Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General
Alexander’s, Inc. (NYSE: ALX) is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”), incorporated in Delaware, engaged in leasing, managing, developing and redeveloping its properties. All references to “we,” “us,” “our,” “Company” and “Alexander’s” refer to Alexander’s, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. We are managed by, and our properties are leased and developed by, Vornado Realty Trust (“Vornado”) (NYSE: VNO).
We have five properties in New York City consisting of:
Operating properties
• 731 Lexington Avenue, a 1,079,000 square foot multi-use building, comprising the entire block bounded by Lexington Avenue, East 59 th Street, Third Avenue and East 58 th Street in Manhattan. The building contains 939,000 and 140,000 of rentable square feet of office and retail space, respectively. Bloomberg L.P. (“Bloomberg”) occupies all of the office space. The Home Depot (83,000 square feet) is the principal retail tenant;
• Rego Park I, a 338,000 square foot shopping center, is located on Queens Boulevard and 63 rd Road in Queens. The center is anchored by a 50,000 square foot Burlington and a 36,000 square foot Marshalls.
On December 3, 2022, IKEA closed its 112,000 square foot store at our Rego Park I property under a lease that was set to expire in December 2030. The lease included a right to terminate effective no earlier than March 16, 2026, subject to payment of rent through the termination date and an additional termination payment equal to the lesser of $10,000,000 or the amount of rent due under the remaining term. On September 27, 2023, we entered into a lease modification agreement with IKEA which accelerates its lease termination date to April 1, 2024. Under the lease modification agreement, IKEA will pay its remaining rent due through March 16, 2026 and the $10,000,000 termination payment over the modified lease term;
• Rego Park II, a 616,000 square foot shopping center, is located adjacent to the Rego Park I shopping center in Queens. The center is anchored by a 145,000 square foot Costco and a 133,000 square foot Kohl’s, which has been subleased;
• Flushing, a 167,000 square foot building, located on Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street in Queens, that is subleased to New World Mall LLC. The property is ground leased through January 2027 with one 10-year extension option; and
• The Alexander apartment tower, located above our Rego Park II shopping center, contains 312 units aggregating 255,000 square feet.
Disposition
On May 19, 2023, we sold the Rego Park III land parcel in Queens, New York, for $71,060,000 inclusive of consideration for Brownfield tax benefits and reimbursement of costs for plans, specifications and improvements to date. Net proceeds from the sale were $67,821,000 after closing costs and the financial statement gain was $53,952,000.
Relationship with Vornado
We are managed by, and our properties are leased and developed by, Vornado, pursuant to various agreements which expire in March of each year and are automatically renewable. Vornado is a fully-integrated REIT with significant experience in managing, leasing, developing, and operating office and retail properties.
As of December 31, 2023, Vornado owned 32.4% of our outstanding common stock. Steven Roth is the Chairman of our Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, the Managing General Partner of Interstate Properties (“Interstate”), a New Jersey general partnership, and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Chief Executive Officer of Vornado. As of December 31, 2023, Mr. Roth, Interstate and its other two general partners, David Mandelbaum and Russell B. Wight, Jr. (who are also directors of the Company and trustees of Vornado) owned, in the aggregate, 26.0% of our outstanding common stock, in addition to the 2.3% they indirectly own through Vornado.
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Significant Tenant
Bloomberg accounted for revenue o f $120,351,000, $115,129,000 and $113,140,000 in the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, representing approximately 54%, 56% an d 55% of our rental revenues in each year, respectively. No other tenant accounted for more than 10% of our rental revenues. If we were to lose Bloomberg as a tenant, or if Bloomberg were to be unable to fulfill its obligations under its lease, it would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. In order to assist us in our continuing assessment of Bloomberg’s creditworthiness, we receive certain confidential financial information and metrics from Bloomberg. In addition, we access and evaluate financial information regarding Bloomberg from other private sources, as well as publicly available data.
Environmental Sustainability Initiatives
We have long believed a focus on environmental sustainability is responsible management of our business and important to our tenants, investors, employees and communities that we serve. Since we are externally managed by Vornado, Vornado’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee of its Board of Trustees is assigned with oversight of Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) matters at Alexander’s, which includes climate change risk. Environmental sustainability initiatives are carried out by a dedicated team of professionals that work directly with Vornado’s business units. In the discussion below, when we refer to Vornado’s buildings, it includes our buildings.
Vornado is an industry leader in sustainability, owning and operating more than 25 million square feet of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings, representing 95% of its in-service office portfolio, with over 24 million square feet at LEED Gold or Platinum. In 2023, Vornado (i) ranked #1 in the US Diversified Office/Retail REIT peer group by GRESB, and received the “Green Star” distinction for the eleventh consecutive year and GRESB's five star rating, (ii) received the Leader in the Light Award by the National Association for Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) for diversified REITs for the thirteenth time, and (iii) was recognized as an EPA ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year with the distinction of having demonstrated eight years of sustained excellence.
Vornado prioritizes addressing climate change and in 2019 adopted a 10-year plan to make its buildings carbon neutral by 2030 (“Vision 2030”). Vision 2030 is a multi-faceted approach that prioritizes energy reduction, recovery, and renewable power. Vornado relies on technology, as well as meaningful stakeholder collaboration with its tenants, its employees, and its communities, to achieve this plan. Vornado’s commitment to carbon neutrality and associated emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative as consistent with a 1.5°C climate scenario, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement.
Vornado considers sustainability in all aspects of its business, including the design, construction, retrofitting and ongoing maintenance and operations of its portfolio of buildings. Vornado operates its buildings sustainably and efficiently by seeking to establish best practices in energy and water consumption, carbon reduction, resource and waste management and ecologically sensitive procurement. Vornado’s policies, from 100% green cleaning to procuring 100% renewable electricity certificates to energy efficiency, are implemented across its entire portfolio. Vornado undertakes significant outreach with its tenants, employees and investors regarding Vornado’s sustainability programs and strategies.
Vornado gathers data to measure progress against its goals, aligns its goals with its tenants, plans for its longer-term projects and engages with its stakeholders in meaningful ways. Vornado uses carbon accounting software, energy audits and models and building automation software to measure and track its portfolio-wide waste, water and energy reduction strategies, create roadmaps for each building to understand how to achieve carbon neutrality and provide accurate and actionable data for its measurement, verification and reporting requirements.
Vornado’s 2022 and 2023 long-term performance plan awards specifically tie a portion of senior management’s compensation to the achievement of certain ESG targets, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, achieving a specified GRESB score and targeting a specified percentage of LEED Gold or Platinum certified square footage in its office portfolio.
Vornado is committed to transparent reporting of sustainability performance indicators and publishes an annual ESG Report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative and aligned with the metrics codified by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and in 2023 published a report in accordance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Vornado also submits public reports to CDP (formerly, the Carbon Disclosure Project), CSA (the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment) and EP100 (global initiative led by Climate Group). Further details on Vornado’s environmental sustainability initiatives and strategy, including its Vision 2030 Roadmap, can be found in Vornado’s 2022 ESG Report at (vno.com/sustainability). There can be no assurance that Vornado’s Vision 2030 commitment will be achieved in the planned time frame. The ESG Report is not incorporated by reference and should not be considered part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Competition
We operate in a highly competitive environment located in New York City. We compete with a large number of real estate investors, property owners and developers, some of whom may be willing to accept lower returns on their investments. Principal factors of competition are rents charged, tenant concessions offered, attractiveness of location, the quality of the property and the breadth and the quality of services provided. Our success depends upon, among other factors, trends of the global, national and local economies, the financial condition and operating results of current and prospective tenants and customers, the availability and cost of capital, construction and renovation costs, taxes, governmental regulations, legislation, population and employment trends, zoning laws, and our ability to lease, sublease or sell our properties, at profitable levels. Our success is also subject to our ability to refinance existing debt on acceptable terms as it comes due. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding these factors.
Human Capital Resources
Since we are externally managed by Vornado, we do not have separate employees that provide management, leasing and development services. We currently have 92 property-level employees w ho provide cleaning, engineering and security services. Our employees are managed by Vornado in accordance with its employee policies and they have access to Vornado’s benefits, training and other programs.
Executive Office
Our executive office is located at 210 Route 4 East, Paramus, New Jersey, 07652 and our telephone number is (201) 587-8541.
Available Information
Copies of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, as well as Reports on Forms 3, 4 and 5 regarding officers, directors, and 10% beneficial owners, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a), 15(d) or 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, are available free of charge on our website (www.alx-inc.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Also available on our website are copies of our Audit Committee Charter, Compensation Committee Charter, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and Corporate Governance Guidelines. In the event of any changes to these items, revised copies will be made available on our website. Copies of these documents are also available directly from us free of charge. The SEC also maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information that is filed electronically with the SEC. The contents of our website provided above are not intended to be incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC.
In May 2009, Vornado and Interstate each filed with the SEC an amendment to their respective Schedule 13D indicating that they, as a group, own 47.2% of o ur common stock. This ownership level, together with the shares owned by Messrs. Roth, Mandelbaum and Wight, makes us a “controlled” company for the purposes of the New York Stock Exchange, Inc.’s Corporate Governance Standards (the “NYSE Rules”). This means that we are not required to, among other things, have a majority of the members of our Board of Directors be independent under the NYSE Rules, have all of the members of our Compensation Committee be independent under the NYSE Rules or to have a Nominating Committee. While we have voluntarily complied with a majority of the independence requirements of the NYSE Rules, we are under no obligation to do so and this situation may change at any time.
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