Regency Centers Corp. (REG), a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), reported FFO (funds from operations) of $48.6 million or 58 cents per share in the first quarter of 2010, compared to $55 million or 78 cents per share in the year-earlier period. Funds from operations, a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs, is obtained after adding depreciation and amortization and other non-cash expenses to net income.

Excluding the non-recurring items, recurring FFO in the first quarter was $52.3 million or 63 cents per share compared to $53.2 million or 75 cents per share in the year-ago period.

During the quarter, Regency reported a 0.3% decrease in same-store net operating income (NOI) largely due to a rental rate decline of 0.5% (cash basis). The company executed a total of 351 new and renewal lease transactions during the quarter, spanning 1.2 million square feet. The same-store portfolio of the company was 92.7% leased at quarter end, while the operating and development properties combined was 91.5% leased.

Regency completed four projects during the quarter for total development costs of $97.1 million. The average occupancy of the completed projects was 95%. At quarter end, the company had 38 projects under development at an estimated total cost of $721.8 million.

During the quarter, Regency acquired a joint-venture property for $30.9 million at a cap rate of 8.9%. The company sold a wholly-owned property during the quarter for $17.3 million at an average cap rate of 8.9%, and a completed development property for $9.2 million at a cap rate of 9.4%. Regency also sold five land parcels for $4.8 million during the reported quarter.

At quarter end, Regency had cash and cash equivalents of about $119.5 million and total debt of $1.9 billion. Almost the entire debt is fixed rate. Regency has about $173 million of debt maturing in 2010.

Regency has updated its recurring FFO guidance for full year 2010 from the earlier range of $2.11 to $2.31 per share to $2.20 to $2.35, with same-store portfolio leasing in the range of 91.0% to 93.0%.

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