Lou Haddad, president and CEO of Armada Hoffler Properties, Inc. (NYSE: AHH), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITweek: Virtual Investor Conference (being held June 2-4).
Haddad noted that this is the fifth recession that Armada Hoffler has weathered, with essentially the same management team. The company’s response to the crisis has been to work with tenants, conserve cash, and get ready to outperform its peers once the crisis clears.
“We want to be ready to take advantage of what should be a lot of opportunities in the market come the latter part of this year and 2021,” Haddad said.
On the development side, Armada Hoffler had four projects teed up to start this summer, which the company is now delaying. “We don’t want to launch until we feel better about what the economy’s going to look like,” Haddad said. He added that the REIT hopes to start the development process later this fall with at least a couple of the projects.
Looking ahead, Haddad said that the company believes there are going to be a number of development opportunities that have been controlled by individuals who aren’t ready to execute, and which will likely come back onto the market.
Armada Hoffler has also seen some of its tenants growing during the current crisis and Haddad said they will likely be in full expansion mode in 2021 or 2022. “We want to be positioned to be ready to execute with them,” Haddad said.