Plymouth Industrial REIT reports Q4 leasing totaling 966,167 square feet

Jeff Witherell, CEO and Co-Founder of Plymouth, noted, “The Golden Triangle is creating new opportunities for us to leverage our leasing and asset management expertise with cash rent increases and development lease up consistent with our expectations. The ability to capture strong returns with $37 million of select dispositions accelerated our plans to reduce debt in 2023 and should allow us to redeploy capital within the Golden Triangle.” Leases commencing during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023 totaled an aggregate of 966,167 square feet, all of which are associated with terms of at least six months. The Company will experience a 23.4% increase in rental rates on a cash basis from these leases. These leases included 664,157 square feet of renewal leases and 302,010 square feet of new leases. Total portfolio occupancy at December 31, 2023 was 98.3% and reflects recent new developments now in service. Same store occupancy at December 31, 2023 was 98.6%. Executed leases scheduled to commence during 2023, excluding leases associated with new construction, total an aggregate of 5,599,943 square feet, all of which are associated with terms of at least six months. The Company will experience a 21.0% increase in rental rates on a cash basis from these leases. These leases included 3,945,024 square feet of renewal leases and 1,654,919 square feet of new leases of which 109,098 square feet was vacant at the start of 2023. The Company has already executed 2,860,339 square feet of leases that will commence during 2024, or 41.4% of its total 2024 expirations, with a 14.6% increase in rental rates on a cash basis. The Company’s largest remaining lease expiration in 2024 is its 769,500-square-foot Class A industrial building in the Metro East submarket of St. Louis. Although the tenant is not required to notify the Company that it is exercising its renewal option until January 31, 2024, Plymouth is proactively marketing the space in the event that the current tenant does not in fact renew. The in-place lease, which represents approximately 2.2% of the Company’s rentable square feet, expires on July 31, 2024. The Company intends to provide an update on the status of this lease when it reports fourth quarter 2023 earnings results. During the fourth quarter, Plymouth delivered a fully leased industrial building in Jacksonville totaling 39,750 square feet. The final project in the first phase of its development program, a 52,920-square-foot, fully leased building in Jacksonville, is expected to come online in the third quarter of 2024. During the fourth quarter, Plymouth also signed a seven-year, 108,000-square-foot lease at its 180,000-square-foot industrial building in Atlanta, bringing the new development to 100% occupancy. During the fourth quarter, Plymouth completed the previously announced sale of its 156,634-square-foot industrial building in Marlton, New Jersey for $16.8 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of $16.2 million to pay down outstanding borrowings on its credit facility. The sale yielded a 6.3% cap rate on in-place NOI and an IRR of 18.2% over a nine-year hold.