Share Options and Awards

In April 2011, our Long-Term Incentive Plan for the issuance of options and share awards expired, and issued options of .1 million remain outstanding as of December 31, 2018.

Under our Amended and Restated 2010 Long-Term Incentive Plan (as amended) 4.0 million common shares are reserved for issuance, and options and share awards of 1.3 million are available for future grant at December 31, 2018. This plan expires in April 2028.

Compensation expense, net of forfeitures, associated with share options and restricted shares totaled $7.3 million in 2018, $8.6 million in 2017 and $8.5 million in 2016, of which $1.1 million in 2018, $1.7 million in 2017 and $1.9 million in 2016 was capitalized.

Options

The fair value of share options issued prior to 2012 was estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option pricing method based on the expected weighted average assumptions.

Following is a summary of the option activity for the three years ended December 31, 2018:



	Shares Under Option		Weighted Average Exercise Price
Outstanding, January 1, 2016	2,366,650		$	27.26
Forfeited or expired	(460,722	)	47.42
Exercised	(971,727	)	21.95
Outstanding, December 31, 2016	934,201		22.85
Forfeited or expired	(4,042	)	43.37
Exercised	(101,805	)	16.11
Outstanding, December 31, 2017	828,354		23.58
Forfeited or expired	(196,159	)	32.22
Exercised	(352,318	)	19.78
Outstanding, December 31, 2018	279,877		$	22.30

The total intrinsic value of options exercised was $3.6 million in 2018, $1.7 million in 2017 and $14.9 million in 2016. All share options were vested, and there was no unrecognized compensation cost related to share options.

The following table summarizes information about share options outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2018:



Range of Exercise Prices	Outstanding						Exercisable
Range of Exercise Prices	Number	Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Aggregate Intrinsic Value (000’s)		Number	Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Aggregate Intrinsic Value (000’s)
$11.85 - $17.78	35,372	0.2 years	$	11.85			35,372	0.2 years	$	11.85
$17.79 - $26.69	244,505	1.8 years	$	23.81			244,505	1.8 years	$	23.81
Total	279,877	1.6 years	$	22.30	$	702	279,877	1.6 years	$	22.30	$	702

Share Awards

The fair value of the market-based share awards was estimated on the date of grant using a Monte Carlo valuation model based on the following assumptions:



	Year Ended December 31, 2018
	Minimum		Maximum
Dividend yield	0.0	%	5.5	%
Expected volatility ⁽¹⁾	18.5	%	20.4	%
Expected life (in years)	N/A		3
Risk-free interest rate	1.8	%	2.4	%

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(1)	Includes the volatility of the FTSE NAREIT U.S. Shopping Center Index and Weingarten Realty Investors.

A summary of the status of unvested share awards for the year ended December 31, 2018 is as follows:



	Unvested Share Awards		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding, January 1, 2018	619,606		$	33.81
Granted:
Service-based awards	137,182		28.11
Market-based awards relative to FTSE NAREIT U.S. Shopping Center Index	60,909		29.69
Market-based awards relative to three-year absolute TSR	60,908		13.68
Trust manager awards	34,328		27.95
Vested	(228,698	)	33.58
Forfeited	(9,942	)	32.40
Outstanding, December 31, 2018	674,293		$	30.26

As of December 31, 2018 and 2017, there was approximately $1.8 million and $2.2 million, respectively, of total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested share awards, which is expected to be amortized over a weighted average of 1.7 years at both December 31, 2018 and 2017.