Note 15 - Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Notes to Financial Statements

Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]

15. Related Party Transactions

The Company has a sublease agreement with CVentures, Inc. Larry A. Mizel, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is the President of CVentures, Inc. The sublease is for office space that CVentures, Inc. has continuously leased from the Company as disclosed in the Form

8

-K filed

July 27, 2005

and the Form

8

-K filed

March 28, 2006.

The sublease term commenced

November 1, 2016

and will continue through

October 31, 2021,

with an option to extend to

October 31, 2026.

The sublease agreement is for approximately

5,437

rentable square feet at a base rent that increases over the initial term from

$26.50

to

$28.68

per rentable square foot per year, and increasing over the extension term from

$29.26

to

$31.67

per rentable square foot per year. The sublease rent is an allocation of the rent under the master lease agreement based on the sublease square footage.

We previously entered into a transaction (the “Transaction”) with The Villages at Castle Rock Metropolitan District

No.

 

6

(the “District”). The District is a quasi-municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State of Colorado. The Board of Directors of the District currently is comprised of employees of the Company. The District was formed to provide funding for certain land development costs associated with the construction of homes in our Cobblestone subdivision. Pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, the District sold to the Company approximately

$22.5

million in Metro Bonds and a

$1.6

million Limited Tax General Obligation Subordinate Bond (the “Subordinate Bond”) in exchange for title to approximately

$28.6

million in land development improvements to the District. In addition, over the prior years, the Company has provided certain advances to the District to help fund the infrastructure of the District (the “Developer Advances”). As discussed in Note

6,

we sold the Metro Bonds during the

2017

third

quarter. While the Company still legally has a receivable from the District related to the Subordinate Bond and Developer Advances, these have

no

value for US GAAP or income tax purposes.

During the years ended

December 31, 2018,

2017

and

2016,

we received payments from the Metro District in the amount of

$0,

$0

and

$1.2

million, respectively, and recorded

$0,

$1.4

million,

$1.7

million, respectively, in interest income. The interest income amounts are included in interest and other income in the homebuilding section of our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

We contributed

$1.0

million,

$3.0

million,

$1.0

million in cash to the MDC/Richmond American Homes Foundation (the “Foundation”) for each of the years ended

December 31, 2018,

2017,

and

2016,

respectively. The Foundation is a Delaware non-profit corporation that was incorporated on

September 

30,

1999.

The Foundation is a non-profit organization operated exclusively for charitable, educational and other purposes beneficial to social welfare within the meaning of Section 

501

(c)(

3

) of the Internal Revenue Code. The following Directors and/or officers of the Company served as directors of the Foundation at

December 31, 2018,

all of whom serve without compensation.

Name	MDC Title
Larry A. Mizel	Chairman and CEO
David D. Mandarich	President and COO

Three other individuals, who are independent of the Company, also serve as directors of the Foundation. All directors of the Foundation serve without compensation.