Our dedicated team has done a remarkable job closing on the merger ahead of schedule and implementing an integration plan that included onboarding and training over 100 new employees, significant systems integration and property management, all while staying focused on executing our strategy.
Our pro-rata U.S. occupancy is up 20 basis points to 94.1 percent, while anchor occupancy remained flat at 96.9 percent.
And small shop occupancy rose 180 basis points over prior quarter to 87.3 percent, an increase of 60 basis points year-over-year.
New lease spreads were a positive 5 percent, with 141 new leases signed, totaling 605,000 square feet.
Spreads for renewals and options finished at positive 4.9 percent.
We closed the quarter with 270 renewals and options totaling 1.4 million square feet, exceeding the five-year average number of renewals and options reported during the third quarter by 40 percent and exceeded average GLA renewed by 38 percent.
Combined spreads for third quarter 2021 were positive 4.9 percent and with total 3Q, '21 deal volume reaching 411 deals totaling 2,050,321 square feet.
411 leases executed represents the most transactions reported during a quarter since the first quarter of 2018.
Our same-site NOI growth was positive 12.1 percent, including a 30 basis point contribution from redevelopments.
With the continued strength in leasing, we have maintained our 300 basis point spread of leased versus economic occupancy similar to last quarter.
As of September 30, 2021, we had over 400 signed leases representing $44.8 million of pro-rata annualized base rents awaiting rent commencement.
Subsequent to quarter end, we acquired the remaining 70 percent interest in a portfolio of six Publix-anchored Sunbelt-region shopping centers from our existing joint venture partner, Jamestown, for a gross purchase price of $425.8 million.
The Publix-anchored assets represent over 1.2 million square feet of gross leasable area in infill markets throughout the Southeast, with five located in the top-performing South Florida market and one in the high-growth Atlanta market.
Subsequently, Kimco entered into a joint venture partnership with Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, under which we will both own 50 percent and Kimco will continue to manage the portfolio.
Also post quarter end and in line with our value creation strategy, we were successful in buying out our partner's 85 percent interest in two grocery-anchored centers in California.
The gross purchase price of the two assets was $134 million.
On that front, we completed a $21.5 million mezzanine financing on a strong performing center in San Antonio called Alamo Ranch.
Two single tenant boxes and an undeveloped parcel for a total of $23.5 million at a flat 5 percent cap.
As you might expect, the completion of the $5.9 billion Weingarten merger, which closed in early August was a key contributor.
NAREIT FFO was $173.7 million or $0.32 per diluted share and includes $47 million or $0.08 per diluted share of merger-related expenses.
This compares to the third quarter 2020 NAREIT FFO of $106.7 million or $0.25 per diluted share, which includes aggregate charges of $16.1 million or $0.04 per diluted share related to severance for our voluntary early retirement program and early redemption of $485 million of unsecured bonds.
The increase in FFO was primarily driven by higher NOI of $98.7 million, of which the Weingarten merger contributed $62.6 million.
In addition, NOI benefited from lower credit loss of $30.7 million and higher straight-line rent of $14.5 million, including $2 million from the Weingarten portfolio.
Specifically, during the third quarter, we collected approximately 98 percent of base rents.
We also collected 80 percent of rents due from cash basis tenants, up from 77 percent last quarter.
Furthermore, collections of prior period amounts from cash basis tenants totaled $8 million during the third quarter of 2021.
Our cash basis tenants comprise 9.1 percent of pro-rata annualized base rents.
If we excluded the addition of the Weingarten cash basis tenants, this amount would have been 7.3 percent, which compares favorably to the 8.8 percent level reported last quarter.
In connection with the preliminary purchase price allocation for the Weingarten transaction, the debt we assumed was recorded at a fair value, which was $107 million higher than the face amount.
This resulted in $6.2 million of fair market value amortization for the third quarter, which reduces interest expense and is also part of the FFO improvement.
During the third quarter, FFO also included approximately $6 million or $0.01 per diluted share related to one-time contributions from several joint ventures and higher lease termination fees.
We issued a new $500 million unsecured bond at a coupon of 2.25 percent, the lowest coupon for 10-year unsecured financing in the company's history.
We also opportunistically used our ATM equity program to issue 3.5 million shares of common stock, raising almost $77 million in net proceeds to fund some of the investment activity Ross just mentioned.
This is in addition to the 179.9 million shares of common stock issued in connection with the Weingarten merger valued at $3.7 billion.
We also assumed $1.8 billion of debt, including the fair value adjustment as part of the Weingarten merger.
Total common shares outstanding at quarter-end was 616.4 million, and we expect this should be a good guide for the fourth quarter.
On a pro forma basis, including a full quarter of EBITDA from Weingarten, look through net debt-to-EBITDA would be 6.3 times, representing the lowest level since we began tracking this metric.
We ended the third quarter with over $450 million of cash and full availability on our $2 billion revolving credit facility.
In addition, during the third quarter, the value of our Albertsons marketable security investment climbed to more than $1.2 billion after increasing by $457 million, which is included in net income but not FFO for the quarter.
As our overall business continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic and as we begin to benefit from the successful merger and integration of the Weingarten portfolio, we are raising our full-year 2021 NAREIT FFO per share guidance range to $1.36 to $1.37, which includes $0.10 per diluted share of merger-related costs and the inclusion of the Weingarten portfolio for five months.
This compares to previous NAREIT FFO per share guidance of $1.29 to $1.33, which did not include any impact from the Weingarten merger except $0.01 related to merger costs.
As I touched upon, our third quarter FFO includes a total of $0.03 per share related to items that were more onetime in nature and which were not budgeted for as recurring items.
This includes $0.02 per diluted share from improvements in credit loss and another $0.01 from contributions from joint ventures and lease termination fees.

Summary:
Our same-site NOI growth was positive 12.1 percent, including a 30 basis point contribution from redevelopments.
NAREIT FFO was $173.7 million or $0.32 per diluted share and includes $47 million or $0.08 per diluted share of merger-related expenses.
As our overall business continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic and as we begin to benefit from the successful merger and integration of the Weingarten portfolio, we are raising our full-year 2021 NAREIT FFO per share guidance range to $1.36 to $1.37, which includes $0.10 per diluted share of merger-related costs and the inclusion of the Weingarten portfolio for five months.