Stock-Based Compensation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

The Company has several types of stock-based compensation - stock options, restricted stock, and restricted stock units (“RSUs”) - which are described in note 13 of notes to consolidated financial statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. The expense related to a portion of the stock-based compensation awards is fixed. The expense related to other stock-based compensation awards fluctuates from period to period dependent, in part, on the Company's stock price and stock performance relative to its peers. The Company recorded stock-based compensation expense, net of forfeitures, of $2.3 million for each of the three months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013 and $7.2 million and $5.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The Company maintains the 2005 Restricted Stock Unit Plan (the “RSU Plan”), which is described in note 13 of notes to consolidated financial statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. Under the RSU Plan, the Company made restricted stock grants in 2014 of 137,591 shares to key employees, which vest ratably over a three-year period. In addition, the Company awarded two types of RSUs to key employees based on the following metrics: (1) Total Stockholder Return of the Company, as defined in the RSU Plan, as compared to the companies in the SNL US REIT Office index (“SNL RSUs”), and (2) the ratio of cumulative funds from operations per share to targeted cumulative funds from operations per share (“FFO RSUs”) as defined in the RSU Plan. The performance period for both awards is January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2016, and the targeted units awarded of SNL RSUs and FFO RSUs is 108,751 and 56,405, respectively. The ultimate payout of these awards can range from 0% to 200% of the targeted number of units depending on the achievement of the market and performance metrics described above. Both of these RSUs cliff vest on January 30, 2017 and are dependent upon the attainment of required service, market and performance criteria. The number of RSUs vesting will be determined at that date, and the payout per unit will be equal to the average closing price on each trading day during the 30-day period ending on December 31, 2016. The SNL RSUs are valued using a quarterly Monte Carlo valuation and are expensed over the vesting period. The FFO RSUs are expensed over the vesting period using the fair market value of the Company's stock at the reporting date multiplied by the anticipated number of units to be paid based on the current estimate of what the ratio is expected to be upon vesting.