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Related Party Transactions
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
Related Party Transactions
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the President, the Executive Vice President-Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and the Senior Vice President-Chief Accounting Officer of the Company are also officers of various members of the Saul Organization and their management time is shared with the Saul Organization. Their annual compensation is fixed by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, with the exception of the Senior Vice President-Chief Accounting Officer whose share of annual compensation allocated to the Company is determined by the shared services agreement (described below).
The Company participates in a multiemployer 401K plan with entities in the Saul Organization which covers those full-time employees who meet the requirements as specified in the plan. Company contributions, which are included in general and administrative expense or property operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations, at the discretionary amount of up to six percent of the employee’s cash compensation, subject to certain limits, were $312,400 and $281,800 for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively. All amounts deferred by employees and the Company are fully vested.
The Company also participates in a multiemployer nonqualified deferred compensation plan with entities in the Saul Organization which covers those full-time employees who meet the requirements as specified in the plan. According to the plan, which can be modified or discontinued at any time, participating employees defer 2% of their compensation in excess of a specified amount. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company contributed $103,300 and $107,700, respectively, which is the sum of accrued earnings and three times the amount deferred by employees and is included in general and administrative expense. All amounts deferred by employees and the Company are fully vested. The cumulative unfunded liability under this plan was $1.7 million and $1.8 million, at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, respectively, and is included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets.
The Company has entered into a shared services agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Saul Organization that provides for the sharing of certain personnel and ancillary functions such as computer hardware, software, and support services and certain direct and indirect administrative personnel. The method for determining the cost of the shared services is provided for in the Agreement and is based upon head count, estimates of usage or estimates of time incurred, as applicable. The terms of the Agreement and the payments made thereunder are deemed reasonable by management and are reviewed annually by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which consists entirely of independent directors. Billings by the Saul Organization for the Company’s share of these ancillary costs and expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, which included rental expense for the Company’s headquarters lease, totaled approximately $5.9 million and $5.5 million, respectively. The amounts are generally expensed as incurred and are primarily reported as general and administrative expenses in the consolidated financial statements. As of September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities included approximately $453,200 and $543,000, respectively, representing amounts due to the Saul Organization for the Company’s share of these ancillary costs and expenses.
The Company has entered into a shared third-party predevelopment cost agreement with the B. F. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust, a member of the Saul Organization (the “Predevelopment Agreement”). The Predevelopment Agreement, which expires on December 31, 2015, and which may be extended to December 31, 2016, relates to the sharing of third-party predevelopment costs incurred in connection with the planning of the future redevelopment of certain adjacent real estate assets in the Twinbrook area of Rockville, Maryland. The costs will be billed by the third-parties on a pro rata basis based on the acreage owned by each entity and neither party is obligated to advance funds to the other.
The Company subleases its corporate headquarters space from a member of the Saul Organization. The lease commenced in March 2002, was extended in 2012 for five years, and provides for base rent increases of 3% per year, with payment of a pro-rata share of operating expenses over a base year amount. The Agreement requires each party to pay an allocation of total rental payments based on a percentage proportionate to the number of employees employed by each party. The Company’s rent expense for its headquarters location was $684,800 and $630,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and is included in general and administrative expense.
The B. F. Saul Insurance Agency of Maryland, Inc., a subsidiary of the B. F. Saul Company and a member of the Saul Organization, is a general insurance agency that receives commissions and fees in connection with the Company’s insurance program. Such commissions and fees amounted to $295,000 and $288,800 for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Effective as of September 4, 2012, the Company entered into a consulting agreement with B. F. Saul III, a former president of the Company, whereby Mr. Saul III provided certain consulting services to the Company as an independent contractor and was paid at a rate of $60,000 per month. The consulting agreement included certain noncompete, nonsolicitation and nondisclosure covenants, and expired in September 2014. For the nine months ended September 30, 2014, such consulting fees totaled $495,000.