The company was willing to accommodate as many requests as possible and will continue to work with troubled tenants, said president and CEO Joey Agree.  But many of the requests are coming from tenants that have the ability to pay rent, he added. “Retailers that are opportunistic and choose not to pay rent will be met with full resistance and full recourse,” he said.

While the net-lease sector is heavily exposed to tenants that are bearing the economic brunt of COVID-19 — retail, restaurant and experience-based operators like gyms and movie theaters — most of Agree Realty’s tenants fall under the “essential” category of retailers that have continued to operate during the lockdown. Around 81 percent of stores within the company’s portfolio are open; 26 percent of those are operating on a limited basis.

Agree Realty plans to take advantage of the market and will up its acquisitions goal for the year from $700 million to $800 million, Agree said. During the first quarter, the REIT bought 51 assets, including properties net-leased to Walmart, for around $227.7 million.

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Meanwhile, Spirit Realty Capital — which owns 1,752 single-tenant, net-leased properties — had lost 0.6 percent of its rent for the first quarter and has received rent-relief requests from 126 tenants. “Sixty percent of April rent has been collected so far, and we expect it to increase to a range of 65 percent to 70 percent by the end of the month,” Jackson Hsieh, president and CEO, said on an earnings call.

Of the 23 rent-deferral agreements the company’s investment committee has approved, Spirit already has executed two such deals representing $3.75 million in monthly rent.

The company began reaching out to its casual-dining tenants, gyms, entertainment tenants and movie theaters in early March, he said. “The types of discussions and negotiations have depended on the particulars for that specific tenant, such as their financial performance, access to liquidity, their industry, the lease structure and their geographic location, namely the extent to which a government action has forced their closure.”

Sixty-two percent of Spirit’s properties are fully open and operating. About 10 percent are partially open — providing either curbside service, takeout or pickup — and 28 percent are closed.