General
Plymouth Opportunity REIT, Inc. (the "Company") is a Maryland corporation that was formed in March 2011 to invest in a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate properties. The Company intends to qualify as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") beginning with the taxable year ending December 31, 2012. As used herein, the terms "we," "our," and "us" refer to the Company and as required by context, Plymouth Opportunity OP LP, a Delaware limited partnership, which we refer to as our "operating partnership," and to their subsidiaries. We plan to own substantially all of our assets and conduct our operations through our operating partnership, of which we are the sole general partner.
The Company intends to operate in a manner that will allow it to be a real estate investment trust, or “REIT”, for federal income tax purposes. The Company utilizes an Umbrella Partnership Real Estate Investment Trust (“UPREIT”) organizational structure to hold all or substantially all of its properties and securities through an operating partnership, Plymouth Opportunity OP, LP (the “Operating Partnership").
On March 11, 2011, the Company sold 20,000 shares of common stock to Plymouth Group Real Estate, LLC (the Sponsor), at a price of $200,000, or $10 per share. As of April 15, 2013 the Company has sold 411,700 shares for gross offering proceeds of $4.063 million.
The Company has retained Plymouth Real Estate Investors, Inc. (the” Advisor”) to serve as its advisor. The Advisor is responsible for managing, operating, directing and supervising the operations and administration of the Company and its assets. The Company has retained Plymouth Real Estate Capital, LLC (the “Dealer Manager”), and a member of FINRA, to act as the exclusive Dealer Manager for this offering. The Advisor and the Dealer Manager are affiliates of Plymouth Group Real Estate LLC, the Sponsor of the Company.
Investment Objectives
We intend to primarily acquire and operate a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate assets that are expected to provide consistent current income and may also provide capital appreciation resulting from our expectation that in certain circumstances we will be able to acquire properties at a discount to replacement cost or otherwise less than the anticipated market value or to expend capital to reposition or redevelop a property so as to increase its value over the amount of cash we paid to acquire and rehabilitate the property. In particular, we plan to diversify our portfolio by property type, geographic region, investment size and investment risk with the goal of acquiring a portfolio of income producing real estate properties and real estate related assets that provide attractive returns for our investors. Our advisor intends to focus on markets that our advisor determines demonstrate sustainable value and/or growth potential and on those sellers who are distressed or face time-sensitive deadlines. As of December 31, 2012, we had not identified any particular markets or asset types on which we intend to focus, and the exact markets and asset types that will ultimately be targeted by our advisor will depend upon its evaluation of property prices and other economic considerations impacting the particular markets. Our board and our management, including our advisor and its sub-advisor, have extensive experience evaluating and investing, directly or indirectly as a joint venture partner, in numerous types of properties. We intend to primarily acquire, or participate in joint ventures owning, a wide variety of commercial properties, including office, industrial, retail, hospitality, medical office, single-tenant, multifamily, student housing and other real properties, including raw land. These properties are initially expected to be existing, income-producing properties. Additionally, we may invest in newly constructed properties or properties under development or construction. In addition, given the then existing economic conditions and subject to applicable REIT requirements, our investment strategy may also include investments in real estate-related assets such as mortgage, mezzanine, bridge and other loans and debt and equity securities issued by other real estate companies; however, we intend to limit these types of investments so that neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries will meet the definition of an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act. Our investment strategy is designed to provide investors with a diversified portfolio of real estate assets. We expect to make our investments in real estate assets located in the United States. We may enter into one or more joint ventures, tenant-in-common investments or other co-ownership arrangements for the acquisition, development or improvement of properties with third parties or affiliates of our advisor, including future real estate limited partnerships and REITs sponsored by affiliates of our advisor. We also may serve as mortgage lender to, or acquire interests in or securities issued by, these joint ventures or other joint venture arrangements or other future Plymouth sponsored programs.
Our primary investment objectives are:
We believe we will be better able to achieve these objectives than other more seasoned real estate companies because we will begin with no inventory, will purchase properties at current values and will not be burdened with legacy assets. Additionally, we are not asking our stockholders to invest in previously acquired real estate that is not performing as originally expected or overvalued in today’s environment. We will build an entirely new portfolio that meets our investment criteria.
If we do not begin the process of listing our shares on a national securities exchange within seven years of the termination of our primary offering, our charter requires that we:
If a majority of our board of directors (including a majority of the members of the corporate governance committee) determines that liquidation is not then in the best interests of our stockholders, our charter requires that the corporate governance committee revisit the issue of liquidation at least annually. Further postponement of listing or stockholder action regarding liquidation would only be permitted if a majority of our board of directors (including a majority of the members of the corporate governance committee) again determined that liquidation would not be in the best interest of our stockholders. As a result, it is possible our company will continue indefinitely without ever listing its shares on an exchange or liquidating its assets. If we sought and failed to obtain stockholder approval of our liquidation, our charter would not require us to list or liquidate and would not require the corporate governance committee to revisit the issue of liquidation, and we could continue to operate as before. If we sought and obtained stockholder approval of our liquidation, we would begin an orderly sale of our properties and other assets. The precise timing of such sales would take into account the prevailing real estate and financial markets, the economic conditions in the submarkets where our properties are located and the debt markets generally as well as the federal income tax consequences to our stockholders. In the event our sponsor, our advisor or any of their affiliates decides to engage in future programs, we do not anticipate that the investments objectives of those programs will affect the exit strategies of our company; however, engaging in any future programs may require personnel of our advisor or its affiliates to devote a substantial portion of their time to those other programs which could impact our advisor’s ability to implement our ultimate exit strategy in a timely manner. In making the decision to apply for listing of our shares, our directors will try to determine whether listing our shares or liquidating our assets will result in greater value for stockholders.
We cannot assure our stockholders that we will attain our investment objectives or that our capital will not decrease. Pursuant to our advisory agreement, and to the extent permitted by our charter, our advisor will be indemnified for claims relating to any failure to succeed in achieving these objectives.
We may not change the investment objectives and limitations set forth in the charter, except upon approval of stockholders holding a majority of the shares. Our independent directors will review our investment objectives at least annually to determine whether our policies are in the best interests of our stockholders. Each such determination will be set forth in the minutes of our board of directors. See "— Investment Limitations" below.
Decisions relating to the purchase or sale of our investments will be made by Plymouth Real Estate Investors, our advisor, subject to approval of our board of directors, including a majority of our independent directors.
Acquisition and Investment Policies
We intend to primarily acquire and operate a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate assets that are expected to provide consistent current income and may also provide capital appreciation resulting from our expectation that in certain circumstances we will be able to acquire properties at a discount to replacement cost or otherwise less than the anticipated market value or to expend capital to reposition or redevelop a property so as to increase its value over the amount of cash we paid to acquire and rehabilitate the property. In particular, we plan to diversify our portfolio by property type, geographic region, investment size and investment risk with the goal of acquiring a portfolio of income producing real estate properties and real estate related assets that provide attractive returns for our investors. Our advisor intends to focus on markets that our advisor determines demonstrate sustainable value and/or growth potential and on those sellers who are distressed or face time-sensitive deadlines. The exact markets and asset types that will ultimately be targeted by our advisor will depend upon its evaluation of property prices and other economic considerations impacting specific primary and secondary markets. Our board and management, including our advisor and its sub-advisor, have extensive experience evaluating and investing, directly or indirectly as a joint venture partner, in numerous types of properties. We intend to preliminarily acquire, or participate in joint ventures owning, a wide variety of commercial properties, including office, industrial, retail, hospitality, medical office, single-tenant, multifamily, student housing and other real properties. These properties may be existing, income-producing properties, newly constructed properties or properties under development or construction. In addition, given the then current economic conditions and subject to applicable REIT requirements, our investment strategy may also include investments in real estate-related assets such as mortgage, mezzanine, bridge and other loans and debt securities, such as mortgage-backed securities, and equity securities issued by other real estate companies; however, we intend to limit these types of investments so that neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries will meet the definition of an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Investment Company Act"). Prior to acquiring an asset, our advisor will perform an individual analysis of the asset to determine whether it meets our investment criteria, including the probability of sale at an optimum price within our targeted holding period. Our advisor will use the information derived from the analysis in determining whether the asset is an appropriate investment for us.
In the case of real estate-related investments, we may invest in (1) equity securities such as common stocks, preferred stocks and convertible preferred securities of public or private real estate companies such as other REITs and other real estate operating companies, (2) debt securities such as commercial mortgages and debt securities issued by other real estate companies and (3) mezzanine loans and bridge loans. In each case, these real estate-related assets will have been identified as being opportunistic investments with significant possibilities for near-term capital appreciation or higher current income; however, we intend to limit these types of investments so that neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries will meet the definition of an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act.
We intend to hold each asset we acquire for extended periods of time, generally five to seven years from the termination of our offering. We believe that holding our assets for this period will enable us to capitalize on the potential for increased income and capital appreciation of such assets while also providing for a level of liquidity consistent with our investment strategy and fund life. Though we will evaluate each of our assets for capital appreciation generally within a targeted holding period of five to seven years from the termination of our initial public offering, we may consider investing in properties and other assets with a different holding period in the event such investments provide an opportunity for an attractive return in a shorter time period. Further, economic or market conditions, as well as the REIT rules, may influence us to hold our investments for different periods of time.
In cases where our advisor determines that it is advantageous for us to make investments in which our advisor or its affiliates do not have substantial experience, it is our advisor’s intention to employ persons, engage consultants or partner with third parties that have, in our advisor’s opinion, the relevant expertise necessary to assist our advisor in its consideration, making and administration of such investments. Our advisor has retained Haley Real Estate Group, LLC, an Omaha, Nebraska-based multifamily real estate investment group (the "Haley Group"), and Oxford Capital Group, LLC, a Chicago-based real estate, asset management and investment holding company ("Oxford"), to act as sub-advisors with respect to the identification of potential multifamily, hospitality, leisure and other assets requiring renovation and/or retenanting or loan modification or refinancing.
We may modify our acquisition and investment policies if our shares become listed for trading on a national securities exchange. For example, upon listing of our common stock, we may choose to sell more volatile properties and use the proceeds to acquire properties that are more likely to generate a stable return. Other factors may also cause us to modify our acquisition and investment policies.
Investments in Real Property
In executing our investment strategy with respect to investments in real property, we will seek to invest in assets that we believe will retain their value and potentially increase in value for an extended period of time, generally five to seven years. We may also seek to invest in assets that we believe may be repositioned or redeveloped so that they may provide capital appreciation. We may acquire properties with lower tenant quality or low occupancy rates and reposition them by seeking to improve the property, tenant quality and occupancy rates and thereby increase lease revenues and overall property value. Further, we may invest in properties that we believe are an attractive value because all or a portion of the tenant leases expire within a short period after the date of acquisition, and we intend to renew leases or replace existing tenants at the properties for improved returns. We may acquire properties in markets that are depressed or overbuilt with the anticipation that, within our targeted holding period, the markets will recover and favorably impact the value of these properties. We may also acquire properties from sellers who are distressed or face time-sensitive deadlines with the expectation that we can achieve better success with the properties. To the extent feasible, we will invest in a diversified portfolio of properties in terms of geography, type of property and industry of our tenants that will satisfy our investment objectives of preserving our capital and realizing capital appreciation upon the ultimate sale of our properties. In making investment decisions for us, our advisor will consider relevant real estate property and financial factors, including the location of the property, its suitability for any development contemplated or in progress, its income-producing capacity, the prospects for long-range appreciation and its liquidity and income tax considerations.
Except with respect to unimproved or non-incoming producing property, we are not limited in the number or size of properties we may acquire or the percentage of net proceeds of our public offering that we may invest in a single property. The number and mix of properties we acquire will depend upon real estate and market conditions and other circumstances existing at the time we acquire our properties and the amount of proceeds we raise in our public offering. We will not invest more than 10% of our total assets in unimproved properties or in mortgage loans secured by such properties. We will consider a property to be an unimproved property if it was not acquired for the purpose of producing rental or other operating income, has no development or construction in process at the time of acquisition and no development or construction is planned to commence within one year of the acquisition.
Our investment in real estate generally will take the form of holding fee title or a long-term leasehold estate. We will acquire such interests either directly through Plymouth Opportunity OP, our operating partnership, or indirectly through limited liability companies or through investments in joint ventures, partnerships, co-tenancies or other co-ownership arrangements with third parties, including developers of the properties, or with affiliates of our advisor. See "— Joint Venture Investments" below. In addition, we may purchase properties and lease them back to the sellers of such properties. Although we will use our best efforts to structure any such sale-leaseback transaction so that the lease will be characterized as a "true lease" and we will be treated as the owner of the property for federal income tax purposes, we cannot assure our stockholders that the Internal Revenue Service will not challenge such characterization. In the event that any such sale-leaseback transaction is recharacterized as a financing transaction for federal income tax purposes, deductions for depreciation and cost recovery relating to such property would be disallowed.
Successful commercial real estate investment requires the implementation of strategies that permit favorable purchases, effective asset and property management for enhanced current returns and maintenance of higher relative property values and timely disposition for attractive capital appreciation. Using our investment strategies, including individual market monitoring and ongoing analysis of macro- and micro-regional economic cycles, we expect to be better able to identify favorable acquisition targets, increase current returns and current distributions to investors, maintain higher relative portfolio property values, conduct appropriate development or redevelopment activities and execute timely dispositions at appropriate sales prices to enhance capital gains distributable to our stockholders.
Our advisor will perform a due diligence review on each property that we acquire. Our obligation to purchase any property will be conditioned upon the delivery and verification of certain documents from the seller or developer, including, where applicable:
In cases where the seller does not have some of these documents, for example zoning compliance reports, or where the seller is not willing to provide the information, for example appraisals, we will prepare the documents prior to acquiring the property. In other cases where the documents may have been lost, for example plans and specifications, we will assess the risks associated with acquiring the property without the missing documents prior to making the acquisition. In addition, all of our property acquisitions which are acquired using new debt financing will be supported by an appraisal prepared by a competent independent appraiser who is a member in good standing of the Appraisal Institute. We would not require a new appraisal prior to acquisition if we were to acquire a property using no financing or through the assumption of existing financing. In that case, we determine value based upon our review of the seller’s historical financial information, the physical condition of the property and the market and sub-market in which the property is located.
We will not purchase any property unless and until we obtain what is generally referred to as a "Phase I" environmental site assessment and are generally satisfied with the environmental status of the property. A Phase I environmental site assessment basically consists of a visual survey of the building and the property in an attempt to identify areas of potential environmental concerns, visually observing neighboring properties to assess surface conditions or activities that may have an adverse environmental impact on the property, and contacting local governmental agency personnel and performing a regulatory agency file search in an attempt to determine any known environmental concerns in the immediate vicinity of the property. A Phase I environmental site assessment does not generally include any sampling or testing of soil, groundwater or building materials from the property. In those cases where the Phase I environmental report recommends a Phase II study, we will obtain a Phase II environmental report prior to acquiring the applicable property.
Generally, sellers engage and pay third party brokers or finders in connection with the sale of an asset. However, we may from time to time compensate third party brokers or finders in connection with our acquisitions, although we do not expect to on a regular basis.
The purchase price that we will pay for any property generally will be based on the fair market value of the property as determined by a majority of our directors. In the cases where a majority of our independent directors requires and in all cases in which the transaction is with any of our directors or our advisor or its affiliates, we will obtain an appraisal of fair market value by an independent expert selected by our independent directors. Regardless, we will generally obtain an independent appraisal for each property in which we invest. However, we will rely on our own independent analysis and not on appraisals in determining whether to invest in a particular property. Appraisals are estimates of value and should not be relied upon as measures of true worth or realizable value.
We may enter into arrangements with the seller or developer of a property whereby the seller or developer agrees that, if during a stated period the property does not generate a specified cash flow, the seller or developer will pay in cash to us a sum necessary to reach the specified cash flow level, subject in some cases to negotiated dollar limitations. In determining whether to purchase a particular property, we may, in accordance with customary practices, obtain an option on such property. The amount paid for an option, if any, is normally surrendered if the property is not purchased and is normally credited against the purchase price if the property is purchased. In purchasing, leasing and developing properties, we will be subject to risks generally incident to the ownership of real estate.
Investing in and Originating Loans
We may, from time to time, make or invest in mortgage, bridge or mezzanine loans and other loans relating to real property, including loans in connection with the acquisition of investments in entities that own real property; however, we intend to limit these types of investments so that neither the company nor any of its subsidiaries will meet the definition of an "investment company" under the Investment Company Act. Our criteria for investing in loans will be substantially the same as those involved in our investment in properties; however, we will also evaluate such investments based on the current income opportunities presented. Mortgage loans in which we may invest include first, second and third mortgage loans, wraparound mortgage loans, construction mortgage loans on real property and loans on leasehold interest mortgages. We may also invest in participations in mortgage loans. Further, we may invest in unsecured loans or loans secured by assets other than real estate.
The mezzanine loans in which we may invest will generally take the form of subordinated loans secured by a pledge of the ownership interests of an entity that directly or indirectly owns real property. Such loans may also take the form of subordinated loans secured by second mortgages on real property. We may hold senior or junior positions in mezzanine loans, such senior or junior position denoting the particular leverage strip that may apply.
Second and wraparound mortgage loans are secured by second or wraparound deeds of trust on real property that is already subject to prior mortgage indebtedness, in an amount that, when added to the existing indebtedness, does not generally exceed 75% of the appraised value of the mortgage property. A wraparound loan is one or more junior mortgage loans having a principal amount equal to the outstanding balance under the existing mortgage loan, plus the amount actually to be advanced under the wraparound mortgage loan. Under a wraparound loan, we would generally make principal and interest payments on behalf of the borrower to the holders of the prior mortgage loans. Third mortgage loans are secured by third deeds of trust on real property that is already subject to prior first and second mortgage indebtedness, in an amount that, when added to the existing indebtedness, does not generally exceed 75% of the appraised value of the mortgage property.