FREIT Earnings Surge on Shopping Center Sale Ahead of Liquidation Vote

Stockholders vote September 29 on a wind-down plan the board estimates will return between $24.44 and $30.03 per share over time.

September 11, 2026

First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey reported a sharp jump in quarterly earnings driven almost entirely by a single shopping center sale, as the 65-year-old REIT heads into a stockholder vote this month on winding itself down.

Net income attributable to common equity reached approximately $20.2 million, or $2.69 per share, for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2026, against roughly $0.9 million, or $0.12 per share, a year earlier. For the nine months, net income was approximately $21.7 million, or $2.90 per share, versus roughly $2.4 million, or $0.32 per share. Nearly all of the gain traces to the July 8 disposition of the Franklin Crossing shopping center to an affiliate of Regency Centers Corporation for $27.0 million, which produced net proceeds of about $25.4 million and a net gain of roughly $19.8 million.

Operating measures moved in the opposite direction. Adjusted funds from operations came in at $0.14 per share for the quarter, down from $0.23, and $0.51 for the nine months against $0.62. For a REIT in wind-down, that divergence is the more informative reading: the earnings line reflects what the portfolio fetched on exit, while AFFO reflects what remains of the operating business behind it.

Rents hold up as the portfolio shrinks

Total real estate revenue rose 4.0% to approximately $7.5 million for the quarter and 4.2% to approximately $22.7 million for the nine months. Higher residential base rents supplied most of the increase, offsetting a slip in average residential occupancy to 96.3% from 96.9%. On the commercial side, the nine-month gain came largely from additional rent owed by TJ Maxx at the Westwood Plaza shopping center after its co-tenancy clause lapsed. Average commercial occupancy, measured excluding Franklin Crossing, was 41.7% for the quarter against 39.2%.

General and administrative expenses more than doubled, to roughly $1.4 million from $0.6 million in the quarter and $3.1 million from $2.3 million over the nine months. The company did not break out a driver.

The vote on September 29

FREIT’s board unanimously approved a Plan of Voluntary Liquidation on May 12, providing for complete liquidation and dissolution under Maryland law, with a special stockholder meeting set for September 29. The company estimates that net proceeds distributed to stockholders over time, after transaction expenses and payment of liabilities, will fall between $24.44 and $30.03 per share, against a closing price of $15.25 on May 13, the day before the plan was announced. Jones Lang LaSalle Securities is advising.

If stockholders approve, the board gains latitude to sell assets without returning for further consent, or to move what is left into a liquidating trust, with holders receiving cash, beneficial interests in the trust, or both. That structure matters for timing: a liquidating trust converts a defined vote into an open-ended distribution schedule, and the published per-share range is explicitly an estimate realized over time rather than a closing payment.

Assets out, debt reworked

A second retail disposition is already under contract. FREIT agreed on May 26 to sell Westwood Plaza, also to a Regency Centers affiliate, for $28.8 million; the buyer remains in initial due diligence and closing is expected in early 2027. Both retail assets are moving to the same counterparty.

The company has also reworked much of its debt over the spring and summer:

• Westwood Hills refinanced a maturing mortgage on August 31 with ConnectOne Bank at $25 million, fixed at 6.28% and interest-only for three years.
• Wayne PSC paid down roughly $5 million on its Preakness shopping center loan, cutting the balance to $20 million and extending maturity five years to July 2031 at 6.875%.
• The Westwood Plaza mortgage, at about $9.5 million, received a 90-day extension from Valley National Bank to November 1.
• A $13 million credit line was replaced in May with a $20 million facility from Provident Bank secured by the Boulders apartment property, priced at prime less 25 basis points with a 6.75% floor and so far undrawn.

The board declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.10 per share, payable September 14 to holders of record August 31, bringing nine-month distributions to $0.30 per share against $0.26 a year ago. FREIT trades over the counter under FREVS and has held New Jersey and New York property since 1961.