Non-Controlling Interests, Preferred Shares, Common Shares and Common Shares in Treasury

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Equity [Abstract]

Non-Controlling Interests, Preferred Shares, Common Shares and Common Shares in Treasury

10. Non-Controlling Interests, Preferred Shares, Common Shares and Common Shares in Treasury

Non-Controlling Interests

The Company had 369,176 OP Units outstanding at December 31, 2016 and 2015.  These OP Units, issued to different partnerships, are exchangeable at the election of the OP Unit holder and, under certain circumstances at the option of the Company, exchangeable into an equivalent number of the Company’s common shares or for the equivalent amount of cash.  Most of these OP Units are subject to registration rights agreements covering shares equivalent to the number of OP Units held by the holder if the Company elects to settle in its common shares.  The OP Units are classified on the Company’s balance sheet as Non-Controlling Interests.  

Preferred Shares

The Company’s preferred shares outstanding are as follows (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2016		2015
Class J—6.5% cumulative redeemable preferred shares, without par value, $500 liquidation value;    750,000 shares authorized; 400,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2016 and 2015	$	200,000	$	200,000
Class K—6.25% cumulative redeemable preferred shares, without par value, $500 liquidation value;    750,000 shares authorized; 300,000 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2016 and 2015		150,000		150,000
	$	350,000	$	350,000

The depositary shares, representing the Class J Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (“Class J Shares”) and the Class K Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares (“Class K Shares”) represent 1/20 of a Class J Share and Class K Share, respectively, and have a liquidation value of $500 per share.  The Class J depositary shares are not redeemable by the Company prior to August 1, 2017, and the Class K depositary shares are not redeemable by the Company prior to April 9, 2018, except in certain circumstances relating to the preservation of the Company’s status as a REIT.

The Company’s authorized preferred shares consist of the following:

• 750,000 of each:  Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, Class E, Class F, Class G, Class H, Class I, Class J and Class K Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Shares, without par value

• 750,000 Non-Cumulative Preferred Shares, without par value

• 2,000,000 Cumulative Voting Preferred Shares, without par value

Common Shares

The Company’s common shares have a $0.10 per share par value.  Common share dividends declared were as follows:

	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
Common share dividends declared per share	$	0.76	$	0.69	$	0.62

The Company issued 0.7 million common shares in 2014 (primarily through the use of its continuous equity programs) at an average price per share of $18.15, resulting in net proceeds of $11.6 million.