Boston Properties Provides Business Update

Boston Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly-traded owner, developer and manager of Class A office properties in the United States, provided an update on recent business accomplishments including:

• Leasing productivity: In the months of April and May the Company signed approximately 870,000 square feet of new leases and renewals including a new 12-year lease with Microsoft Corporation for approximately 400,000 square feet at Reston Town Center in Reston, Virginia. This new lease builds on Microsoft’s existing presence of approximately 165,000 square feet in Reston. Microsoft joins several other companies including Facebook, Leidos, Bechtel and CACI that have recently chosen BXP’s Reston Town Center as their location of choice for attracting talent and growing their workforce in the region.
• Ongoing strength in collections: For the month of May, the Company collected more than 97% of its total rent payments from office tenants due May 1. Rent collections from all tenants, including retail, were 93% in total.
• A fortified balance sheet: The Company continues to maintain a strong liquidity position with $3.3 billion of total liquidity consisting of $1.7 billion of cash, $151 million of cash held in 1031 exchange escrow, as well as $1.5 billion available under its unsecured revolving credit facility as of May 5, 2020. This includes the net cash proceeds from the Company’s recent issuance of $1.25 billion of 3.250% unsecured senior notes.
• A Heath Security Plan for repopulating the workplace: The plan was developed by BXP’s Heath Security Task Force and provides a framework for health security at BXP’s office properties, including enhanced cleaning and disinfection, air and water quality protocols, physical distancing, screening and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements. Since the release of the Plan in early May, the Company has conducted town halls and one-on-one sessions across BXP’s regions to support tenants’ office repopulation process which has started in Massachusetts this week.

The Company also pointed to a recent survey of 2,300 U.S. workers conducted by the Gensler Research Institute that showed that employees overwhelmingly choose the office as their preferred place to work. The survey, which was conducted between April 16 and May 4, 2020 showed that only 12% of U.S. workers want to work from home full-time. Before COVID-19, 10% of U.S. office workers had regularly worked from home, indicating a small, 2% increase in the number of workers who prefer to work-from-home five days per week. The survey also revealed that younger generations are less satisfied with the work-from-home experience, despite their technological preparedness for mobile work, and are less aware of what is expected of them and how their work contributes to their organizational goals.