Maguire posts disappointing data

Maguire Properties Inc., downtown Los Angeles’ biggest office landlord, reported Tuesday slightly lower-than-expected funds from operations, a result of dwindling occupancy, one analyst said.

The Los Angeles-based real estate investment trust and owner of marquee properties including the 72-story U.S. Bank Tower said funds from operations in the quarter that ended March 31 was $17.7 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $23.6 million, or 51 cents, in the same period last year.

“The results are mildly disappointing,” said Craig Silvers, an analyst at Bricks & Mortar Capital in Los Angeles. “They’ve lost some big tenants over the last several quarters. They’ve refilled some of that but not all of it, and the leases they have signed, many of them have been signed at rates lower than before.”

Funds from operations measures a real estate investment trust’s cash performance and is considered a better measure of a REIT than earnings.

Revenue in the first quarter fell slightly to $106.6 million from $109.3 million a year earlier.

Maguire last month completed a $2.9-billion acquisition of 24 properties from New York investment firm Blackstone Group