as discussed below, the NAREIT, an industry trade group, has promulgated a performance measure known as FFO, which we believe to be an appropriate supplemental measure to reflect the operating performance of a REIT. FFO is not equivalent to net income or loss as determined under GAAP.

We calculate FFO, a non-GAAP measure, consistent with the standards established over time by the Board of Governors of NAREIT, as restated in a White Paper and approved by the Board of Governors of NAREIT effective in December 2018 (the “White Paper”). The White Paper defines FFO as net income or loss computed in accordance with GAAP, excluding depreciation and amortization related to real estate, gains and losses from sales of certain real estate assets, gain and losses from change in control and impairment write-downs of certain real estate assets and investments in entities when the impairment is directly attributable to decreases in the value of depreciable real estate held by the entity. Adjustments for consolidated partially-owned entities (including our Operating Partnership) and equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates are made to arrive at our proportionate share of FFO attributable to our stockholders. Our FFO calculation complies with NAREIT’s definition.

The historical accounting convention used for real estate assets requires straight-line depreciation of buildings and improvements, and straight-line amortization of intangibles, which implies that the value of a real estate asset diminishes predictably over time. We believe that, because real estate values historically rise and fall with market conditions, including inflation, interest rates, unemployment and consumer spending, presentations of operating results for a REIT using historical accounting for depreciation and certain other items may be less informative. Historical accounting for real estate involves the use of GAAP. Any other method of accounting for real estate such as the fair value method cannot be construed to be any more accurate or relevant than the comparable methodologies of real estate valuation found in GAAP. Nevertheless, we believe that the use of FFO, which excludes the impact of real estate related depreciation and amortization, among other things, provides a more complete understanding of our performance to investors and to management, and when compared year over year, reflects the impact on our operations from trends in occupancy rates, rental rates, operating costs, general and administrative expenses, and interest costs, which may not be immediately apparent from net income.

Core Funds from Operations

Beginning in the third quarter 2020, following the listing of our Class A common stock on the NYSE, we began presenting Core FFO as a non-GAAP metric. We believe that Core FFO is utilized by other publicly-traded REITs although Core FFO presented by us may not be comparable to Core FFO reported by other REITs that define Core FFO differently. In calculating Core FFO, we start with FFO, then we exclude the impact of discrete non-operating transactions and other events which we do not consider representative of the comparable operating results of our real estate operating portfolio, which is our core business platform. Specific examples of discrete non-operating items include acquisition and transaction related costs for dead deals, debt extinguishment costs, listing related costs and expenses (including the vesting and conversion of Class B units and cash expenses and fees which are non-recurring in nature incurred in connection with the listing of Class A common stock on the NYSE and related transactions), and non-cash equity-based compensation. We add back non-cash write-offs of deferred financing costs and prepayment penalties incurred with the early extinguishment of debt which are included in net income but are considered financing cash flows when paid in the statement of cash flows. We consider these write-offs and prepayment penalties to be capital transactions and not indicative of operations. By excluding expensed acquisition and transaction dead deal costs as well as non-operating costs, we believe Core FFO provides useful supplemental information that is comparable for each type of real estate investment and is consistent with management’s analysis of the investing and operating performance of our properties. In future periods, we may also exclude other items from Core FFO that we believe may help investors compare our results.

Adjusted Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization, Net Operating Income and Cash Net Operating Income.

We believe that Adjusted EBITDA, which is defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization adjusted for acquisition and transaction-related expenses, fees related to the listing related costs and expenses, other non-cash items such as the vesting and conversion of the Class B Units, equity-based compensation expense and including our pro-rata share from unconsolidated joint ventures, is an appropriate measure of our ability to incur and service debt. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities, as a measure of our liquidity or as an alternative to net income as an indicator of our operating activities. Other REITs may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently and our calculation should not be compared to that of other REITs.

NOI is a non-GAAP financial measure used by us to evaluate the operating performance of our real estate. NOI is equal to total revenues, excluding contingent purchase price consideration, less property operating and maintenance expense. NOI excludes all other items of expense and income included in the financial statements in calculating net income (loss). We believe NOI provides useful and relevant information because it reflects only those income and expense items that are incurred at the property level and presents such items on an unleveraged basis. We use NOI to assess and compare property level performance and to make decisions concerning the operations of the properties. Further, we believe NOI is useful to investors as a performance measure because, when compared across periods, NOI reflects the impact on operations from trends in occupancy rates, rental rates, operating expenses and acquisition activity on an unleveraged basis, providing perspective not immediately apparent from net income (loss). NOI excludes certain items included in calculating net income (loss) in order to provide results that are more closely related to a property’s results of operations. For example, interest expense is not necessarily linked to the operating performance of a real estate asset. In addition, depreciation and amortization, because of historical cost accounting and useful life estimates, may distort operating performance at the property level. NOI presented by us may not be comparable to NOI reported by other REITs that define NOI differently. We believe that in order to facilitate a clear understanding of our operating results, NOI should be examined in conjunction with net income (loss) as presented in our consolidated financial statements. NOI should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss) as an indication of our performance or to cash flows as a measure of our liquidity or our ability to pay dividends.

Cash NOI, is a non-GAAP financial measure that is intended to reflect the performance of our properties. We define Cash NOI as NOI excluding amortization of above/below market lease intangibles and straight-line adjustments that are included in GAAP lease revenues. We believe that Cash NOI is a helpful measure that both investors and management can use to evaluate the current financial performance of our properties and it allows for comparison of our operating performance between periods and to other REITs. Cash NOI should not be considered as an alternative to net income, as an indication of our financial performance, or to cash flows as a measure of liquidity or our ability to fund all needs. The method by which we calculate and present Cash NOI may not be directly comparable to the way other REITs present Cash NOI.

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