12. OTHER EXPENSES

Our other expenses consist of the management and incentive fees we pay to our Manager and our general and administrative expenses.

Management and Incentive Fees

Pursuant to our Management Agreement, our Manager earns a base management fee in an amount equal to 1.50% per annum multiplied by our outstanding equity balance, as defined in the Management Agreement. In addition, our Manager is entitled to an incentive fee in an amount equal to the product of (i) 20% and (ii) the excess of (a) our Core Earnings (as defined in our Management Agreement) for the previous 12-month period over (b) an amount equal to 7.00% per annum multiplied by our outstanding Equity, provided that our Core Earnings over the prior three-year period is greater than zero. Core Earnings, as defined in our Management Agreement, is generally equal to our net income (loss) prepared in accordance with GAAP, excluding (i) certain non-cash items (ii) the net income (loss) related to our legacy portfolio and (iii) incentive management fees.

During the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we incurred $38.6 million, $38.0 million, and $32.2 million, respectively, of management fees payable to our Manager. In addition, during the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we incurred $16.2 million, $18.0 million, and $10.7 million, respectively, of incentive fees payable to our Manager.

As of December 31, 2017 and 2016, we had accrued management and incentive fees payable to our Manager of $14.3 million and $12.8 million, respectively.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses consisted of the following ($ in thousands):


	Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016		2015
Professional services⁽¹⁾	$	3,812	$	3,311	$	3,156
Operating and other costs⁽¹⁾		1,903		2,147		2,709
GE transaction costs		—		—		9,623

Subtotal		5,715		5,458		15,488
Non-cash and CT Legacy Portfolio compensation expenses
Management incentive awards plan - CTOPI⁽²⁾		—		1,568		5,370
Management incentive awards plan - CT Legacy Partners⁽³⁾		—		1,094		2,177
Restricted class A common stock earned		23,593		19,052		12,966
Director stock-based compensation		438		375		375

Subtotal		24,031		22,089		20,888

Total BXMT expenses		29,746		27,547		36,376
Other expenses		176		169		333

Total general and administrative expenses	$	29,922	$	27,716	$	36,709

(1)

During the year ended December 31, 2017, we recognized an aggregate $232,000 of expenses related to our Multifamily Joint Venture.

(2)

Represents the portion of CTOPI promote revenue recorded under compensation awards. See Note 4 for further discussion.

(3)

Represents the amounts recorded under the CT Legacy Partners management incentive awards during the period. See below for discussion of the CT Legacy Partners management incentive awards plan.

CT Legacy Partners Management Incentive Awards Plan

In conjunction with our March 2011 restructuring, we created an employee pool for up to 6.75% of the distributions paid to the common equity holders of our subsidiary, CT Legacy Partners (subject to certain caps and priority distributions). During the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, we recognized $1.1 million and $2.2 million, respectively, of expenses under the CT Legacy Partners incentive plan. Our investment in CT Legacy Partners was substantially realized as of December 31, 2016.