Newly Issued Accounting Pronouncements

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Abstract]

Adopted

In February 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued ASU No. 2016-02, "Leases." This ASU was further updated by ASU No. 2018-01, "Land Easement Practical Expedient for Transition for Topic 842," ASU No. 2018-10, "Codification Improvements to Topic 842," ASU No. 2018-11, "Targeted Improvements for Topic 842," ASU No. 2018-20, "Narrow-Scope Improvements for Lessors" and ASU No. 2019-01, "Codification Improvements to Topic 842." These ASUs set out the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both lessees and lessors. The ASUs require lessees to adopt a right-of-use asset approach that will bring substantially all leases onto the balance sheet, with the exception of short-term leases. The subsequent accounting for this right-of-use asset will be based on a dual-model approach, under which the lease will be classified as either a finance or an operating lease. The lessor accounting model under these ASUs is similar to current guidance, but certain underlying principles in the lessor model have been aligned with the new revenue recognition standard. A practical expedient was added for lessors to elect, by class of underlying assets, to account for lease and nonlease components as a single lease component if certain criteria are met. The provisions of these ASUs were effective for us as of January 1, 2019. We adopted this guidance as of January 1, 2019 and applied it on a modified retrospective approach.

Upon adoption, we applied the following practical expedients:


•	The transition method in which the application date of January 1, 2019 is the beginning of the reporting period that we first applied the new guidance.


•	The practical expedient package which allows an entity not to reassess (1) whether any expired or existing contracts are or contain leases; (2) the lease classification for expired or existing leases; and (3) initial direct costs for any existing leases.


•	The practical expedient which allows an entity not to reassess whether any existing or expired land easements that were not previously accounted for as a lease or if the contract contains a lease.


•	As an accounting policy election, a lessor may choose not to separate the nonlease components, by class of underlying assets, from the lease components and instead account for both types of components as a single component under certain conditions.


•	As an accounting policy election, a lessee may choose not to separate the nonlease components, by class of underlying assets, from the lease components and instead account for both types of components as a single component.


•	As an accounting policy election, a lessee may choose by class of the underlying asset, not to apply the recognition requirements to short-term leases.

The adoption resulted in the following changes as of January 1, 2019:


•	From the Lessor Perspective:

◦

Our existing leases will continue to be classified as operating leases, however, leases entered into or modified after January 1, 2019 may be classified as either operating or sales-type leases, based on specific classification criteria. We believe the majority of our leases will continue to be classified as operating leases, and all operating leases will continue to have a similar pattern of recognition as under current GAAP.

◦

Capitalization of leasing costs has been limited under the new ASU which no longer allows indirect costs to be capitalized. Therefore, indirect, internally-generated leasing and legal costs are no longer capitalized and are recorded in General and administrative expenses in our Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations in the period of adoption prospectively. We continue to capitalize direct costs as defined within the ASU.

◦

We are entitled to receive tenant reimbursements for operating expenses for common area maintenance (“CAM”). These ASUs have defined CAM reimbursement revenue as a nonlease component, which would need to be accounted for in accordance with Topic 606. However, we have applied the practical expedient for all of our real estate related leases, to account for the lease and nonlease components as a single, combined operating lease component as long as the nonlease component is not the predominate component of the combined components within a contract.

◦

We previously accounted for real estate taxes that are paid directly by the tenant on a gross basis in our consolidated financial statements. These ASUs have indicated that a lessor should exclude from variable payments, lessor costs paid by a lessee directly to a third party. Therefore, we have excluded any costs paid directly by the tenant from our revenues and expenses and will only include as variable payments those which are reimbursed to us by our tenants. Real estate taxes paid directly by our tenants was $1.1 million and $3.3 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively.


•	From the Lessee Perspective:


◦	On January 1, 2019, we were the lessee under ground lease agreements for land underneath all or a portion of 12 centers and under four administrative office leases that we accounted for as operating leases. Also, we had one finance lease in which we were the lessee of two centers with a $21.9 million lease obligation.

We recognized right-of-use assets for our operating leases in Other Assets, along with corresponding lease liabilities in Other Liabilities on January 1, 2019 in the amounts of $44.2 million and $42.9 million, respectively, in the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. The difference between the right-of-use assets and the lease liabilities is primarily associated with intangibles related to ground leases. For these existing operating leases, we continue to recognize a single lease expense for both our ground and office leases, currently included in Operating expenses and General and administrative expenses, respectively, in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations.


◦	We continue to recognize our finance lease asset balance in Property and our finance lease liability in Debt in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. The finance lease charges a portion of the payment to both asset amortization and interest expense.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-07, "Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting." This ASU amends prior employee share-based payment guidance to include nonemployee share-based payment transactions for acquiring services or property. This ASU now aligns the determination of the measurement date, the accounting for performance conditions, and the accounting for share-based payments after vesting in addition to other items. The provisions of ASU No. 2018-07 were effective for us as of January 1, 2019 using a modified transition method upon adoption. The adoption of this ASU did not have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

Not Yet Adopted

In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, "Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments." This ASU was further updated by ASU No. 2018-19, "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses," ASU No. 2019-04, "Codification Improvements to Topic 326, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses" and ASU No. 2019-05, "Targeted Transition Relief." These ASUs amend prior guidance on the impairment of financial instruments, and adds an impairment model that is based on expected losses rather than incurred losses with the recognition of an allowance based on an estimate of expected credit losses. The provisions of ASU No. 2016-13, as amended in subsequently issued amendments, are effective for us as of January 1, 2020.

We are in the process of evaluating the impact that the adoption of ASU 2016-13, as amended, will have on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. In identifying all of our financial instruments covered under this guidance, the majority of our instruments result from operating leasing transactions, which are not within the scope of the new standard and are to remain governed by the recently issued leasing guidance and other previously issued guidance. We do not believe the adoption of this standard will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, "Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement." This ASU amends and removes several disclosure requirements including the valuation processes for Level 3 fair value measurements. The ASU also modifies some disclosure requirements and requires additional disclosures for changes in unrealized gains and losses included in other comprehensive income for recurring Level 3 fair value measurements and requires the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements. The provisions of ASU No. 2018-13 are effective for us as of January 1, 2020 using a prospective transition method for amendments effecting changes in unrealized gains and losses, significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements and narrative description on uncertainty of measurements. The remaining provisions of the ASU are to be applied retrospectively, and early adoption is permitted. Although we are still assessing the impact of this ASU's adoption, we do not believe this ASU will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-14, "Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Defined Benefit Plans." This ASU clarifies current disclosures and removes several disclosures requirements including accumulated other comprehensive income expected to be recognized over the next fiscal year and amount and timing of plan assets expected to be returned to the employer. The ASU also requires additional disclosures for the weighted-average interest crediting rates for cash balance plans and explanations for significant gains and losses related to changes in the benefit plan obligation. The provisions of ASU No. 2018-14 are effective for us as of December 31, 2020 using a retrospective basis for all periods presented, and early adoption is permitted. Although we are still assessing the impact of this ASU's adoption, we do not believe this ASU will have a material impact to our consolidated financial statements.