Jeff Edison, chairman and CEO of Phillips Edison & Company, Inc. (Nasdaq: PECO), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITweek: 2023 Investor Conference, held in New York June 6-8.
Edison discussed how PECO is currently seeing increased pricing power in its grocery-anchored portfolio, noting that suburbanization and work from home are bringing customers closer to its centers.
“It’s created really strong demand while there’s very limited supply,” he said. “That’s allowed us to push our occupancy to record levels [and push] our renewal percentage to record levels [of] 95% this last quarter.”
Edison noted that PECO believes that format drives results, which is part of why the REIT has a smaller format than its shopping center peers, with an average of 115,000 square feet.
“We have the highest level of occupancy among our peers—it’s driven by the fact that we have the right format,” he said.
Edison noted that the grocery-anchored shopping center segment is in the “best operating environment that we’ve been in for 30 years,” adding that PECO had a strong first quarter, purchasing $80 million in new assets.