NY REIT Gains Over Q1 on FFO, NOI

NEW YORK CITY—Rounding out a quarter that saw it complete its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, New York REIT Inc. on Tuesday reported quarter-over-quarter increases in core funds from operations, adjusted FFO and same-store cash NOI. Subsequent to the end of the second quarter, the REIT completed one of its highest-profile acquisitions to date, the Twitter headquarters at 245 and 249 W. 17th St. for $335 million.

NYRT's core FFO for the three months ended June 30 rose 3.1% to $0.12 per fully diluted share, compared with $0.11 per fully diluted share for Q1. AFFO was $0.11 per fully diluted share, a 35.8% gain on Q1's $0.08 per fully diluted share. Cash NOI for the quarter was $26.3 million, compared with $22.6 million in Q1, an increase of 16.4%. Further, the Q2 revenues of $36 million beat the consensus estimate of $33.5 million.

“We are very pleased with our significant progress in a short time as a publicly traded company,” says Nicholas Schorsch, NYRT's chairman and CEO. “During the quarter we completed our listing on the New York Stock Exchange, we executed our tender offer, we expanded the size of our credit facility, we were added to the Russell 2000 Index and subsequently, we had two firms initiate research coverage on our stock”—namely, JMP Securities and Evercore Group. Most importantly, says Schorsch, “the team is executing on our business plan and we believe the New York City real estate market remains vibrant.”

The REIT's president, Michael Happel, says the Twitter Building acquisition represents “a terrific addition to our portfolio: it is effectively a brand new 'gut renovated' building with long-term leases and world class tenants, including Twitter. In addition, it is located in one of the hottest submarkets in the country. It also happens to be one block from the 'Red Bull Building' which we own, and we see opportunities to create operating synergies between those two buildings.”