David Bistricer, founder, co-chairman, and CEO of Clipper Realty Inc. (NYSE: CLPR), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2018 Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Clipper has a diversified portfolio of properties across Manhattan, Tribeca, and Brooklyn, and Bistricer called New York a “vibrant city.”
“We think it’s one of the best cities to be an investor of real estate in. It has proven itself to survive all of the downturns we’ve seen over the past decade,” he said.
Clipper announced the completion of long-term financings on Flatbush Gardens and Tribeca House Properties earlier this year, and Bistricer said the re-financings have helped fix the company’s variable rate debt and provide additional liquidity.
“It gave us a little bit more money, and it fixed the rates for long-term—out to 10 years, and that was something we wanted to do,” he said. “Tribeca was financed on...variable rates, and now we have a fixed rate.”
Bistricer added that each of Clipper’s properties is financed “on its own, usually on a fixed rate [with] longer-term maturity dates.”
Heading into 2019, Bistricer says he anticipates investment opportunities similar to what the REIT has done in the past.
“We’re very well known in the city, and we’re constantly looking to increasing the size of the company,” he said.