SL Green (SLG) Signs 1.2M SF Leases In Q4, Sees Solid Demand

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE:SLG) has been witnessing solid demand for space at its properties. The company has already signed 1,157,104 square feet of office and retail leases so far in the fourth quarter, bringing the year-to-date tally to 2,341,999 square feet for office leases.

Demand has been particularly strong from tenants within the technology, advertising, media and information (TAMI), finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) and legal sectors.

SL Green recently signed Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for 335,408-square-foot lease at 410 Tenth Avenue — previously known as 460 West 34th Street. Just seven months into acquisition, this building is already 96.2% leased, together with the First Republic Bank lease. SL Green is also performing a comprehensive redevelopment of the building.

Among the other notable office leases are that of Strategic Family, Inc.’s new 10-year lease, encompassing 82,557 square feet of space on the entire 6th and 7th floors at 711 Third Avenue, Greenberg Traurig LLP’s 15-year lease spanning 46,744 square feet at 420 Lexington Avenue, as well as ITV (LON:ITV) US Holdings’ new 10-year lease covering 31,971 square feet on the whole of 15th floor at 100 Park Avenue.

Moreover, the new retail leases included that of RAD Entertainment Group LLC’s, the previous operator of the Beacon Theater, a 20-year, 39,436-square-foot lease encompassing the ground and lower levels at 1515 Broadway. Also, Walgreens agreed to vacate One Madison and signed a 10-year, 8,548-square-foot lease covering portions of the ground and 2nd floors at 304 Park Avenue South.

With a resilient economy and stable job-market environment, coupled with high consumer sentiment, healthy growth in demand for office and retail spaces are expected to continue. Also, with the New York City economy projected to remain robust over the near term, the city’s reputed office landlord is well poised to bank on the emerging demand for office space.

Further, solid dividend payouts are the biggest enticement REIT investors and SL Green has recently rewarded shareholders with a 4.1% sequential hike in dividend. In fact, the company has raised dividends for nine consecutive years. Apart from dividend hikes, it remains committed to boost shareholder value through share buybacks. In a separate press release, SL Green noted that its board of directors has authorized an increase of $500 million to the company’s share-repurchase program.

In the past three months, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 6.3%, as against its industry’s loss of 0.5%.



Stocks to Consider

Prologis, Inc.’s (NYSE:PLD) currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). The company’s funds from operations (FFO) per share estimate for 2019 has been revised 1.2% upward to $3.31 in two months’ time. The stock has rallied 10.8% in three months’ time. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Cousins Properties Incorporated’s (NYSE:CUZ) Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current-year FFO per share moved 2.1% north to $2.96 over the past two months. Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have gained 12% over the past three months.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.


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