Don Wood, CEO of Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITweek: 2022 Investor Conference in New York on June 7-9.
Wood discussed Kingstowne Towne Center, a Virginia property that Federal Realty recently acquired for $200 million. He noted that northern Virginia is a “very important market” to the REIT that includes headquarters for Amazon, Boeing, Hilton, and Northrop Grumman.
“Kingstowne is an important and large shopping center,” Wood said. “[It serves the community] well, albeit it could use some better merchandizing, and we’ll work on that.”
Wood said a temporary leasing program offered lower risk to prospective tenants during the pandemic while also introducing them to Federal Realty quality products.
“It has worked out incredibly well,” Wood said. “More than half of them have turned or are expected to turn into permanent deals.”
Wood added that due to the dense urban areas that Federal Realty is in, ESG principles are critically important to the company.
“Since 2011, we wound up putting our first electric installations on our rooftops. Today we have over 13 megawatts of capacity that comes from our solar on the roof,” Wood said.