Q4 2005 Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Ramco-Gershenson fourth-quarter earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions).

Thank you. Ms. Hendershot, you may begin your conference.

DAWN HENDERSHOT, IR, RAMCO-GERSHENSON: Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust fourth-quarter year-end conference call. I am hopeful that everyone received their press release and supplemental financial package, which are available on our website at rgpt.com

At this time, management would like me to inform you that certain statements made during this conference call which are not historical may be deemed forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Also Ramco-Gershenson believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be obtained. Factors and risks that could cause actual results to differ from expectations are detailed in the press release and from time to time in the Company's filings with the SEC. Additionally, we want to let everyone know that the information and statements made during the call are made as of the date of this call. Listeners to the replay should understand that the passage of time by itself will diminish the quality of the statements made.

Also, the contents of the call are the property of the Company, and any replay or transmission of the call may be done only with the consent of Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust.

Having said that, I would now like to introduce Dennis Gershenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Richard Smith, Chief Financial Officer. And at this time, would like to turn the call over to Dennis for his opening remarks.

DENNIS GERSHENSON, PRESIDENT, CEO, RAMCO-GERSHENSON: Thank you, Dawn. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us. Our fourth quarter was an extremely busy time for Ramco-Gershenson, as evidenced by our press releases both during the quarter and since the first of the year. We are obviously pleased to have met our stated financial objectives for the year. More importantly, however, the developments we had underway, our joint venture acquisitions, as well as the value-added expansions commenced and completed in 2005 will all account for an ever-increasing stable source of funds from operations well into the future.

In 2005, Ramco-Gershenson had under construction five shopping centers. The latest, Rossford Pointe and The Shoppes of Fairlane Meadows, were commenced in the fourth quarter. Thus, during the year we had under development over 1,600,000 square feet of new retail space.

In the fourth quarter, we acquired our partners' interest in Gaines Marketplace in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This 400,000 square foot shopping center is anchored by Target, Meyer, and Staples. Also, significant progress was achieved in the leasing of our River City Marketplace in Jacksonville, Florida.

Although we didn't announce any tenant signings during the quarter, we have in the first 20 days of this year announced three new anchors, including Michael's, Old Navy, and OfficeMax. Along with these three, we will be announcing before the end of February two additional national retail anchors in over 200,000 square feet who will also joint PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less, an 18-screen Hollywood Cinema and a Wal-Mart superstore, accounting for almost 600,000 square feet of national anchor tenancies that are committed to our project.

At our Beacon Square center in Muskegon, Michigan, we are completing our small tenant leasing and expect to commence negotiations to take this project on balance sheet in the first or second quarter. At Rossford Pointe in Toledo, Ohio we have opened the PetSmart superstore. As we look to the future, based upon the number of development opportunities we are presently investigating, we reasonably expect to commence a number of new projects in 2006.

As aggressive as our value-added redevelopment program has been in the first three quarters of 2005, we still commenced three additional value-added projects in the fourth quarter, bringing to 10 the number of shopping center expansions underway last year. In the fourth quarter, we announced the addition of a 20,000-square-foot PetSmart to our 460,000-square-foot Spring Meadows Shopping Center in Toledo, Ohio.

We also signed and commenced construction on a 30,500-square-foot TJ Maxx at our 650,000-square-foot Jackson Crossing in Jackson, Michigan. The TJ Maxx addition is the sixth expansion to this center. Previously, in 2004, we added Bed, Bath & Beyond to Jackson Crossing's lineup, which had previously included Target, a Sears department store, Kohls, a 10-screen cinema, Toys 'R' Us, and Best Buy.

The third redevelopment commenced in the fourth quarter, with the construction of a Home Depot at our Taylor Plaza in Taylor, Michigan, a metropolitan Detroit suburb. Home Depot replaces a vacant Kmart which was acquired when we saw the opportunity to turn a potential liability into an asset.

You will also remember that last year in the …