PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PREIT (NYSE: PEI) (the "Company"), a leading real estate investment trust focused on creating thoughtful, community-centric properties, announced that 2021 closed on a high note with core mall rolling 12 month sales eclipsing $600 per square foot at $603.
Properties with the most pronounced per square foot growth include those established as the dominant enclosed retail destination in their respective market, as inferior competition struggled following lockdowns. By contrast, PREIT properties emerged with the benefit of new anchors and a strong existing tenant mix. Specifically, Patrick Henry, Capital City, Valley and Viewmont Malls all experienced over 20% growth in sales compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Standing above the balance in terms of growth and absolute sales per square foot is PREIT's premier super-regional property, Cherry Hill Mall, growing nearly 28% to $936.
"Sales per square foot is a meaningful metric that influences a number of aspects of our business. As sales grow, our tenants are more productive, improving our ability to drive rents," said Joseph F. Coradino, Chairman and CEO of PREIT. "Additionally, with portfolio-wide comparable sales over $600, the door to an expanded base of interested tenants opens, allowing us to drive occupancy and improve the quality of the experience offered at our centers."
Nearly 100,000 square feet of new tenants opened at these properties during 2021, including the following noteworthy additions spanning key sectors of fashion, dining and entertainment:
- Capital City Mall: Aerie, Cinnabon, rue21 and Windsor Fashions
- Patrick Henry Mall: Papaya, Windsor Fashions, The Twisted Crab and Kidz Play
- Cherry Hill Mall: Amazon 4-star, Warby Parker, DEO Eyewear, Miniso, Aerie and Purple
Coradino continued, "As our tenants reach new levels of performance and we attract a new caliber of tenancy, the quality of our portfolio continuously improves, which is expected to lead to cap rate compression and improved asset values. As we continue our efforts to proactively raise capital to reduce debt and exercise our credit facility extension, we anticipate this improved value will propel the effort and create value for stakeholders."
About PREIT
PREIT (NYSE:PEI) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and manages innovative properties developed to be thoughtful, community-centric hubs. PREIT's robust portfolio of carefully curated, ever-evolving properties generates success for its tenants and meaningful impact for the communities it serves by keenly focusing on five core areas of established and emerging opportunity: multi-family & hotel, health & tech, retail, essentials & grocery and experiential. Located primarily in densely-populated regions, PREIT is a top operator of high quality, purposeful places that serve as one-stop destinations for customers to shop, dine, play and stay. Additional information is available at www.preit.com or on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "may" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans, strategies, anticipated events, trends and other matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy and other future events and conditions and are based on currently available financial, economic and competitive data and our current business plans. Actual results could vary materially depending on risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that may affect our operations, markets, services, prices and other factors as discussed in the Risk Factors section of our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While we believe our assumptions are reasonable, we caution you against relying on any forward-looking statements as it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the effectiveness of strategies we may employ to address our liquidity and capital resources in the future, our ability to achieve our forecasted revenue and pro forma leverage ratio and generate free cash flow to further reduce our indebtedness; our ability to manage our business through the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, a weakening of global economic and financial conditions, changes in governmental regulations and related compliance and litigation costs and the other factors listed in our SEC filings. Additionally, our business might be materially and adversely affected by changes in the retail and real estate industries, including bankruptcies, consolidation and store closings, particularly among anchor tenants; current economic conditions, including consumer confidence and spending levels and supply chain challenges and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health and governmental response as well as the corresponding effects on tenant business performance, prospects, solvency and leasing decisions; our inability to collect rent due to the bankruptcy or insolvency of tenants or otherwise; our ability to maintain and increase property occupancy, sales and rental rates; increases in operating costs that cannot be passed on to tenants; the effects of online shopping and other uses of technology on our retail tenants; risks related to our development and redevelopment activities, including delays, cost overruns and our inability to reach projected occupancy or rental rates; social unrest and acts of vandalism and violence at malls, including our properties, or at other similar spaces, and the potential effect on traffic and sales; the frequency, severity and impact of extreme weather events at or near our properties; our ability to sell properties that we seek to dispose of or our ability to obtain prices we seek; our substantial debt and the liquidation preference of our preferred shares and our high leverage ratio and our ability to remain in compliance with our financial covenants under our debt facilities; our ability to refinance our existing indebtedness when it matures, on favorable terms or at all; our ability to raise capital, including through sales of properties or interests in properties and through the issuance of equity or equity-related securities if market conditions are favorable; and potential dilution from any capital raising transactions or other equity issuances.
Additional factors that might cause future events, achievements or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements include those discussed herein, and in the sections entitled "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. We do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Heather Crowell
EVP, Strategy and Communications
(215) 454-1241
heather.crowell@preit.com
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SOURCE PREIT
