XML 20 R10.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v3.10.0.1
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies:
Basis of Presentation:
The accompanying consolidated financial statements of the Company have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. They do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements and have not been audited by an independent registered public accounting firm.
The Company's sole significant asset is its investment in the Operating Partnership and as a result, substantially all of the Company's assets and liabilities represent the assets and liabilities of the Operating Partnership. In addition, the Operating Partnership has investments in a number of consolidated variable interest entities ("VIEs").
The Operating Partnership's consolidated VIEs included the following assets and liabilities:
 
September 30,
2018
 
December 31,
2017
Assets:
 
 
 
Property, net
$
264,946

 
$
288,881

Other assets
27,579

 
60,586

Total assets
$
292,525

 
$
349,467

Liabilities:
 
 
 
Mortgage notes payable
$
126,279

 
$
129,436

Other liabilities
40,634

 
72,705

Total liabilities
$
166,913

 
$
202,141


All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in the consolidated financial statements.
The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company's audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements for the interim periods have been made. The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The accompanying consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2017 has been derived from the audited financial statements but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP.
Shareholder Activism Costs:
During the three months ended June 30, 2018, the Company incurred $19,369 in costs associated with activities related to shareholder activism. These costs were primarily for legal and advisory services.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements:
In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2014-09, “Revenue From Contracts With Customers (ASC 606)," which outlines a comprehensive model for entities to use in accounting for revenue arising from contracts with customers. The standard states that “an entity recognizes revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services.” While the standard specifically references contracts with customers, it may apply to certain other transactions such as the sale of real estate or equipment. The standard applies to the Company's recognition of management companies and other revenues. The Company's adoption of the standard on January 1, 2018 did not have an impact on the pattern of revenue recognition for management companies and other revenues.
Additionally, under ASC 606, the Company changed its accounting for its joint venture in Chandler Freehold from a co-venture arrangement to a financing arrangement (See Note 11Financing Arrangement). Upon adoption of the standard on January 1, 2018, the Company replaced its $31,150 distributions in excess of co-venture obligation (See Note 8Deferred Charges and Other Assets, net) with a financing arrangement obligation of $393,709 on its consolidated balance sheets. This resulted in the recognition of a $424,859 increase in the Company’s accumulated deficit as a cumulative effect adjustment under the modified retrospective method of adoption.
In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, which sets out principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases for both parties to a contract (i.e. lessees and lessors). The standard requires that lessors expense, on an as-incurred basis, certain initial direct costs that are not incremental in negotiating a lease. Under existing standards, certain of these costs are capitalizable and therefore this new standard may result in certain of these costs being expensed as incurred after adoption. Under the standard, lessees apply a dual approach, classifying leases as either finance or operating leases. A lessee is required to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for all leases with a term of greater than twelve months, regardless of their lease classification. The Company is a lessee on ground leases at certain properties, on certain office space leases and on certain other improvements and equipment. The standard is effective for the Company under a modified retrospective approach beginning January 1, 2019.
The FASB has provided a transition package of practical expedients for implementation, which include (i) relief from re-assessing whether an expired or existing contract meets the definition of a lease, (ii) relief from re-assessing the classification of expired or existing leases at the adoption date and (iii) allowing previously capitalized initial direct leasing costs to continue to be amortized. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, “Leases: Targeted improvements”, which provides companies with an additional transition option that would permit the application of the standard as of the adoption date rather than to all periods presented. The Company plans to utilize this transition option when it adopts the new standard on January 1, 2019 and also plans to elect to use the transition practical expedients package available to the Company under the new standard.


Recent Accounting Pronouncements: (Continued)
Under ASU 2016-02, initial direct costs for both lessees and lessors would include only those costs that are incremental to the arrangement and would not have been incurred if the lease had not been obtained. As a result, the Company will no longer be able to capitalize internal leasing costs and instead will be required to expense these costs as incurred. The Company capitalized internal leasing costs of $5,141 and $5,376 during the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively, and $16,928 and $17,075 during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
For leases where the Company is the lessee, the adoption of the standard will significantly change the accounting on the Company's consolidated balance sheets since these leases will be required to be recorded on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets as an obligation of the Company. Existing leases executed before the January 1, 2019 adoption date will continue to be accounted for as operating leases and the new guidance will not have a material impact on the Company's recognition of lease expense.
On November 17, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-18, “Restricted Cash,” which requires that the statement of cash flows explain the change during a reporting period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash and restricted cash equivalents. This standard states that transfers between cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash are not part of the entity’s operating, investing, and financing activities. Therefore, restricted cash should be included with cash and cash equivalents when reconciling the beginning-of-period and end-of-period total amounts shown on the statement of cash flows. On January 1, 2018, the Company adopted the standard and retrospectively applied the guidance of the standard to the prior period presented, which resulted in an increase of $785 in net cash provided by investing activities on its consolidated statements of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2017.
The following table presents a reconciliation of the beginning of period and end of period cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash reported on the Company's consolidated balance sheets to the totals shown on its consolidated statements of cash flows:
 
For the Nine Months Ended September 30,
 
2018
 
2017
Beginning of period
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
$
91,038

 
$
94,046

Restricted cash
52,067

 
49,951

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
$
143,105

 
$
143,997

End of period
 
 
 
Cash and cash equivalents
$
93,479

 
$
71,088

Restricted cash
50,621

 
50,736

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
$
144,100

 
$
121,824


On January 5, 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-01, “Business Combinations,” which clarifies the definition of a business. The objective of the standard is to add further guidance that assists entities in evaluating whether a transaction will be accounted for as an acquisition of an asset or a business. The guidance requires an entity to evaluate if substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets. If so, the set of transferred assets and activities are not a business and should be treated as an asset acquisition. The guidance also requires a business to include at least one substantive process and narrows the definition of outputs. The primary difference between business combinations and asset acquisitions is the recognition of transaction costs, which are expensed as period costs for business combinations and capitalized for asset acquisitions. The Company's adoption of this standard on January 1, 2018 did not have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements: (Continued)
In February 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-05, “Other Income-Gains and Losses from the Derecognition of Nonfinancial Assets (Subtopic 610-20): Clarifying the Scope of Asset Derecognition Guidance and Accounting for Partial Sales of Nonfinancial Assets,” which clarifies the scope of asset derecognition and adds further guidance for recognizing gains and losses from the transfer of nonfinancial assets in contracts with non-customers. The Company has concluded that property sales represent transactions with non-customers. Sales of property generally represent only one performance obligation and are recognized when an enforceable contract is in place, collectability is ensured and control is transferred to the buyer. As a result of the adoption of the standard on January 1, 2018, the Company will prospectively measure the noncontrolling interest retained in partial sale transactions of real estate at fair value.
In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU 2017-12, “Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities,” which aims to (i) improve the transparency and understandability of information conveyed to financial statement users about an entity’s risk management activities by better aligning the entity’s financial reporting for hedging relationships with those risk management activities and (ii) reduce the complexity of and simplify the application of hedge accounting by preparers. The standard is effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2019, with early adoption permitted. The Company does not expect the adoption of this standard to have a significant impact on its consolidated financial statements.