Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Unless the context suggests otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” “our” or the “Company” refer to Kite Realty Group Trust and our business and operations conducted through our directly or indirectly owned subsidiaries, including Kite Realty Group, L.P., our operating partnership (the “Operating Partnership”).
Overview
Kite Realty Group Trust is a publicly-held real estate investment trust which, through its majority-owned subsidiary, Kite Realty Group, L.P., owns interests in various operating subsidiaries and joint ventures engaged in the ownership and operation, acquisition, development and redevelopment of high-quality neighborhood and community shopping centers in select markets in the United States. We derive revenues primarily from activities associated with the collection of contractual rents and reimbursement payments from tenants at our properties. Our operating results therefore depend materially on, among other things, the ability of our tenants to make required lease payments, the health and resilience of the United States retail sector, interest rate volatility, job growth and real estate market and overall economic conditions.
As of December 31, 2020, we owned interests in 90 operating and redevelopment properties totaling approximately 17.3 million square feet. We also owned two development projects under construction as of this date. Our retail operating portfolio was 91.2% leased to a diversified retail tenant base, with no single retail tenant accounting for more than 2.5% of our total annualized base rent. In the aggregate, our largest 25 tenants accounted for 33.3% of our annualized base rent. See Item 2, “Properties” for a list of our top 25 tenants by annualized base rent.
Impact of COVID-19
Since first being reported in December 2019, the novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread globally. In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and subsequently, the United States declared a national emergency with respect to COVID-19.
The Company continues to closely monitor the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all aspects of its business and how it impacts the Company's tenants and business partners. Certain segments of retailers and the Company experienced disruption during 2020, and, going forward, the potential adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, including possible resurgences and mutations, on the financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and performance of the Company and its tenants, the real estate market, global economy, and financial markets, and the extent of such effects, will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence.
The following operating trends, combined with macroeconomic trends such as a global economic slowdown or recession, reduced consumer spending and increased unemployment, lead us to believe that our operating results will continue to be significantly affected by COVID-19:
• As of December 31, 2020, over 98% of our tenants have reopened. However, many of these retailers are operating at a lower capacity than normal due to COVID-19. Store closures or the inability to return to full capacity, particularly if for an extended period, increase the risk of business failures and lease defaults.
• As of February 11, 2021, we have collected approximately 95% of rent billings for the three months ended December 31, 2020 and 92% of rent billings for the period from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
• Many of our tenants have taken on additional debt as a result of COVID-19, including loans administered by the Small Business Administration. To the extent this debt is not forgiven, the increased debt load may hamper their ability to continue to operate and to pay rent, which could cause the Company to realize decreased cash flow and increased vacancies at its properties.
Starting in March 2020 and continuing through January 2021, the Company received rent relief requests from a significant proportion of its tenants. Some tenants have asserted various legal arguments that they allege relieve them of the obligation to pay rent during the pandemic; the Company and its legal advisers generally disagree with these legal arguments. The Company has evaluated and will continue to evaluate tenant requests for rent relief based on many factors, including the tenant's financial strength, the tenant's operating history, potential co-tenancy impacts, the tenant's contribution to the shopping center in which it operates, the Company's assessment of the tenant's long-term viability, the difficulty or ease with which the tenant could be replaced, and other factors.
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As a result of this evaluation, the Company has agreed to defer rent for approximately 375 of its tenants subject to certain conditions. The Company had deferred the collection of $6.1 million of rental income that remained outstanding as of December 31, 2020. To the extent the Company agrees to defer rent or is otherwise unable to collect rent for certain periods, the Company will realize decreased cash flow, which could significantly decrease the cash available for the Company's operating and capital uses.
We have taken various steps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our liquidity, including deferrals of certain planned capital expenditures for 2020. In March 2020, we borrowed $300 million on the unsecured revolving credit facility (the "Credit Facility") as a precautionary measure in order to increase our cash position and preserve financial flexibility in light of uncertainty in the global markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Subsequent to the initial borrowing, we have repaid the $300 million of borrowings.
As of December 31, 2020, we have approximately $43.6 million of cash on hand, $523.2 million of remaining availability under our Credit Facility (based on the unencumbered pool allocated thereto), and no debt maturities until 2022.
The effects of COVID-19 have triggered a global and domestic economic recession, and if the recession continues well beyond the lifting of government restrictions related to COVID-19, many of our tenants could face financial distress. Historically, economic indicators such as GDP growth, consumer confidence and employment are correlated with demand for certain of our tenants’ products and services. These conditions could increase the number of our tenants that are unable to meet their lease obligations to us and could limit the demand for our space from new tenants.
We expect the significance of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the extent of its effects on our business, financial performance and condition, operating results and cash flows and the economic slowdown, to be dictated by, among other things, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including possible resurgences and mutations, the success of efforts to contain it, the success of efforts to find and distribute effective drugs or vaccines and the impact of actions taken in response. These uncertainties make it difficult to predict operating results for our business for 2021.
Significant 2020 Activities
Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company continued to perform at a high level including as follows:
Operating Activities
• The Company realized net loss attributable to common shareholders of $16.2 million;
• The Company generated Funds From Operations, as defined by NAREIT, of $108.7 million and Funds From Operations, as adjusted for severance charges, of $112.0 million;
• Same Property Net Operating Income ("Same Property NOI") decreased by 6.6% in 2020 compared to 2019 as a result of the impact of COVID-19;
• As of February 11, 2021, we have collected approximately 95% of rent billings for the three months ended December 31, 2020 and 92% of rent billings for the period from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020.
• We executed new and renewal leases on 215 individual spaces for approximately 1.5 million square feet of retail space, achieving a blended cash leasing spread of 7.0% and blended GAAP leasing spread of 14.5% for comparable leases; and
• Our operating portfolio annual base rent ("ABR") per square foot as of December 31, 2020 was $18.42, an increase of $0.59 (or 3.3%) from the end of the prior year.
Financing and Capital Activities.
In 2020, we were able to utilize our strong balance sheet, financial flexibility and liquidity to handle the adversity and deliver strong results in the midst of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company had the following key investment highlights:
• Acquired Eastgate Crossing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for $65.5 million; and
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• Commenced construction on two development projects, consisting of approximately $12.6 million of capital commitments, that are anticipated to produce an average cash yield between 14.0% and 15.0%.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we paid $0.4495 in dividends in 2020 and were one of the few open-air peers to continuously pay a dividend.
We ended the year with approximately $566.9 million of combined cash and borrowing capacity on our Credit Facility.
We have no debt scheduled to mature through December 31, 2021, and a debt service coverage ratio of 2.9x as of December 31, 2020. We have been assigned investment grade corporate credit ratings from two nationally recognized credit rating agencies. These ratings were unchanged during 2020.
Business Objectives and Strategies
Our primary business objectives are to increase the cash flow and value of our properties, achieve sustainable long-term growth and maximize shareholder value primarily through the ownership and operation, acquisition, development and redevelopment of high-quality neighborhood and community shopping centers. We invest in properties with well-located real estate and strong demographics, and we use our leasing and management strategies to improve the long-term values and economic returns of our properties. We believe that certain of our properties represent attractive opportunities for profitable redevelopment, renovation, and expansion.
We seek to implement our business objectives through the following strategies, each of which is more completely described in the sections that follow:
• Operating Strategy : Maximizing the internal growth in revenue from our operating properties by leasing and re-leasing to a strong and diverse group of retail tenants at increasing rental rates, when possible , and redeveloping or renovating certain properties to make them more attractive to existing and prospective tenants and consumers;
• Financing and Capital Preservation Strategy : Maintaining a strong balance sheet with flexibility to fund our operating and investment activities. Funding sources include the public equity and debt markets, an existing revolving Credit Facility with $25 million outstanding, new secured debt, internally generated funds, proceeds from selling land and properties that no longer fit our strategy, and potential strategic joint ventures; and
• Growth Strategy : Prudently using available cash flow, targeted asset recycling, equity, and debt capital to selectively acquire additional retail properties and redevelop or renovate our existing properties where we believe that investment returns would meet or exceed internal benchmarks.
Operating Strategy. Our primary operating strategy is to maximize our rental rates, our returns on invested capital, and occupancy levels by attracting and retaining a strong and diverse tenant base. Most of our properties are located in regional and neighborhood trade areas with attractive demographics, which allows us to maximize returns on invested capital, occupancy and rental rates. We seek to implement our operating strategy by, among other things:
• increasing rental rates upon the renewal of expiring leases or re-leasing space to new tenants while minimizing vacancy to the extent possible;
• maximizing the occupancy of our operating portfolio;
• minimizing tenant turnover;
• maintaining leasing and property management strategies that maximize rent growth and cost recovery;
• maintaining a diverse tenant mix that limits our exposure to the financial condition of any one tenant or category of retail tenants;
• maintaining and improving the physical appearance, condition, layout and design of our properties and other improvements located on our properties to enhance our ability to attract customers;
• implementing offensive and defensive strategies against e-commerce competition;
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• actively managing properties to minimize overhead and operating costs;
• maintaining strong tenant and retailer relationships in order to avoid rent interruptions and reduce marketing, leasing and tenant improvement costs that result from re-leasing space to new tenants; and
• taking advantage of under-utilized land or existing square footage, reconfiguring properties for more profitable use, and adding ancillary income sources to existing facilities.
We successfully executed our operating strategy in 2020 in a number of ways, as best evidenced in leading our peer group in rent collection rates, based upon publicly reported information by each peer as of February 19, 2021. Additionally, our leasing process continues to perform at a high level as evidence by the execution of 215 new and renewal leases for approximately 1.5 million square feet. We have placed significant emphasis on maintaining a strong and diverse retail tenant mix, which has resulted in no tenant accounting for more than 2.5% of our annualized base rent. See Item 2, “Properties” for a list of our top tenants by gross leasable area ("GLA") and annualized base rent.
Financing and Capital Preservation Strategy. We finance our acquisition, development, and redevelopment activities seeking to use the most advantageous sources of capital available to us at the time. These sources may include the reinvestment of cash flows generated by operations, the sale of common or preferred shares through public offerings or private placements, the reinvestment of net proceeds from the disposition of assets, the incurrence of additional indebtedness through secured or unsecured borrowings, and entering into real estate joint ventures.
Our primary financing and capital preservation strategy is to maintain a strong balance sheet and enhance our flexibility to fund operating and investment activities in the most cost-effective way. We consider a number of factors when evaluating the amount and type of additional indebtedness we may elect to incur. Among these factors are the construction costs or purchase prices of properties to be developed or acquired, the estimated market value of our properties and the Company as a whole upon consummation of the financing, and the ability to generate durable cash flow to cover expected debt service.
Maintaining a strong balance sheet continues to be one of our top priorities. We maintain an investment grade credit rating that we expect will continue to enable us to opportunistically access the public unsecured bond market and will allow us to lower our cost of capital and provide greater flexibility in managing the acquisition and disposition of assets in our operating portfolio.
We intend to continue implementing our financing and capital strategies in a number of ways, which may include one or more of the following actions:
• prudently managing our balance sheet, including maintaining sufficient availability under our Credit Facility so that we have additional capacity to fund our development and redevelopment projects and pay down maturing debt if refinancing that debt is not desired or practical;
• extending the scheduled maturity dates of and/or refinancing our near-term mortgage, construction and other indebtedness;
• expanding our unencumbered asset pool;
• raising additional capital through the issuance of common shares, preferred shares or other securities;
• managing our exposure to interest rate increases on our variable-rate debt through the selective use of fixed rate hedging transactions;
• issuing unsecured bonds in the public markets, and securing property-specific long-term non-recourse financing; and
• entering into joint venture arrangements in order to access less expensive capital and mitigate risk.
Growth Strategy. Our growth strategy includes the selective deployment of financial resources to projects that are expected to generate investment returns that meet or exceed our internal benchmarks. We implement our growth strategy in a number of ways, including:
• continually evaluating our operating properties for redevelopment and renovation opportunities that we believe will make them more attractive for leasing to new tenants, right-sizing of anchor spaces while increasing rental rates, and re-leasing spaces to existing tenants at increased rental rates;
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• disposing of selected assets that no longer meet our long-term investment criteria and recycling the net proceeds into properties that provide attractive returns and rent growth potential in targeted markets or using the proceeds to repay debt, thereby reducing our leverage; and
• selectively pursuing the acquisition of retail operating properties, portfolios and companies in markets with strong demographics.
In evaluating opportunities for potential acquisition, development, redevelopment and disposition, we consider a number of factors, including:
• the expected returns and related risks associated with the investments relative to our weighted cost of capital to make such investments;
• the current and projected cash flow and market value of the property and the potential to increase cash flow and market value if the property were to be successfully re-leased or redeveloped;
• the price being offered for the property, the current and projected operating performance of the property, the tax consequences of the transaction, and other related factors;
• opportunities for strengthening the tenant mix at our properties through the placement of anchor tenants such as grocers, value retailers, pet supply stores, hardware stores, or sporting goods retailers, as well as further enhancing a diverse tenant mix that includes restaurants, specialty shops, and other essential retailers that provide staple goods to the community and offer a high level of convenience;
• the configuration of the property, including ease of access, availability of parking, visibility, and the demographics of the surrounding area; and
• the level of success of existing properties in the same or nearby markets.
Competition
The United States commercial real estate market continues to be highly competitive. We face competition from other REITs, including other retail REITs, and other owner-operators engaged in the ownership, leasing, acquisition, and development of shopping centers as well as from numerous local, regional and national real estate developers and owners in each of our markets. Some of these competitors may have greater capital resources than we do, although we do not believe that any single competitor or group of competitors is dominant in any of the markets in which we own properties.
We face significant competition in our efforts to lease available space to prospective tenants at our operating, development and redevelopment properties. The nature of the competition for tenants varies based on the characteristics of each local market in which we own properties. We believe that the principal competitive factors in attracting tenants in our market areas are location, demographics, rental rates, the presence of anchor stores, competitor shopping centers in the same geographic area and the maintenance, appearance, access and traffic patterns of our properties. There can be no assurance in the future that we will be able to compete successfully with our competitors in our development, acquisition and leasing activities.
Government Regulation
We and our properties are subject to a variety of federal, state, and local environmental, health, safety and similar laws, including:
Americans with Disabilities Act and Other Regulations. Our properties must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA"), to the extent that such properties are public accommodations as defined by the ADA. The ADA may require removal of structural barriers to access by persons with disabilities in certain public areas of our properties where such removal is readily achievable. We believe our properties are in substantial compliance with the ADA and that we will not be required to make substantial capital expenditures to address the requirements of the ADA. However, noncompliance with the ADA could result in orders requiring us to spend substantial sums to cure violations, pay attorneys' fees, or pay other amounts. The obligation to make readily accessible accommodations is an ongoing one, and we will continue to assess our properties and make alterations as appropriate in this respect. In addition, our properties are subject to fire and safety regulations, building codes and other land use regulations.
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Affordable Care Act. We may be subject to excise taxes under the employer mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") if we (i) do not offer health care coverage to substantially all of our full-time employees and their dependents or (ii) do not offer health care coverage that meets the ACA's affordability and minimum value standards. The excise tax is based on the number of full-time employees. We do not anticipate being subject to a penalty under the ACA; however, even in the event that we are, any such penalty would be less than $0.3 million, as we had 113 full-time employees as of December 31, 2020.
Environmental Regulations. Some properties in our portfolio contain, may have contained or are adjacent to or near other properties that have contained or currently contain underground storage tanks for petroleum products or other hazardous or toxic substances. These storage tanks may have released, or have the potential to release, such substances into the environment.
In addition, some of our properties have tenants which may use hazardous or toxic substances in the routine course of their businesses. In general, these tenants have covenanted in their leases with us to use these substances, if any, in compliance with all environmental laws and have agreed to indemnify us for any damages we may suffer as a result of their use of such substances. However, these lease provisions may not fully protect us in the event that a tenant becomes insolvent. Finally, certain of our properties have contained asbestos-containing building materials ("ACBM"), and other properties may have contained such materials based on the date of its construction. Environmental laws require that ACBM be properly managed and maintained, and fines and penalties may be imposed on building owners or operators for failure to comply with these requirements. The laws also may allow third parties to seek recovery from owners or operators for personal injury associated with exposure to asbestos fibers.
Neither existing environmental, health, safety and similar laws nor the costs of our compliance with these laws has had a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results operations, and management does not believe they will in the future. In addition, we have not incurred, and do not expect to incur, any material costs or liabilities due to environmental contamination at properties we currently own or have owned in the past. However, we cannot predict the impact of new or changed laws or regulations on properties we currently own or may acquire in the future.
With environmental sustainability becoming a national priority, we have continued to demonstrate our strong commitment to be a responsible corporate citizen through resource reduction and employee training that have resulted in reductions of energy consumption, waste and improved maintenance cycles.
COVID-19 Regulations. As discussed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, during the COVID-19 pandemic, our properties and our tenants have been subject to public health regulations and control measures, including states of emergency, mandatory quarantines, "shelter in place" orders, border closures, restrictions on types of businesses that may continue to operate, "social distancing" guidelines and other travel and gathering restrictions and practices, that have significantly impacted our business, see page 11 of Item 1A. "Risk Factors" for further information.
Insurance
We carry comprehensive liability, fire, extended coverage, and rental loss insurance that covers all properties in our portfolio. We believe the policy specifications and insured limits are appropriate and adequate given the relative risk of loss, the cost of the coverage, geographic locations of our assets and industry practice. Certain risks such as loss from riots, war or acts of God, and, in some cases, flooding are not insurable or the cost to insure over these events is costs prohibitive; and therefore, we do not carry insurance for these losses. Some of our policies, such as those covering losses due to terrorism and floods, are insured subject to limitations involving large deductibles or co-payments and policy limits that may not be sufficient to cover losses.
Offices
Our principal executive office is located at 30 S. Meridian Street, Suite 1100, Indianapolis, IN 46204. Our telephone number is (317) 577-5600.
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Human Capital
As of December 31, 2020, we had 113 full-time employees. The majority of these employees were based at our Indianapolis, Indiana headquarters. We believe our employees are the most important part of our business. We are committed to providing a work environment that attracts, develops and retains high-performing individuals and that treats employees with dignity and respect.
When attracting, developing and retaining talent, we seek individuals who hold varied experiences and viewpoints and embody our core values to create an inclusive and diverse culture and workplace that allows each employee to do their best work and drive our collective success. We focus on leadership development at every level of the organization. We align employees’ goals with our overall strategic direction to create a clear link between individual efforts and the long-term success of the company and then provide effective feedback on their performance towards goals to ensure their growth.
We believe a commitment to our employees’ learning and development through training, educational opportunities and mentorship is critical to our ability to continue to innovate. Through performance plans, talent recognition and individual development planning, along with reward packages, we advance our talent pool and create a sustainable and long-term enterprise.
We seek to foster a corporate culture where our many stakeholders, including our employees, engage in the topic of community development and collaborate to extend resources towards the advancement of this principle. In furtherance of this commitment, we partner with and support local charitable organizations that we believe are contributing to the growth and development of the community. In recent years, our employees have donated and coordinated substantial fundraising and have spent many hours volunteering to support a variety of charities with which we partner.
The health, safety and well-being of our employees are always top priorities, and we believe our actions in response to COVID-19 were appropriate and in accordance with state and local health and safety laws. Among other things, we adopted remote working and flexible scheduling arrangements and implemented additional health and safety measures for employees working in our offices.
Environmental, Social and Governance Matters
The Company strives to be a responsible corporate citizen, and we recognize the importance that environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") initiatives play in our ability to generate long-term, sustainable returns. To assist us in setting and meeting ESG goals, we have formed a cross-functional task force ("ESG Task Force") to review ESG issues that are important to investors and regularly report to the Board of Trustees on ESG efforts. The ESG Task Force is led by our Chief Executive Officer and includes members from our asset management, employee experience, investor relations, marketing, internal audit, and legal groups.
In 2020, the ESG Task Force issued our ESG Policy and Corporate Citizenship Report, which we have published on our website. The Company has undertaken multiple projects to make its operations more efficient and to reduce energy and water consumption, including installing LED lighting at various parking lots, solar panels at three properties, and electric-vehicle charging stations at six properties, and implementing smart meters and other initiatives aimed at water conservation, recycling and waste diversion at our properties. Recent business initiatives encourage tenants to adopt green leases, also known as “high-performance” or “energy-aligned” leases, to equitably align the costs and benefits of energy and water efficiency investments for building owners and tenants, based on principles and best practices from the Green Lease Leaders Reference Guide by the Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Department of Energy. The Company also has partnered with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization committed to reforestation, to plant new trees in 2020. We also are evaluating potential actions that might reduce our carbon footprint or otherwise mitigate our environmental impact.
As described above, we are highly committed to our employees, and our policies are designed to promote fairness, equal opportunities, diversity, well-being and professional development within the Company. Our corporate governance structure, led by our Board of Trustees, closely aligns our interests with those of our shareholders, as further described in our annual Proxy Statement.
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Segment Reporting
Our primary business is the ownership and operation of neighborhood and community shopping centers. We do not distinguish or group our operations on a geographical basis, or any other basis, when measuring performance. Accordingly, we have one operating segment, which also serves as our reportable segment for disclosure purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP").
Available Information
Our Internet website address is www.kiterealty.com . You can obtain on our website, free of charge, a copy of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such reports or amendments with, or furnish them to, the SEC. Our Internet website and the information contained therein or connected thereto are not intended to be incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Also available on our website, free of charge, are copies of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, our Code of Ethics for Principal Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, and the charters for each of the committees of our Board of Trustees—the Audit Committee, the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, and the Compensation Committee. Copies of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, our Code of Ethics for Principal Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers, our Corporate Governance Guidelines, and our committee charters are also available from us in print and free of charge to any shareholder upon request. Any person wishing to obtain such copies in print should contact our Investor Relations department by mail at our principal executive office.
The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains a website ( http://www.sec.gov ) that contains reports, proxy statements, information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission.