NEW YORK, March 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New York REIT Liquidating LLC (the “Company” or the “LLC”), which was formed to complete the liquidation of the assets previously held by New York REIT, Inc., announced today it has filed its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Distributions

On March 9, 2021, the Company declared a cash liquidating distribution of $0.18 per unit to be paid on March 24, 2021 to unitholders of record as of March 17, 2021. Future liquidating distributions will depend on, among other things, the timing and amount of cash flow distributions from our interest in Worldwide Plaza. There can be no assurance that future distributions will be similar to the current distribution.

On November 17, 2020, the Company paid a cash liquidating distribution of $0.25 per unit to unitholders of record as of November 10, 2020.

Liquidation Status

Holders of membership interests in the Company are reminded that the conversion of New York REIT, Inc. to the LLC occurred on November 7, 2018. As previously disclosed, membership interests in the LLC are generally not transferable except by will, intestate succession or operation of law.  

The Company has sold all its properties except for the remaining 50.1% interest in Worldwide Plaza. The Company has no debt outstanding other than its pro-rata share of the non-recourse debt on Worldwide Plaza. Exclusive of the distribution to be paid on March 24, 2021, the Company has paid aggregate cash liquidating distributions of $60.51 per unit.

Financial Results

Liquidation Basis of Accounting

Based on the liquidation basis of accounting, the Company reported that estimated net assets in liquidation at December 31, 2020 are currently estimated to result in future liquidating distributions of approximately $19.50 per unit. After giving effect to the $0.25 per unit distribution paid on November 17, 2020, the current estimate of future liquidating distributions represents a $2.06 per unit decrease from the Company’s estimate at September 30, 2020. This decrease in estimated future liquidating distributions is primarily due to a $37.6 million ($2.24 per unit) decrease in the Company’s investment in Worldwide Plaza based on a decrease in the estimated property value. Operationally, there was an increase of $0.18 per unit in estimated future liquidating distributions over last quarter. The estimate of future liquidating distributions includes projections of revenues to be earned and costs and expenses to be incurred during the next 12 months including the estimated cost to dispose of our remaining investment. There is inherent uncertainty with these projections and, accordingly, the projections could change materially based on a number of factors both within and outside of the Company’s control including public health crises, such as the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), market conditions, the performance of the underlying property asset, the timing of sale and any changes in the underlying assumptions of projected cash flows.

The current estimate of net assets in liquidation at December 31, 2020 has been estimated based on undiscounted cash flow projections and assumes a final liquidation on December 31, 2021 even though the actual timing of the sale of the Company’s remaining interest in Worldwide Plaza is indeterminate, given the continuing impact of COVID-19 on the commercial real estate market, ongoing tenant negotiations and other items in the property business plan. Based on these factors and the actual timing of the sale of this property, the final liquidation of the Company is subject to future events and uncertainties. Liabilities are carried at their contractual amounts due as adjusted for the impact of timing of the planned liquidation.

COVID-19 Impact

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across many countries, including the United States, and government protective measures in response to the pandemic, have significantly slowed global economic activity and have caused significant volatility in financial markets. During the second quarter of 2020, WWP received rent relief requests from some of its retail and amenities tenants at the Worldwide Plaza property as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of December 31, 2020, the property collected 100% of the office rents that were due for the year to date period. With respect to the retail and amenities tenants of the property, approximately $2.4 million of base rents have not been paid as those tenants are seeking rent concessions for the time period during which they were required to be closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unpaid rents represent approximately 2.0% of total rents due at the property for the year ended December 31, 2020. Management of WWP is evaluating each rent relief request on a tenant by tenant basis. Not all tenant relief requests will result in the granting of relief, and the Company anticipates that a majority of any relief granted will be in the form of a rent deferral and not rent forgiveness. WWP does not plan to forgo any of its contractual rights under its lease agreements in connection with any relief requests. As of the date of this filing, WWP has granted rent forgiveness of less than $100,000 in the aggregate. To date, the impact of COVID-19 has not been material to the Company, however, it is not possible to estimate the future impact of the pandemic at this time.

Tax Information

New York REIT Liquidating LLC Schedule K-1’s for 2020 are now available and can be accessed by clicking on the link on the homepage of the Company’s website, www.nyrt.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements in this release state the Company's and management's hopes, intentions, beliefs, expectations or projections of the future and are forward-looking statements for which the Company claims the protections of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. It is important to note that future events and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those described in or contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Such forward looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about potential increases in liquidating distributions if the joint venture is able to complete targeted capital improvements, critical tenant lease renewals and repositioning of this asset. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, (i) the future impact of COVID-19, (ii) general economic conditions, (iii) the inability of major tenants to continue paying their rent obligations due to bankruptcy, insolvency or general downturn in their business, (iv) local real estate conditions, (v) increases in interest rates, (vi) increases in operating costs and real estate taxes, (vii) changes in accessibility of debt and equity capital markets and (viii) the timing of asset sales. The Company refers you to the documents filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC, particularly in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, filed with the SEC on March 15, 2021, as such Risk Factors may be updated in subsequent reports. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

The Company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available for download at the Company's website www.nyrt.com or at the Securities and Exchange Commission website www.sec.gov.

Contact:

John Garilli
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer
New York REIT Liquidating LLC
jgarilli@nyrt.com
(617) 570-4750