15. Derivatives

Our objectives in using interest rate derivatives are to add stability to interest expense or preferred stock dividends and to manage our cash flow volatility and exposure to interest rate movements. To accomplish this objective, we primarily use interest rate swaps as part of our interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable-rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

Our Series F Preferred Stock is subject to a coupon rate reset. The coupon rate resets every quarter at 2.375% plus the greater of i) the 30 year Treasury CMT Rate, ii) the 10 year Treasury CMT Rate or iii) 3-month LIBOR. For the fourth quarter of 2013, the new coupon rate was 6.065%. In October 2008, we entered into an interest rate swap agreement with a notional value of $50,000 to mitigate our exposure to floating interest rates related to the forecasted reset rate of the coupon rate of our Series F Preferred Stock (the "Series F Agreement"). This Series F Agreement fixes the 30 year Treasury CMT rate at 5.2175%. Accounting guidance for derivatives does not permit hedge accounting treatment related to equity instruments and therefore the mark-to-market gains or losses related to this agreement are recorded in the statement of operations. For the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, gains of $52 and losses of $328, respectively, are recognized as mark-to-market gain (loss) on interest rate protection agreements. Quarterly payments are treated as a component of the mark-to-market gains or losses and totaled $774 and $1,169 for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. The Series F Agreement matured on October 1, 2013.

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives designated and that qualify as cash flow hedges is recorded in other comprehensive income ("OCI") and is subsequently reclassified to earnings through interest expense over the life of the derivative or over the life of the debt. In the next 12 months, we expect to amortize approximately $1,358 into net income by increasing interest expense for interest rate protection agreements we settled in previous periods.

The following is a summary of the terms of our Series F Agreement and its fair value, which is included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets:

Hedge Product

Notional

Amount

Strike

Trade

Date

Maturity

Date

Fair Value

As of

December 31,

2013

Fair Value

As of

December 31,

2012

Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments:

Series F Agreement*

50,000

5.2175

October 1, 2008

October 1, 2013

N/A

(826

)

_______________



*	Fair value excludes quarterly settlement payment due on Series F Agreement. As of December 31, 2012, the outstanding payable was $305.

The following is a summary of the impact of the derivatives in cash flow hedging relationships on the statements of operations and the statements of OCI for the years ended December 31, 2013 and 2012:



		Year Ended
Interest Rate Products	Location on Statement	December 31, 2013			December 31, 2012
Amortization Reclassified from OCI into Income (Loss)	Interest Expense	$	(2,411	)	$	(2,271	)

The guidance for fair value measurement of financial instruments includes a three-tier fair value hierarchy, which prioritizes the inputs used in measuring fair value. These tiers include: Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets; Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring an entity to develop its own assumptions.

The following table sets forth our financial liability related to the Series F Agreement that is accounted for at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2012:



				Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using:
Description	Fair Value			Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)	Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)	Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Liabilities:
Series F Agreement at December 31, 2012	$	(826	)	—	—	$	(826	)

The following table presents the quantitative information about the Level 3 fair value measurements at December 31, 2012:



	Quantitative Information about Level 3 Fair Value Measurements:
Description	Fair Value			Valuation Technique	Unobservable Inputs	Range
Series F Agreement at December 31, 2012	$	(826	)	Discounted Cash Flow	Long Dated Treasuries (A)	2.82% - 2.91%
					Own Credit Risk (B)	0.98% - 1.59%

________________

(A) Represents the forward 30 year Treasury CMT Rate.

(B) Represents credit default swap spread curve used in the valuation analysis at December 31, 2012.

The valuation of the Series F Agreement was determined using widely accepted valuation techniques including discounted cash flow analysis on the expected cash flows of the instrument. This analysis reflected the contractual terms of the agreement including the period to maturity. In adjusting the fair value of the Series F Agreement for the effect of nonperformance risk, we had considered the impact of netting and any applicable credit enhancement. To comply with the provisions of fair value measurement, we calculated a credit valuation adjustment to appropriately reflect both our own nonperformance risk and our counterparty’s nonperformance risk in the fair value measurements. We considered the Series F Agreement to be classified as Level 3 in the fair value hierarchy due to a significant number of unobservable inputs. The Series F Agreement swapped a fixed rate of 5.2175% for floating rate payments based on 30 year Treasury CMT rate. No market observable prices exist for long dated Treasuries. Therefore, we have classified the Series F Agreement in its entirety as Level 3.

The following table presents a reconciliation of our liability classified as Level 3 at December 31, 2013 and 2012:



	Fair Value Measurements Using Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) Derivatives
Ending Liability Balance at December 31, 2011	$	(1,667	)
Mark-to-Market of the Series F Agreement	841
Ending Liability Balance at December 31, 2012	$	(826	)
Mark-to-Market of the Series F Agreement	826
Ending Liability Balance at December 31, 2013	$	—