Building Improvement Program and Agreement to Extend Lease

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Building Improvement Program and Agreement to Extend Lease [Abstract]

Building Improvement Program and Agreement to Extend Lease

11. Building Improvement Program and Agreement to Extend Lease

In 1999, the Participants of Associates and the members in Lessee consented to a building improvement program (the “Program”) estimated to cost approximately $12,200,000. In 2004, the Participants and the Lessee approved an increase in the Program from $12,200,000 to approximately $31,400,000 under substantially the same conditions as had previously been approved. To induce the Lessee to approve the Program, Associates’ Participants authorized a grant to the Lessee, upon completion of the Program, of the right to further extensions of the Lease beyond 2103, based on the net present benefit to Associates of the improvements made. The Program was further increased in 2006 from $31,400,000 to up to $82,300,000, again on the basis that such increase would allow a further extension of the Lease based on the net present benefit to Associates of the improvements made. The Participants in Associates and the members in Lessee have approved increasing the financing from the total of $42,910,000 provided by the First and Second Mortgages to up to $63,900,000. As of December 31, 2011, Associates had incurred or accrued costs related to the Program of $44,605,623 and estimates that costs upon completion will be approximately $82,300,000. The balance of the costs of the Program will be financed primarily by the additional borrowings available under the $21,000,000 previously approved loan that closed on October 15, 2009 and Lessee’s operating cash flow.

The Lessee is financing the Program and billing Associates for the costs incurred. The Program (1) grants the ownership of the improvements to Associates and acknowledges its intention to finance them through an increase in the mortgage (Note 3), and (4) allows for the increased mortgage charges to be paid by Associates from an equivalent increase in the basic rent paid by the Lessee to Associates. Since any Secondary Overage Rent will be decreased by one-half of that amount, the net effect of the lease modification is to have Associates and the Lessee share the costs of the Program equally, assuming Secondary Overage Rent continues to be earned.