Curbline Properties Corp. (CURB, Financials), a convenience shopping center operator, reported $249.7 million in acquisitions and robust leasing metrics for the third quarter ended Sept. 30.
Complementing its October spin-off from SITE Centers Corp., the business closed $145.3 million in purchases across seven sites in Q3, including Brookhaven Station in Atlanta and Village Plaza in Houston. Curbine bought 13 more facilities for $104.4 million in the fourth quarter thus far, including sites in Los Angeles and Tampa.
David R. Lukes, President and CEO of Curbline, pointed out that the purchases support their goal of focusing on convenience properties in wealthy American submarkets. Pointing to great demand for leasing space on the business's assets, Lukes said, "Curbline is off to a strong start as an independent publicly traded company."
Curbline hit fresh lease margins of 9.0% and renewal spreads of 8.1% in Q3. New lease spreads for the trailing 12 months were 28.3%; renewal spreads came in at 10.1%. Due mostly to acquisitions with a 93.1% average leased rate, the company reported a leased rate of 95.4% as of Sept. 30, down somewhat from 95.9% at the end of Q2. Comprising 160 basis points of gross leasable area, its signed not opened pipeline reflected $3.9 million in annualized base rent.
Beginning as an autonomous corporation with $800 million in cash, a $400 million undrawn credit line, and a $100 million deferred draw term loan, Curbline started off as For U.S. federal tax benefits; the corporation intends to function as a real estate investment trust.
