By Susan A. Baird
PBN Web Editor
EAST PROVIDENCE – Capital Properties Inc. (Amex: CPI) posted a profit of $1.38 million for the year ended Dec. 31, a 5.0-percent increase from the $1.32 million it reported for 2006. Basic income per common share rose to 42 cents in 2007 from the year-ago 40 cents.
Total revenue increased 15.7 percent to $6.69 million from $5.79 million in 2006, erasing the previous year’s 10.4-percent decline. (READ MORE)
Leasing-segment revenue grew 14.4 percent to $2.84 million. Besides increases in rental fees for properties under short-term lease, Capital Properties cited a revised lease agreement with Lamar Outdoor Advertising and a related change in accounting for that account, which resulted in a $187,000 reduction in revenue recognized for 2006; and $100,000 one-time payment received by the company last year to settle a dispute with a former tenant.
Meanwhile, revenue from the company’s petroleum-storage segment rose 16.5 percent to $3.71 million, extending the previous year’s 25-percent gain. The company cited income from a new 175,000-barrel tank that began renting in August 2006; an increase in real property taxes, which are reimbursed by the tenant under the terms of the lease; and the annual cost-of-living adjustment that took effect May 1.
Interest and other income also grew, rising 17.4 percent to $128,000.
The results include fourth-quarter expenses of $234,000 related to performance and retirement bonuses paid to Ronald P. Chrzanowski, former president and chief operating officer of Capital Properties, and Avery L. Noe, former president of the Capital Terminal Co. subsidiary, both of whom left at year’s end. “Ron had been part of the company and its predecessor company since 1973, and Avery since 1996,” Robert H. Eder, the company’s new president, who is also a director of the Providence and Worcester Railroad Co., wrote in a letter to shareholders. “We thank them both for their years of service and leadership.”
Fourth-quarter net income, after those one-time payments, shrank to $183,000, or 6 cents per common share – less than half the year-ago $373,000, or 11 cents per share – although total revenue increased 10.5 percent to $1.69 million from the year-ago $1.53 million.
“I am pleased to report that construction on our parcels in the Capital Center continues to move ahead despite the downturn in the economy,” Eder wrote.
“Parcel 2 has been subdivided into three sites,” he noted. “On 2A and B, Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. is completing the construction of two condominium towers containing 193 units, which are scheduled for occupancy in June …. The parking garage has been completed,” Meanwhile, on the northerly section, Parcel 2C, “Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has begun construction of its corporate headquarters … scheduled for completion in late 2009.
“On Parcel 6, Capital Cove LLC is constructing the first of two four-story apartment buildings” – with 96 units in the first and 156 in the second – that comprise “the first phase of a three-phase project” that also will include “the construction of a riverwalk from Park Row West to Smith Street,” Eder said.
In November, he added, the company “purchased a three-to-four-story 18,000-square-foot building … part of which was constructed in 1793,” that is contiguous with an undeveloped parcel next to Capital Center that the company has owned since the 1980s. “While seeking a developer for the entire parcel, the company is developing a plan for the restoration of the building.” The former industrial structure, now home to 3 Steeple Street restaurant, is listed on the State Registry of Historic Buildings.
Capital Properties’ annual shareholders meeting is slated for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 29, at the Hinkley, Allen and Snyder LLP’s office at 1500 Fleet Center, Providence, the company said.
Capital Properties Inc. (Amex: CPI) is a $5.8 million company based in East Providence. It and its subsidiaries operate in two segments: leasing, both of commercial real estate in downtown Providence and of outdoor advertising sites along highways in Rhode Island and Massachusetts; and petroleum storage, at the Capital facility in East Providence.
