Performance Incentive Plan

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Performance Incentive Plan [Abstract]

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

Performance Incentive Plan:

In June 2007, NNN filed a registration statement on Form S-8 with the Commission which permits the issuance of up to 5,900,000 shares of common stock pursuant to NNN’s 2007 Performance Incentive Plan (the “2007 Plan”). The 2007 Plan replaced NNN’s previous Performance Incentive Plan. The 2007 Plan allows NNN to award or grant to key employees, directors and persons performing consulting or advisory services for NNN or its affiliates, stock options, stock awards, stock appreciation rights, Phantom Stock Awards, Performance Awards and Leveraged Stock Purchase Awards, each as defined in the 2007 Plan.

The following summarizes NNN’s stock-option compensation activity for each of the years ended December 31:

	Number of Shares
	2011		2010		2009
Outstanding, January 1	7,500		12,154		77,004
Options granted	—		—		—
Options exercised	(2,500	)	(4,654	)	(51,500	)
Options surrendered	—		—		(13,350	)
Outstanding, December 31	5,000		7,500		12,154
Exercisable, December 31	5,000		7,500		12,154

The following represents the weighted average option exercise price information for each of the years ended December 31:

	2011		2010		2009
Outstanding, January 1	$	14.11	$	13.72	$	14.00
Granted during the year	—		—		—
Exercised during the year	13.20		13.08		13.72
Outstanding, December 31	14.57		14.11		13.72
Exercisable, December 31	14.57		14.11		13.72

The following summarizes the outstanding options and the exercisable options at December 31, 2011:

	Total
Outstanding options:
Number of shares	5,000
Weighted-average exercise price	$	14.57
Weighted-average remaining contractual life in years	1.1
Exercisable options:
Number of shares	5,000
Weighted-average exercise price	$	14.57

One-third of the option grant to each individual becomes exercisable at the end of each of the first three years of service following the date of the grant and the options’ maximum term is 10 years. At December 31, 2011, the intrinsic value of options outstanding was $59,000. All options outstanding at December 31, 2011, were exercisable. During the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, NNN received proceeds totaling $33,000, $61,000, and $707,000, respectively, in connection with the exercise of options. NNN issued new common stock to satisfy share option exercises. The total intrinsic value of options exercised during the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, was $24,000, $43,000, and $240,000, respectively.

Pursuant to the 2007 Plan, NNN has granted and issued shares of restricted stock to certain officers, directors and key associates of NNN. The following summarizes the restricted stock activity for the year ended December 31, 2011:

	Number of Shares		Weighted Average Share Price
Non-vested restricted shares, January 1	902,537		$	18.52
Restricted shares granted	141,351		24.45
Restricted shares vested	(135,396	)	20.24
Restricted shares forfeited	(5,215	)	20.96
Restricted shares repurchased	(2,704	)	26.50
Non-vested restricted shares, December 31	900,573		$	19.18

During the year ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, a total of 5,215 and 15,310, respectively, of restricted shares were forfeited. No shares were forfeited in 2009.

Compensation expense for the restricted stock which is not contingent upon NNN’s performance goals is determined based upon the fair value at the date of grant and is recognized as the greater of the amount amortized over a straight lined basis or the amount vested over the vesting periods. Vesting periods for officers and key associates of NNN range from three to seven years and generally vest yearly on a straight line basis.

During the year ended December 31, 2010, NNN granted 91,000 performance based shares subject to its earnings based growth after a three year period relative to its peers. The shares were granted to certain executive officers and had weighted average grant price of $23.12 per share. Once the performance criteria are met and the actual number of shares earned is determined, the shares vest immediately. NNN considers the likelihood of meeting the performance criteria based upon management’s estimates and analysis of future earnings based growth relative to its peers from which it determines the amounts to be recognized. Compensation expense is recognized over the requisite service period.

The following summarizes other grants made during the year ended December 31, 2011, pursuant to the 2007 Plan.

	Shares	Weighted Average   Share Price
Other share grants under the 2007 Plan:
Directors’ fees	9,632	$	25.91
Deferred Directors’ fees	26,312	25.86
	35,944	$	25.87
Shares available under the 2007 Plan for grant, end of period	4,690,814

The total compensation cost for share-based payments for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, totaled $6,390,000, $5,310,000, and $4,172,000, respectively, of such compensation expense. At December 31, 2011, NNN had $8,071,000 of unrecognized compensation cost related to non-vested share-based compensation arrangements under the 2007 Plan. This cost is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of 2.2 years. In addition, NNN recognized performance based long term incentive cash compensation of $1,702,000 and $446,000 for the years ended December 31, 2011 and 2010, respectively.