Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Discontinued Operations and Disposal Groups [Abstract]

Discontinued Operation

DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS

In 2012, we sold the Kings Plaza Regional Shopping Center (“Kings Plaza”) and paid real property transfer taxes to New York City in connection with the sale. In 2015, the New York City Department of Finance (“NYC DOF”) issued a Notice of Determination to us assessing an additional New York City real property transfer tax amount, including interest, which we are contesting.

In 2014, in a case with similar facts, the NYC DOF issued a Notice of Determination to a Vornado joint venture assessing an additional New York City real property transfer tax amount, including interest. In January 2017, a New York City administrative law judge made a determination upholding the Vornado joint venture’s position that such additional real property transfer taxes were not due. On February 16, 2018, the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) overturned the January 2017 determination. The Vornado joint venture is appealing the Tribunal’s decision to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York which is scheduled to be heard in the first half of 2019.

In 2018, based on the precedent of the Tribunal’s decision, we recorded an expense for the potential additional real property transfer taxes of $23,797,000 ($15,874,000 of real property transfer tax and $7,923,000 of interest) and paid this amount in order to stop the interest from accruing.  Our case is on hold pending the outcome of the Vornado joint venture’s appeal.

As the results related to Kings Plaza were previously classified as discontinued operations, we have classified the expense as “loss from discontinued operations” on our consolidated statement of income for the year ended December 31, 2018 in accordance with the provisions of ASC Topic 360, Property, Plant and Equipment.