Thomas McGuinness, president and CEO of InvenTrust Properties Corp., joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWeek 2017: NAREIT’s Investor Forum at the New York Hilton Midtown.
InvenTrust is a public non-listed REIT that focuses on open-air retail centers.
McGuinness discussed InvenTrust’s strategy of rotating out of secondary and tertiary markets, primarily located in the Rust Belt, and into the Sun Belt. In the process, the company has reduced the number of markets where it operates to 15, he noted.
McGuinness stressed that the Sun Belt provides high-growth markets with rent growth potential. “That’s where the retailers want to be,” he said.
McGuiness also described the spate of negative news about the retail real estate sector as “a little bit on the overblown side.”
Turning to the company’s balance sheet, McGuinness said InvenTrust’s low level of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) provides the company with dry powder, should attractive acquisition opportunities emerge.