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SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

American Assets Trust, Inc. (which may be referred to in these financial statements as the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is a Maryland corporation formed on July 16, 2010 that did not have any operating activity until the consummation of our initial public offering on January 19, 2011. The Company is the sole general partner of American Assets Trust, L.P., a Maryland limited partnership formed on July 16, 2010 (the “Operating Partnership”). The Company’s operations are carried on through our Operating Partnership and its subsidiaries, including our taxable real estate investment trust ("REIT") subsidiary ("TRS"). Since the formation of our Operating Partnership, the Company has controlled our Operating Partnership as its general partner and has consolidated its assets, liabilities and results of operations.

We are a full service, vertically integrated, and self-administered REIT with approximately 199 employees providing substantial in-house expertise in asset management, property management, property development, leasing, tenant improvement construction, acquisitions, repositioning, redevelopment and financing.

As of June 30, 2021, we owned or had a controlling interest in 28 office, retail, multifamily and mixed-use operating properties, the operations of which we consolidate. Additionally, as of June 30, 2021, we owned land at three of our properties that we classify as held for development and/or construction in progress. A summary of the properties owned by us is as follows:


Retail
Carmel Country Plaza	Gateway Marketplace	Alamo Quarry Market
Carmel Mountain Plaza	Del Monte Center	Hassalo on Eighth - Retail
South Bay Marketplace	Geary Marketplace
Lomas Santa Fe Plaza	The Shops at Kalakaua
Solana Beach Towne Centre	Waikele Center

Office
La Jolla Commons	One Beach Street
Torrey Reserve Campus	First & Main
Torrey Point	Lloyd Portfolio
Solana Crossing	City Center Bellevue
The Landmark at One Market

Multifamily
Loma Palisades	Hassalo on Eighth - Residential
Imperial Beach Gardens
Mariner's Point
Santa Fe Park RV Resort
Pacific Ridge Apartments

Mixed-Use
Waikiki Beach Walk Retail and Embassy Suites™ Hotel

Held for Development and/or Construction in Progress
La Jolla Commons – Land
Solana Crossing – Land
Lloyd Portfolio – Construction in Progress

Basis of Presentation

Our consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, our Operating Partnership and our subsidiaries. The equity interests of other investors in our Operating Partnership are reflected as noncontrolling interests.

The Company follows the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") guidance for determining whether an entity is a variable interest entity (“VIE”) and requires the performance of a qualitative rather than a quantitative analysis to determine the primary beneficiary of a VIE. Under this guidance, an entity would be required to consolidate a VIE if it has (i) the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance and (ii) the obligation to absorb losses of the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the VIE that could be significant to the VIE. American Assets Trust, Inc. has concluded that the Operating Partnership is a VIE, and because American Assets Trust, Inc. has both the power and the rights to control the Operating Partnership, American Assets Trust, Inc. is the primary beneficiary and is required to continue to consolidate the Operating Partnership. Substantially all of the assets and liabilities of the Company are related to the operating partnership VIE.

All intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements of the Company and the Operating Partnership have been prepared in accordance with the rules applicable to Form 10-Q and include all information and footnotes required for interim financial statement presentation, but do not include all disclosures required under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) for annual financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments, except as otherwise noted) considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes therein included in the Company's and Operating Partnership's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that in certain circumstances affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, and revenues and expenses. These estimates are prepared using our best judgment, after considering past, current and expected events and economic conditions. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Any reference to the number of properties, number of units, square footage, employee numbers or percentages of beneficial ownership of our shares are unaudited and outside the scope of our independent registered public accounting firm’s review of our financial statements in accordance with the standards of the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Significant Accounting Policies

Significant Accounting PoliciesWe describe our significant accounting policies in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. There have been no changes to our significant accounting policies during the six months ended June 30, 2021.

Segment Information

Segment InformationSegment information is prepared on the same basis that our chief operating decision maker reviews information for operational decision-making purposes. We operate in four business segments: the acquisition, redevelopment, ownership and management of retail real estate, office real estate, multifamily real estate and mixed-use real estate. The products for our retail segment primarily include rental of retail space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental. The products for our office segment primarily include rental of office space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental. The products for our multifamily segment include rental of apartments and other tenant services. The products of our mixed-use segment include rental of retail space and other tenant services, including tenant reimbursements, parking and storage space rental and operation of a 369-room all-suite hotel.

Revenue Recognition, Leases

Revenue Recognition and Accounts Receivable

Our leases with tenants are classified as operating leases. Substantially all such leases contain fixed rent escalations which occur at specified times during the term of the lease. Base rents are recognized on a straight-line basis from when the tenant controls the space through the term of the related lease, net of valuation adjustments, based on management's assessment of credit, collection and other business risks.

We make estimates of the collectability of our current accounts receivable and straight-line rents receivable which require significant judgment by management. The collectability of receivables is affected by numerous different factors including current economic conditions, including the impact of tenant bankruptcies, the status of collectability of current cash rents receivable, tenants' recent and historical financial and operating results, changes in our tenants' credit ratings, communications between our operating personnel and tenants, the extent of security deposits and letters of credit held with respect to tenants, and the ability of the tenant to perform under the terms of their lease agreement. The provision for doubtful accounts at June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 was approximately $8.3 million and $10.0 million, respectively.

Rent Concessions – COVID-19

During the second quarter of 2021, we provided lease concessions to certain tenants, primarily within the retail segment, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of rent deferrals and abatements. These lease concessions generally included an increase in our rights as a lessor. We assess each lease concession and determine whether it represents a lease modifications under Accounting Standards Codification Topic 842, Leases ("ASC 842"). For the second quarter of 2021, we collected approximately $0.8 million or 94% of the deferred rent repayments due during the period.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Topics. The pronouncement requires companies to adopt a new approach to estimating credit losses on certain types of financial instruments, such as trade and other receivables and loans. The standard requires entities to estimate a lifetime expected credit loss for most financial instruments, including trade receivables. In November 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-19, Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses, which clarifies that receivables arising from operating leases are not within the scope of the pronouncement. We adopted the provisions of ASU No. 2016-13 effective January 1, 2020 and the adoption did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements as the majority of our receivables are derived from operating leases and are excluded from this standard.

In March 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-04, Reference Rate Reform (Topic 848), which provides companies with optional practical expedients to ease the accounting burden for contract modifications associated with transitioning away from LIBOR and other interbank offered rates that are expected to be discontinued as part of reference rate reform. For hedges, the guidance generally allows changes to the reference rate and other critical terms without having to de-designate the hedging relationship, as well as allows the shortcut method to continue to be applied. For contract modifications, changes in the reference rate or other critical terms will be treated as a continuation of the prior contract. This guidance can be applied immediately, however, is generally only available through December 31, 2022. We are still evaluating the impact of reference rate reform and whether we will apply any of these practical expedients.

Fair Value Measurement

A fair value measurement is based on the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability. The hierarchy for inputs used in measuring fair value is as follows:

1.Level 1 Inputs—quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities

2.Level 2 Inputs—observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets for identical assets and liabilities

3.Level 3 Inputs—unobservable inputs

The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued liabilities are reasonable estimates of fair value, using Level 1 inputs, because of the short-term nature of these instruments. In certain cases, the inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, for disclosure purposes, the level within which the fair value measurement is categorized is based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement.

- Definition

Disclosure of accounting policy for segment reporting.

+ References + Details