Leases (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

For leases in which the Company is the lessee (generally ground leases), on January 1, 2019, the Company recognized a right-of-use asset and a lease liability of approximately $151.8 million and $199.3 million, respectively. The lease liability was equal to the present value of the minimum lease payments in accordance with Topic ASC 840. In addition, the Company did not know the rate implicit in any of its ground leases that were classified as operating leases, and accordingly used the Company’s incremental borrowing rate (“IBR”) to determine the net present value of the minimum lease payments.

In order to determine the IBR, the Company utilized a market-based approach to estimate the incremental borrowing rate for each individual lease. The approach required significant judgment. Therefore, the Company utilized different data sets to estimate base IBRs via an analysis of the following weighted-components:


•	The interpolated rates from yields on outstanding U.S. Treasury issuances for up to 30 years and for years 31 and beyond, longer-term publicly traded educational institution debt issued by high credit quality educational institutions with maturity dates up to 2116,


•	Observable mortgage rates spread over U.S. Treasury issuances, and


•	Unlevered property yields and discount rates.

The Company then applied adjustments to account for considerations related to term and interpolated the IBR.

The Company has four non-cancelable ground lease obligations, which were classified as operating leases, with various initial term expiration dates through 2114. The Company recognizes ground rent expense on a straight-line basis over the term of the respective ground lease agreements. None of the amounts disclosed below for these ground leases contain variable payments, extension options or residual value guarantees. One of the ground leases does have an extension option. However, lease payments for this ground lease are based on fair market value and as such have not been included in the analysis below.

Lessor

ASU 2018-11 provides lessors a practical expedient to not separate nonlease components from the associated lease component if certain criteria stated above are met for each class of underlying assets. The guidance in Topic 842 defines “underlying asset” as “an asset that is the subject of a lease for which a right to use that asset has been conveyed to a lessee. The underlying asset could be a physically distinct portion of a single asset.” Based on the above guidance, the Company considers real estate assets as a class of underlying assets and will not be further delineating it into specific uses of the real estate asset as the risk profiles are similar in nature.

Lease components are elements of an arrangement that provide the customer with the right to use an identified asset. Nonlease components are distinct elements of a contract that are not related to securing the use of the leased asset and revenue is recognized in accordance with ASC 606. The Company considers common area maintenance (CAM) and service income associated with tenant work orders to be nonlease components because they represent delivery of a separate service but are not considered a cost of securing the identified asset. In the case of the Company’s business, the identified asset would be the leased real estate (office, retail or residential).

The Company assessed and concluded that the timing and pattern of transfer for nonlease components and the associated lease component are the same. The Company determined that the predominant component was the lease component and as such its leases will continue to qualify as operating leases and the Company has made a policy election to account for and present the lease component and the nonlease component as a single component in the revenue section of the Consolidated Statements of Operations labeled Lease. Prior to the adoption of Topic 842, nonlease components had been included within Recoveries from Tenants Revenue, Parking and Other Revenue and Development and Management Services Revenue on the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Operations.

In addition, under ASU 2016-02, lessors will only capitalize incremental direct leasing costs. As a result, starting January 1, 2019, the Company no longer capitalizes non-incremental legal costs and internal leasing wages. These costs are expensed as incurred. The expensing of these items is included within General and Administrative Expense on the Consolidated Statements of Operations.