Derivatives and Hedging Activities

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Abstract]

Derivatives and Hedging Activities

Derivatives and Hedging Activities

Risk Management Objective of Using Derivatives. The Company is exposed to certain risks arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. The Company principally manages its exposures to a wide variety of business and operational risks through management of its core business activities. The Company manages economic risks, including interest rate, liquidity, and credit risk primarily by managing the type, amount, sources, and duration of its debt funding and the use of derivative financial instruments. Specifically, the Company enters into derivative financial instruments to manage exposures that arise from business activities that result in the receipt or payment of future known and uncertain cash amounts, the value of which are determined by interest rates. The Company's derivative financial instruments are used to manage differences in the amount, timing, and duration of the Company's known or expected cash receipts and its known or expected cash payments principally related to the Company's investments and borrowings.

Cash Flow Hedges of Interest Rate Risk. The Company's objectives in using interest rate derivatives are to add stability to interest expense, to manage its exposure to interest rate movements and therefore manage its cash outflows as it relates to the underlying debt instruments. To accomplish these objectives, the Company primarily uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy relating to certain of its variable rate debt instruments. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable-rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and is subsequently reclassified into earnings in the period that the hedged forecasted transaction affects earnings. The ineffective portion of the change in fair value of the derivatives is recognized directly in earnings. The Company did not incur any ineffectiveness during the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014.

The Company has designated the interest-rate swap agreements with its counterparties as cash flow hedges of the risk of variability attributable to changes in the LIBOR swap rate on $505,000 of LIBOR-indexed variable-rate unsecured term loans. Accordingly, changes in the fair value of the swaps are recorded in other comprehensive income (loss) and reclassified to earnings as interest becomes receivable or payable.

Amounts reported in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) related to derivatives will be reclassified to interest expense as interest payments are made on the term loans. During the next 12 months, the Company estimates that an additional $4,665 will be reclassified as an increase to interest expense.

As of March 31, 2015, the Company had the following outstanding interest rate derivatives that were designated as cash flow hedges of interest rate risk:

Interest Rate Derivative	Number of Instruments	Notional
Interest Rate Swaps	10	$505,000

The table below presents the fair value of the Company's derivative financial instruments as well as their classification on the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets as of March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014.

	As of March 31, 2015				As of December 31, 2014
	Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value			Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value
Derivatives designated as hedging instruments
Interest Rate Swap Asset					Other Assets	$	1,153
Interest Rate Swap Liability	Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities	$	(3,692	)	Accounts Payable and Other Liabilities	$	(749	)

The tables below present the effect of the Company's derivative financial instruments on the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014.

Derivatives in Cash Flow	Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in OCI on Derivatives (Effective Portion) March 31,						Location of Loss Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion)	Amount of Loss Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion) March 31,
Hedging Relationships	2015			2014				2015		2014
Interest Rate Swaps	$	(5,468	)	$	(1,784	)	Interest expense	$	1,372	$	1,272

The Company's agreements with swap derivative counterparties contain provisions whereby if the Company defaults on the underlying indebtedness, including default where repayment of the indebtedness has not been accelerated by the lender, then the Company could also be declared in default of the swap derivative obligation. As of March 31, 2015, the Company has not posted any collateral related to the agreements.