Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2018

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Significant Accounting Policies [Text Block]

Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Accounting and Principles of Consolidation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for audited financial statements. The unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments which are, in the opinion of management, necessary for a fair presentation of the results for the interim period presented. Operating results for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 may not be indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2018. Amounts as of December 31, 2017 included in the consolidated financial statements have been derived from the audited consolidated financial statements as of that date. The unaudited consolidated financial statements, included herein, should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto, as well as Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017.

The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company, the Operating Partnership and its wholly-owned subsidiaries. All material intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of (1) assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements, and (2) revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Reclassification

Certain reclassifications of prior period amounts have been made in the consolidated financial statements and footnotes in order to conform to the current presentation. Income tax expense is presented in Other (Expense) Income of the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income. In reports filed prior to March 2018, income tax expense was included in general and administrative expenses of the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income.

Segment Reporting

The Company is primarily in the business of acquiring, developing and managing retail real estate which is considered to be one reporting segment. The Company has no other reporting segments.

Real Estate Investments

The Company records the acquisition of real estate at cost, including acquisition and closing costs. For properties developed by the Company, all direct and indirect costs related to planning, development and construction, including interest, real estate taxes and other miscellaneous costs incurred during the construction period, are capitalized for financial reporting purposes and recorded as property under development until construction has been completed. Assets are classified as held for sale based on specific criteria as outlined in ASC 360, Property, Plant & Equipment. Properties classified as “held for sale” are recorded at the lower of their carrying value or their fair value, less anticipated selling costs. Assets are generally classified as held for sale once management has actively engaged in marketing the asset and has received a firm purchase commitment that is expected to close within one year. Real estate held for sale consisted of the following as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):

	September 30, 2018		December 31, 2017
Land	$	271	$	393
Buildings		1,087		1,857
Lease Intangibles (Asset)		290		557

		1,648			2,807
Accumulated depreciation and amortization		(281	)		(387	)
Total Real Estate Held for Sale	$	1,367		$	2,420

Accounting for Acquisitions of Real Estate

The acquisition of property for investment purposes is typically accounted for as an asset acquisition. The Company allocates the purchase price to land, buildings and identified intangible assets and liabilities, based in each case on their relative estimated fair values and without giving rise to goodwill. Intangible assets and liabilities represent the value of in-place leases and above- or below-market leases. In making estimates of fair values, the Company may use a number of sources, including data provided by independent third parties, as well as information obtained by the Company as a result of its due diligence, including expected future cash flows of the property and various characteristics of the markets where the property is located.

In allocating the fair value of the identified intangible assets and liabilities of an acquired property, in-place lease intangibles are valued based on the Company’s estimates of costs related to tenant acquisition and the carrying costs that would be incurred during the time it would take to locate a tenant if the property were vacant, considering current market conditions and costs to execute similar leases at the time of the acquisition. Above- and below-market lease intangibles are recorded based on the present value of the difference between the contractual amounts to be paid pursuant to the leases at the time of acquisition and the Company’s estimate of current market lease rates for the property. The capitalized above- and below-market lease intangibles are amortized over the non-cancelable term of the lease unless the Company believes it is reasonably certain that the tenant will renew the lease for an option term in which case the Company amortizes the value attributable to the renewal over the renewal period.

The fair value of identified intangible assets and liabilities acquired is amortized to amortization over the remaining term of the related leases.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. Cash and cash equivalents consist of cash and money market accounts. The account balances periodically exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) insurance coverage, and as a result, there is a concentration of credit risk related to amounts on deposit in excess of FDIC insurance coverage. We had $17.3 million and $57.5 million in cash and cash held in escrow as of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, respectively, in excess of the FDIC insured limit.

Accounts Receivable – Tenants

The Company reviews its rent receivables for collectability on a regular basis, taking into consideration changes in factors such as the tenant’s payment history, the financial condition of the tenant, business conditions in the industry in which the tenant operates and economic conditions in the area where the property is located. In the event that the collectability of a receivable with respect to any tenant is in doubt, a provision for uncollectible amounts will be established or a direct write-off of the specific rent receivable will be made. For accrued rental revenues related to the straight-line method of reporting rental revenue, the Company performs a periodic review of receivable balances to assess the risk of uncollectible amounts and establish appropriate provisions.

The Company’s leases provide for reimbursement from tenants for common area maintenance (“CAM”), insurance, real estate taxes and other operating expenses ("Operating Cost Reimbursement Revenue"). A portion of our Operating Cost Reimbursement Revenue is estimated each period and is recognized as revenue in the period the recoverable costs are incurred and accrued. Receivables from Operating Cost Reimbursement Revenue are included in our Accounts Receivable - Tenants line item in our consolidated balance sheets. The balance of unbilled Operating Cost Reimbursement Receivable at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 was $2.5 million and $1.4 million, respectively.

In addition, many of the Company’s leases contain rent escalations for which we recognize revenue on a straight-line basis over the non-cancelable lease term.  This method results in rental revenue in the early years of a lease being higher than actual cash received, creating a straight-line rent receivable asset which is included in the Accounts Receivable - Tenants line item in our consolidated balance sheet. The balance of straight-line rent receivables at September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 was $15.5 million and $12.9 million, respectively.  To the extent any of the tenants under these leases becomes unable to pay its contractual cash rents, the Company may be required to write down the straight-line rent receivable from the tenants, which would reduce operating income.

Sales Tax

The Company collects various taxes from tenants and remits these amounts, on a net basis, to the applicable taxing authorities.

Unamortized Deferred Expenses

Deferred expenses include debt financing costs related to the Company’s revolving credit facility, leasing costs and lease intangibles, and are amortized as follows: (i) debt financing costs related to the line of credit on a straight-line basis to interest expense over the term of the related loan, which approximates the effective interest method; (ii) leasing costs on a straight-line basis to amortization over the term of the related lease entered into; and (iii) lease intangibles on a straight-line basis to amortization over the remaining term of the related lease acquired.

The following schedule summarizes the Company’s amortization of deferred expenses for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017			September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017
Credit Facility Financing Costs	$	133		$	102		$	335		$	304
Leasing Costs		82			40			166			120
Lease Intangibles (Asset)		5,998			3,802			16,781			11,209
Lease Intangibles (Liability)		(1,083	)		(1,037	)		(3,168	)		(3,167	)
Total	$	5,130		$	2,907		$	14,114		$	8,466

The following schedule represents estimated future amortization of deferred expenses as of September 30, 2018 (in thousands):

Year Ending December 31,	2018
	(remaining)			2019			2020			2021			2022			Thereafter			Total
Credit Facility Financing Costs	$	142		$	556		$	541		$	28		$	-		$	-		$	1,267
Leasing Costs		76			276			302			293			285			1,350			2,582
Lease Intangibles (Asset)		6,822			25,643			25,493			24,815			23,737			164,096			270,606
Lease Intangibles (Liability)		(1,143	)		(4,291	)		(4,279	)		(3,993	)		(3,094	)		(10,828	)		(27,628	)
Total	$	5,897		$	22,184		$	22,057		$	21,143		$	20,928		$	154,618		$	246,827

Earnings per Share

Earnings per share has been computed by dividing net income less net income attributable to unvested restricted shares by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding less unvested restricted shares. Diluted earnings per share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average common shares and potentially dilutive common shares outstanding in accordance with the treasury stock method.

The following is a reconciliation of the denominator of the basic net earnings per common share computation to the denominator of the diluted net earnings per common share computation for each of the periods presented:

	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017			September 30, 2018			September 30, 2017
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding		31,969,749			28,792,158			31,342,354			27,207,725
Less: Unvested restricted stock		(210,824	)		(219,136	)		(210,824	)		(219,136	)
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding used in basic earnings per share		31,758,925			28,573,022			31,131,530			26,988,589
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding used in basic earnings per share		31,758,925			28,573,022			31,131,530			26,988,589
Effect of dilutive securities: restricted stock		80,211			83,662			71,855			80,763
Effect of dilutive securities: March 2018 forward equity offering		439,761			-			265,048			-
Effect of dilutive securities: September 2018 forward equity offering		8,455			-			2,818			-
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding used in diluted earnings per share		32,287,352			28,656,684			31,471,251			27,069,352
Operating Partnership Units ("OP Units")		347,619			347,619			347,619			347,619
Weighted average number of common shares and OP Units outstanding used in diluted earnings per share		32,634,971			29,004,303			31,818,870			27,416,971

Forward Equity Sales

In March 2018, the Company entered into a forward sale agreement to sell an aggregate of 3,450,000 shares of our common stock, which includes the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares, at a public offering price of $48.00 per share, before underwriting discounts. In September 2018, the Company settled 3,450,000 shares from our forward sale agreement and received proceeds of $160.2 million, net of underwriting discounts, fees and expenses.

In September 2018, the Company entered into a forward sale agreement to sell an aggregate of 3,500,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $55.20 per share, less issuance costs, underwriters’ discount, and further adjustments as provided for in the forward sale agreement. We are obligated to settle the forward sale agreement no later than September 3, 2019.

To account for the forward sale agreements, we considered the accounting guidance governing financial instruments and derivatives and concluded that our forward sale agreement was not a liability as it did not embody obligations to repurchase our shares nor did it embody obligations to issue a variable number of shares for which the monetary value was predominantly fixed, varying with something other than the fair value of the shares, or varying inversely in relation to our shares. We then evaluated whether the agreement met the derivatives and hedging guidance scope exception to be accounted for as an equity instrument, and concluded that the agreement can be classified as an equity contract based on the following assessment: (i) none of the agreement’s exercise contingencies was based on observable markets or indices besides those related to the market for our own stock price and operations; and (ii) none of the settlement provisions precluded the agreement from being indexed to our own stock.

We also considered the potential dilution resulting from the forward sale agreement on the earnings per share calculations. We use the treasury stock method to determine the dilution resulting from the forward sale agreement during the period of time prior to settlement. The impact to our weighted-average number of common shares – diluted for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, was 448,217 and 267,867 weighted-average incremental shares, respectively.

Income Taxes (not presented in thousands)

The Company has made an election to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Internal Revenue Code”) and related regulations. The Company generally will not be subject to federal income taxes on amounts distributed to stockholders, providing it distributes 100% of its REIT taxable income and meets certain other requirements for qualifying as a REIT. For the periods ending September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, the Company believes it has qualified as a REIT. Notwithstanding the Company’s qualification for taxation as a REIT, the Company is subject to certain state taxes on its income and real estate.

The Company and its taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRS”) have made a timely TRS election pursuant to the provisions of the REIT Modernization Act. A TRS is able to engage in activities resulting in income that previously would have been disqualified from being eligible REIT income under the federal income tax regulations. As a result, certain activities of the Company which occur within its TRS entity are subject to federal and state income taxes. All provisions for federal income taxes in the accompanying consolidated financial statements are attributable to the Company’s TRS.

As of September 30, 2018, and December 31, 2017, the Company had accrued a deferred income tax liability in the amount of $475,000. This deferred income tax balance represents the federal and state tax effect of deferring income tax in 2007 on the sale of an asset under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. This transaction was accrued within the TRS entities described above. The Company recognized total federal and state tax expense of approximately $125,000 and $37,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively and approximately $391,000 and $366,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Fair Values of Financial Instruments

The Company’s estimates of fair value of financial and non-financial assets and liabilities are based on the framework established in the fair value accounting guidance. The framework specifies a hierarchy of valuation inputs which was established to increase consistency, clarity and comparability in fair value measurements and related disclosures. The guidance describes a fair value hierarchy based upon three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value, two of which are considered observable and one that is considered unobservable. The following describes the three levels:

Level 1 –	Valuation is based upon quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2 –	Valuation is based upon inputs other than Level 1 that are observable, either directly or indirectly, such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities, quoted prices in markets that are not active or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data for substantially the full term of the assets or liabilities.
Level 3 –	Valuation is generated from model-based techniques that use at least one significant assumption not observable in the market. These unobservable assumptions reflect estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. Valuation techniques include option pricing models, discounted cash flow models and similar techniques.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

In August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued ASU No. ASU 2018-13, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement” (“ASU 2018-13”). These amendments modify the disclosure requirements in Topic 820 on changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements, and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty. ASU 2018-13 will be effective for all entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2019, including interim periods in the year of adoption. Early adoption is permitted for any interim or annual period. The Company is in the process of determining the impact that the implementation of ASU 2018-13 will have on the Company’s financial statements.

In June 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-07, “Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Nonemployee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2018-07”). These amendments expand the scope of Topic 718, Compensation—Stock Compensation, which currently only includes share-based payments to employees, to include share-based payments issued to nonemployees for goods or services. Consequently, the accounting for share-based payments to nonemployees and employees will be substantially aligned, and the ASU supersedes Subtopic 505-50, Equity—Equity-Based Payments to Non-Employees. ASU 2018-07 will be effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods in the year of adoption. Early adoption is permitted for any interim or annual period. The Company does not expect these amendments to have a material effect on its financial statements.

In August 2017, the FASB issued ASU No. 2017-12, “Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities” (“ASU 2017-12”). The objective of ASU 2017-12 is to expand hedge accounting for both financial (interest rate) and commodity risks, and create more transparency around how economic results are presented, both on the face of the financial statements and in the footnotes. ASU 2017-12 will be effective for public business entities for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2018, including interim periods in the year of adoption. Early adoption is permitted for any interim or annual period. The Company has evaluated the impact of the implementation of ASU 2017-12 and does not believe it will have a material effect on the financial statements.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-02 “Leases” (“ASU 2016-02”). The new standard creates Topic 842, Leases, in FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“FASB ASC”) and supersedes FASB ASC 840, Leases. ASU 2016-02 requires a lessee to recognize the assets and liabilities that arise from leases (operating and finance). The main difference between the existing guidance on accounting for leases and the new standard is that operating leases for lessees will now be recorded in the statement of financial position as right of use assets and lease liabilities on the lessee’s balance sheet. The new standard requires lessors to account for leases for lessee’s using an approach that is substantially equivalent to existing guidance for sales-type leases and operating leases. In July 2018, the FASB issued ASU 2018-11, which provides a practical expedient for lessors by class of underlying assets to not separate non-lease components from the lease component. The Company intends to apply  the practical expedient to not separate lease and nonlease components in a contract if the timing and pattern of transfer for the lease components and nonlease components are the same and if the lease component is classified as an operating lease. ASU 2016-02 is effective for annual reporting periods (including interim periods within those periods) beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption is permitted. As part of ASU 2018-01, the FASB provided an optional transition method, allowing entities to not evaluate under ASC 842 land easements that existed or expired before the adoption of ASC 842 and that were not previously accounted for as leases under ASC 840. The Company intends to apply this practical expedient upon adoption of Topic 842. As part of ASU 2018-11, the FASB provided an additional (and optional) transition method that allows entities to initially apply Topic 842 at the adoption date (January 1, 2019) and recognize a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of retained earnings in the period of adoption. The Company intends to apply this practical expedient upon adoption of Topic 842. The Company has engaged a professional services firm to assist in the implementation of ASU 2016-02. Based on its anticipated election of practical expedients, the Company anticipates that its retail leases, where it is the lessor, will continue to be accounted for as operating leases under the new standard. The Company is also the lessee under various land lease arrangements. The Company would not be required to reassess the classification of existing land leases where it is the lessee and therefore these leases would continue to be accounted for as operating leases. Therefore, as of January 1, 2019, the Company does not currently anticipate significant changes in the accounting for its lease revenues as lessor, but does anticipate the recognition of right of use assets and related lease liabilities on its consolidated balance sheets related to land leases as lessee. In the event the Company modifies existing land leases or enters into new land leases after adoption of the new standard, such leases may be classified as finance leases. The Company will continue to evaluate the impact of adopting the new leases standard on its consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income and consolidated balance sheets.