John Kite
Analyst · Stifel, Nicolaus
Thanks, Dan, and good morning, and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. We had another productive quarter. FFO as adjusted for the quarter was $0.11 per diluted share, while our retail portfolio was 93.4% leased, reflecting a 110 basis point increase over the prior year.
We have disclosed FFO as adjusted to reflect a onetime litigation charge of $1.3 million relating to an arbitration ruling in the first quarter in favor of a former tenant. The former tenant claimed that the company unreasonably withheld its consent to an assignment of the tenant's lease to a third party. In reliance on advice from outside litigation counsel, the company believes that its actions related to the requested assignment were proper. We have recorded the full charge in the quarter.
We achieved another positive NOI growth in the quarter for the portfolio. Our same property NOI was up 5.4% over the prior year. This is the fifth consecutive quarter of strong NOI growth. In addition, our cash rents spreads for the quarter were 7.2%, our 10th consecutive quarterly increase. We also continue to see consistent growth of revenue from property operations as a result of our development and leasing efforts. Property operating revenue was up 9.8% over the prior year.
On the balance sheet, our finance team has executed on several important objectives. Last month, we amended and restated our line of credit to improve the interest rate by 35 basis points. We also extended the maturity to June 2017, inclusive of a 1-year extension option and modified several provisions within the document.
Simultaneously, we closed on a new 7-year, $115 million term loan that we plan to expand to $125 million later in the second quarter. We were able to secure attractive pricings, ranging from LIBOR plus 210 to 310 and project an all-in rate after the execution of a hedge in the low to mid-4% range.
The term loan and line of credit modifications have significantly improved our debt maturity schedule over the next several years. We have no remaining maturities in 2012, and more importantly, our annual debt maturities will not exceed $48 million between 2013 and 2015. In addition, the weighted average maturity of our debt increased from 4.2 to 5.4 years.
We will also improve our balance sheet metrics, including the reduction of our floating rate debt, from 42% to approximately 26% upon the planned closing of the term loan hedge in the second quarter. The execution of the term loan provided an opportunity to significantly increase the size of our unencumbered asset pool and achieve additional financial flexibility by retiring the debt on 5 of our shopping centers.
In addition, we paid off a 7.38% loan on the Plaza at Cedar Hill withdraw on the line and subsequently reopened our 8.25% Series A perpetual preferred generating $31 million of net proceeds to reduce the balance on our line of credit. With the execution of these transactions, we increased the unencumbered asset pool to approximately $475 million, which is 40% of our total assets.
Turning to quarter, we also executed on our disposition strategy by selling Gateway, Marysville in the Seattle area, consistent with our planned asset sales noted in our 2012 guidance. We're analyzing other assets in geographic areas where we don't anticipate future growth or the specific assets don't possess a long-term growth profile.
On the development side of the business, we continue to make significant progress on several major in-process project. At New Hill Place Phase 1 in Holly Springs, North Carolina, we finalized the anchor line-up by closing on the sale of land -- of a land parcel and executing a site development agreement with Target. The leasing momentum on this project has increased quarter-over-quarter, as the leasing committed percentage increased to approximately 11% from 65% to 76.2%.
In addition to Target, we have executed anchor leases with Dick's Sporting Goods, Marshalls, Michaels and Petco, totaling approximately 100,000 square feet. We received a loan commitment from one of our relationship banks and anticipate closing the construction loan in the second quarter.
At Delray Marketplace, the construction schedule is on track for the November 2012 opening. The site work and foundations are nearly complete, and vertical construction will commence this month.
Four Corner Square located in Maple Valley, Washington, a Seattle suburb, increased to 83.5% pre-leased. We have executed leases with 3 anchor tenants totaling 68,000-square feet at this redevelopment. We've also received a loan commitment from one of our other relationship banks on this asset and anticipate closing the construction loan in the second quarter.
Oleander Place in Wilmington, North Carolina is progressing on schedule, as Whole Foods is planning for a late May opening.
During the quarter, our consolidated CIP balance was reduced by $10 million to $138 million, primarily as the Whole Foods at Cobblestone Plaza opened and the related costs on the development were moved to fixed assets. Our objective is to continue to reduce our CIP balance as a percentage of our total assets to less than 10%.
We expect the CIP balance to grow during the construction of the 5 in-process development projects, and will likely peak in the third quarter of 2012 prior to several project openings. However, upon the completion of the in-process development, the consolidated CIP balance remaining will be approximately $50 million or less than 5% of total assets.
We're reaffirming our 2012 FFO as adjusted earnings guidance with the full year range from $0.42 to $0.46 per share.
I'd like to reiterate the primary goals that we're focused on for the remaining -- remainder of 2012: opening Delray Marketplace in the fourth quarter of 2012; preparing New Hill for a spring 2013 opening; partially opening the redeveloped Four Corner, Maple Valley in late 2012; pursuing opportunistic acquisitions to increase NOI or reducing our debt-to-EBITDA; continuing our strong leasing momentum; and selling non-core assets to provide capital for acquisitions or reducing debt.
In closing, I'm pleased with our team's efforts and execution to start the year. We've substantially strengthened our balance sheet and enhanced our financial flexibility with the term loan and line of credit extension. Our developments are progressing well, and our high-quality properties are attracting best-in-class retailers.
While we've been focused on blocking and tackling over the last few years, opportunities are beginning to surface, and we believe we can simultaneously further improve the balance sheet and grow the company.
This concludes our prepared remarks. We're ready for questions, operator.