Christopher Czarnecki , president and CEO of Broadstone Net Lease, Inc. (NYSE: BNL), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITweek: 2021 Investor Conference.
Czarnecki discussed key operating metrics for tenants across Broadstone’s portfolio. He noted that the REIT has continued to maintain very strong occupancy at the portfolio level and has returned to a more normalized operating environment with rent collections at 99.8% in the first quarter.
“Tenant health has been stable to improving over the last couple of quarters,” Czarnecki said.
Turning to acquisition activity, Czarnecki noted that since Broadstone’s IPO last September Broadstone has deployed just over $187 million of capital into a mix of industrial, health care, and retail property. The REIT’s guidance for 2021 is $450-550 million of new gross acquisitions.
Czarnecki noted that while the headline part of the industrial market might be full of competition, “there are other opportunities for us to be active” in that segment.
Meanwhile, Czarnecki explained that pre-IPO, Broadstone focused entirely on high net worth investors. The company sold 25% of its shares to institutional investors as part of the IPO, and that portion is expected to grow.
“We’re at the beginning stages of showing Broadstone to a wider audience of investors,” Czarnecki said.