Kilroy Realty (KRC) Risk Factors

If workers providing services at our properties were to engage in a strike or other work stoppage or interruption, our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity could be materially adversely affected. Although we believe that our relations with our service providers are good, if disputes with our service providers arise or if workers providing services at our properties engage in a strike or other work stoppage or interruption, we could experience a significant disruption of, or inefficiencies in, our operations or at our properties or incur higher labor costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations,financial condition and liquidity. Some of our tenants employ the services of writers, directors, actors and other talent as well as trade employees and others who are subject to collective bargaining agreements in the entertainment industry. If expiring collective bargaining agreements cannot be renewed, then it is possible that the affected unions could take action in the form of strikes or work stoppages. Such actions, including episodic strikes in the entertainment industry, as well as higher costs or operating complexities in connection with these collective bargaining agreements or a significant labor dispute, could have an adverse effect on our tenants' businesses by causing delays in production, added costs or by reducing profit margins, which in turn could adversely affect our ability to collect rent from those tenants and potentially the markets in which our properties are located.

While inflation has moderated in the latter part of 2023, the consumer price index was at significantly elevated levels for most of the year. Federal policies, volatile commodity prices and geopolitical conflicts may have exacerbated, and may continue to exacerbate, increases in the consumer price index. A sustained or further increase in inflation could have an adverse impact on our operating expenses incurred in connection with, among others, the property-related contracted services such as repairs and maintenance, janitorial, utilities, security and insurance. Our operating expenses, with the exception of ground lease rental expenses, may be recoverable through our lease arrangements. In general, the office and life science properties are leased to tenants on a triple net, modified net, full service gross or modified gross basis. Under a triple net lease, the tenants pay their proportionate share of real estate taxes, operating costs and utility costs. A modified net lease is similar to a triple net lease, except the tenants are obligated to pay their proportionate share of certain operating expenses directly to the service provider. Under a full service gross lease, we are obligated to pay the tenant's proportionate share of real estate taxes, insurance and operating expenses up to the amount incurred during the "base year," which is typically the tenant's first year of occupancy. The tenant pays its proportionate share of increases in expenses above the base year. A modified gross lease is similar to a full service gross lease, except tenants are obligated to pay their proportionate share of certain operating expenses, usually electricity, directly to the service provider. At December 31, 2023, 48% of our properties were leased to tenants on a triple net basis, 23% of our properties were leased to tenants on a full service gross basis, 21% were leased to tenants on a modified gross basis, and 8% were leased to tenants on a modified net basis, in each case as a percentage of our annualized base rental revenue. During inflationary periods, we expect to recover some increases in operating expenses from our tenants through our existing lease structures. As a result, we do not believe that inflation would result in a material adverse effect on our net operating income and operating cash flows at the property level. However, there can be no assurance that our tenants would be able to absorb these expense increases and be able to continue to pay us their portion of operating expenses, capital expenditures and rent. Also, due to rising costs, our tenants may be unable to continue operating their businesses altogether. Alternatively, our tenants may decide to relocate to areas with lower rent and operating expenses where we may not currently own properties, and our tenants may cease to lease properties from us. Such adverse impacts on our tenants may cause increased vacancies, which may add pressure to lower rents and increase our expenditures for re-leasing. If we are unable to retain our tenants or withstand increases in operating expenses, capital expenditures and leasing costs, we may be unable to meet our financial expectations, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends and distributions to security holders. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation costs, technology services and professional service fees. Rising inflation rates may require us to provide compensation increases beyond historical annual increases, which may increase our compensation costs. Similarly, technology services and professional service fees are also subject to the impact of inflation and expected to increase proportionately with increasing market prices for such services. Consequently, inflation may increase our general and administrative expenses over time and may adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows. Since 2022, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates in an effort to curb inflation. Our exposure to increases in interest rates in the short term is limited to our variable-rate borrowings, which consist of borrowings under our unsecured term loan facility and unsecured revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2023, we had no borrowings under our unsecured revolving credit facility and $520.0 million outstanding under our unsecured term loan facility. However, the effect of inflation on interest rates has increased borrowing costs on our variable rate debt and could further increase our financing costs over time, either through near-term borrowings on our floating-rate lines of credit or refinancing of our existing borrowings that may incur higher interest expenses related to the issuance of new debt. Additionally, with respect to our variable rate debt, increases in interest rates increase our interest costs, which reduces our cash flows and our ability to make distributions to stockholders. For more information, see "Item 1A. Risk Factors-Risks Related to our Indebtedness-An increase in interest rates would increase our interest costs on variable rate debt and new debt and could adversely affect our ability to refinance existing debt, conduct development, redevelopment and acquisition activity and recycle capital." In addition, historically, during periods of increasing interest rates, real estate valuations have generally decreased as a result of rising capitalization rates, which tend to be positively correlated with interest rates. Consequently, prolonged periods of higher interest rates may negatively impact the valuation of our portfolio and result in the decline of the quoted trading price of our securities and market capitalization, as well as lower sales proceeds from future dispositions. Although the extent of any prolonged periods of higher interest rates remains unknown at this time, negative impacts to our cost of capital may adversely affect our future business plans and growth, including our development and redevelopment activities, at least in the near term. We have long-term lease agreements with our tenants, and we believe that annual rent escalations within our long-term leases are generally sufficient to offset the effect of inflation on non-recoverable costs, such as general and administrative expenses and interest expense. However, the impact of the current elevated rate of inflation may not be adequately offset by some of our annual rent escalations, and it is possible that the resetting of rents from our renewal and re-leasing activities would not fully offset the impact of the current inflation rate. As a result, during inflationary periods in which the inflation rate exceeds the annual rent escalation percentages within our lease contracts, we may not adequately mitigate the impact of inflation, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Additionally, inflation may have a negative effect on the construction costs necessary to complete our development and redevelopment projects, including, but not limited to, costs of construction materials, labor and services from third-party contractors and suppliers. We rely on a number of third-party suppliers and contractors to supply raw materials, skilled labor and services for our construction projects. Certain increases in the costs of construction materials can often be managed in our development and redevelopment projects through either general budget contingencies built into our overall construction costs estimates for each of our projects or guaranteed maximum price construction contracts, which stipulate a maximum price for certain construction costs and shift inflation risk to our construction general contractors. However, no assurance can be given that our budget contingencies would accurately account for potential construction cost increases given the current severity of inflation and variety of contributing factors or that our general contractors would be able to absorb such increases in costs and complete our construction projects timely, within budget, or at all. We have not encountered significant difficulty collaborating with our third-party suppliers and contractors and obtaining materials and skilled labor, and we have not experienced significant delays or increases in overall project costs due to the factors discussed above. While we do not rely on any single supplier or vendor for the majority of our materials and skilled labor, we may experience difficulties obtaining necessary materials from suppliers or vendors whose supply chains might become impacted by economic or political changes, shortages of shipping containers and/or means of transportation, or difficulties obtaining adequate skilled labor from third-party contractors in a tightening labor market. It is uncertain whether we would be able to source the essential commodities, supplies, materials and skilled labor timely or at all without incurring significant costs or delays, particularly during times of economic uncertainty resulting from events outside of our control, including, but not limited to, federal policies and the ongoing or future geopolitical conflicts. Higher construction costs could adversely impact our investments in real estate assets and expected yields on our development and redevelopment projects, which may make otherwise lucrative investment opportunities less profitable to us. Our reliance on a number of third-party suppliers and contractors may also make such investment opportunities unattainable if we are unable to sufficiently fund our projects due to significant cost increases, or are unable to obtain the resources and materials to do so reasonably due to disrupted supply chains. As a result, our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends and distributions to security holders could be adversely affected over time.

In recent years, numerous legislative, judicial and administrative changes have been made to the federal income tax laws applicable to investments in REITs and similar entities. Additional changes to tax laws are likely to continue to occur in the future, and any such changes may adversely impact the Company's ability to qualify as a REIT, its tax treatment as a REIT, our ability to comply with contractual obligations or the tax treatment of our stockholders and limited partners. Also, the law relating to the tax treatment of other entities, or an investment in other entities, could change, making an investment in such other entities more attractive relative to an investment in a REIT.

We are required to pay state and local taxes on our properties. In addition, the real property taxes on our properties may increase as our properties are reassessed by taxing authorities or as property tax rates change. For example, under a current California law commonly referred to as "Proposition 13," property tax reassessment generally occurs as a result of a "change in ownership" of a property, as specifically defined for purposes of those rules. Because the property taxing authorities may not determine whether there has been a "change in ownership" or the actual reassessed value of a property for a period of time after a transaction has occurred, we may not know the impact of a potential reassessment for a considerable amount of time following a particular transaction or construction of a new property. Therefore, the amount of property taxes we are required to pay could increase substantially from the property taxes we currently pay or have paid in the past, including on a retroactive basis. In addition, from time to time voters and lawmakers have announced initiatives to repeal or amend Proposition 13 to eliminate its application to commercial property and/or introduce split tax roll legislation. Such initiatives, if successful, would increase the assessed value and/or tax rates applicable to commercial property in California, including our properties. An increase in the assessed value of our properties or our property tax rates could adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, the quoted trading price of our securities, and our ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends and distributions to our security holders.

As an owner, operator, manager, acquirer and developer of real properties, we are subject to environmental and health and safety laws and regulations. Certain of these laws and regulations impose joint and several liability, without regard to fault, for investigation and clean-up costs on current and former owners and operators of real property and persons who have disposed of or released hazardous substances into the environment. At some of our properties, there are asbestos-containing materials, or tenants routinely handle hazardous substances as part of their operations. In addition, historical operations and conditions, including the presence of underground storage tanks, various site uses that involved hazardous substances, the landfilling of hazardous substances and solid waste, and migration of contamination from other sites, have caused soil or groundwater contamination at or near some of our properties. Although we believe that the prior owners of the affected properties or other persons may have conducted remediation of known contamination at many of these properties, not all such contamination has been remediated, further clean-up or environmental closure activities at certain of these properties is or may be required, and residual contamination could pose environmental, health, and safety risks if not appropriately addressed. We may need to investigate or remediate contaminated soil, soil gas, landfill gas, and groundwater, and we may also need to conduct landfill closure and post-closure activities, including, for example, the implementation of groundwater and methane monitoring systems and impervious cover, and the costs of such work could exceed projected or budgeted amounts. To protect the health and safety of site occupants and others, we may be required to implement and operate safeguards, including, for example, vapor intrusion mitigation systems and building protection systems to address methane. We may need to modify our methods of construction or face increased construction costs as a result of environmental conditions, and we may face obligations under agreements with governmental authorities with respect to the management of such environmental conditions. If releases from our sites migrate offsite, or if our site redevelopment activities cause or contribute to a migration of hazardous substances, neighbors or others could make claims against us, such as for property damage, personal injury, cost recovery, or natural resources damage. As of December 31, 2023, we had accrued environmental remediation liabilities of approximately $76.6 million on our consolidated balance sheets in connection with certain of our in-process and future development projects. The accrued environmental remediation liabilities represent the costs we estimate we will incur when we commence development at various development acquisition sites. These estimates, which we developed with the assistance of third-party experts, consist primarily of the removal of contaminated soil, performing environmental closure activities, construction remedial systems, and other related costs since we are required to dispose of any existing contaminated soil, and sometimes perform other environmental closure or remedial activities, when we develop new office properties at these sites. It is possible that we could incur additional environmental remediation costs in connection with future development projects. However, potential additional environmental costs cannot be reasonably estimated at this time and certain changes in estimates could occur as the site conditions, final project timing, design elements, actual soil conditions and other aspects of the projects, which may depend upon municipal and other approvals beyond the control of the Company, are determined. Unknown or unremediated contamination or compliance with existing or new environmental or health and safety laws and regulations could require us to incur costs or liabilities that could be material. See "Item 1. Business -Environmental Regulations and Potential Liabilities" and Note 19 "Commitments and Contingencies" to our consolidated financial statements included in this report.

Our business may be adversely affected by global market, economic and geopolitical conditions, including general global economic and political uncertainty and dislocations in the credit markets. If these conditions become more volatile or worsen, our business, results of operations, liquidity and financial condition and those of our tenants may be adversely affected as a result of the following consequences, among others: - the financial condition of our tenants, many of which are technology; life science and healthcare; finance, insurance and real estate; media and professional business and other service firms, may be adversely affected, which may result in tenant defaults under leases due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failures or for other reasons;- significant job losses in the technology; life science and healthcare; finance, insurance and real estate; media and professional business and other service firm industries may occur, which may decrease demand for our office space, causing market rental rates and property values to be negatively impacted;- our ability to obtain financing on terms and conditions that we find acceptable, or at all, may be limited, which could reduce our ability to pursue acquisition and development opportunities and refinance existing debt, reduce our returns from our acquisition and development activities and increase our future interest expense;- reduced values of our properties may limit our ability to dispose of assets at attractive prices or to obtain debt financing secured by our properties and may reduce the availability of unsecured loans; and - one or more lenders under the Operating Partnership's unsecured revolving credit facility could refuse to fund their financing commitment to us or could fail and we may not be able to replace the financing commitment of any such lenders on favorable terms, or at all.

Climate change could trigger extreme weather and changes in precipitation, temperature, and air quality, all of which may result in physical damage to, or a decrease in demand for, our properties located in the areas affected by these conditions. Should the impact of climate change be severe or occur for lengthy periods of time, our financial condition or results of operations would be adversely affected. Recognizing the importance of climate change and reducing our greenhouse gas impact on the environment, as part of our sustainability strategies, we have achieved carbon neutral operations since 2020 per the commitment we made in 2018 and we expect to achieve this goal again for the fourth consecutive year in 2023. This means that the entirety of our scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, and scope 3 emissions from downstream leased assets are now offset through a combination of energy efficiency measures and both onsite and offsite renewables. Scope 1 emissions represent those produced by onsite natural gas consumption procured by us, and Scope 2 emissions represent those produced by onsite electricity consumption procured by us. Our own efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas impact on the environment and/or comply with changes in federal and state laws and regulations on climate change could result in significant capital expenditures to improve the energy efficiency of our existing properties or properties we may acquire. Changes to such laws and regulations could also result in increased operating costs at our properties (for example, through increased utility costs). Moreover, if we are unable to maintain carbon neutral operations or comply with laws and regulations on climate change, our reputation among our tenants and investors may be damaged and we may incur fines and/or penalties. Our properties are located in West Coast markets of the United States and in Austin, Texas. To the extent that climate change impacts changes in weather patterns, our markets could experience increases in extreme weather and rising sea levels. For example, many of our assets are in zones that have been impacted by drought and, as such, face the risk of increased water costs and potential fines and/or penalties for high consumption.  We endeavor to understand these risks through the use of climate change modeling analysis. We mitigate risks uncovered through this analysis through, for example, comprehensive, proactive water reduction efforts throughout our portfolio, including domestic fixture upgrades, cooling tower optimizations, a comprehensive leak detection program and irrigation systems retrofits. We also incorporate green lease language into 100% of our new leases, and the majority of our leases also include a cost recovery clause for resource-efficiency related capital expenditures, which aim to align our and our tenant's interests on energy, water and waste efficiency.  In addition, we are building our current development projects to LEED specifications, and all of our office and life science new development projects are now designed to achieve LEED certification, either LEED Platinum or Gold.  However, there can be no assurances that we will successfully mitigate the risk of increased water costs and potential fines and/or penalties for high consumption or that we will be able to fully recoup any capital expenditures we incur in connection with our green leases.  Moreover, there can be no assurance that our development projects will be able to achieve the anticipated LEED certifications or that any of our sustainability strategies will result in reduced operating costs, higher occupancy or higher rental rates or deter our existing tenants from relocating to properties owned by our competitors. Over time, these conditions could result in declining demand for space at our properties or in our inability to operate the buildings as currently intended or at all. Climate change may also have indirect effects on our business by increasing the cost of, or decreasing the availability of, property insurance on terms we find acceptable or at all, or by increasing the cost of energy or water. There can be no assurance that climate change will not have a material adverse effect on our properties, operations or business.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, we derived approximately 98.9% of our revenues from rental income. A tenant may experience a downturn in its business, which may weaken its financial condition and result in its failure to make timely rental payments or result in defaults under our leases. In the event of default by a tenant, we may experience delays in enforcing our rights as landlord and may incur substantial costs in protecting our investment. The bankruptcy or insolvency of a major tenant also may adversely affect the income produced by our properties. If any tenant becomes a debtor in a case under federal bankruptcy law, we cannot evict the tenant solely because of the bankruptcy. In addition, the bankruptcy court might permit the tenant to reject and terminate its lease with us. Our claim against the tenant for unpaid and future rent could be subject to a statutory cap that might be substantially less than the remaining rent actually owed under the lease. Therefore, our claim for unpaid rent would likely not be paid in full. Any losses resulting from the bankruptcy of any of our existing tenants could adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, the quoted trading price of our securities, and our ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends and distributions to our security holders.