Stock Based Compensation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Share-based Compensation [Abstract]

Stock Based Compensation

Stock Based Compensation

During the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company awarded 216,975 shares of restricted stock awards to certain employees, which had a fair value of $4,708 on the date of approval by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. These restricted stock awards were issued based upon the achievement of certain corporate performance goals for the calendar year 2014 and generally vest over a period of three years. Additionally, during the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company awarded 17,385 shares of restricted stock to non-employee members of the Board of Directors, which had a fair value of $350 on the date of approval. These restricted stock awards vest over a one-year period. The Operating Partnership issued Units to the Company in the same amounts for both award issuances.

Compensation expense is charged to earnings over the vesting periods for the shares expected to vest except if the recipient is not required to provide future service in exchange for vesting of such shares. If vesting of a recipient's restricted stock award is not contingent upon future service, the expense is recognized immediately at the date of grant. During the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, we recognized $1,250 and $1,451, respectively, of compensation expense related to restricted stock awards granted to our Chief Executive Officer for which future service was not required.

Additionally, during the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the Company granted 264,432 Long-Term Incentive Program ("LTIP") performance units ("2015 LTIP Unit Awards") to certain employees. The Operating Partnership issued Units to the Company in the same amounts. The 2015 LTIP Unit Awards had a fair value of $2,531 on the grant date as determined by a lattice-binomial option-pricing model based on a Monte Carlo simulation. The 2015 LTIP Unit Awards vest based upon the relative total shareholder return ("TSR") of the Company's common stock compared to the TSRs of the MSCI US REIT Index and the NAREIT Industrial Index. The TSR for the granted units is calculated based upon the performance from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017. Compensation expense is charged to earnings on a straight-line basis over the performance period. At the end of the performance period each participant will be issued shares of the Company's common stock equal to the maximum shares issuable to the participant for the performance period multiplied by a percentage, ranging from 0% to 100%, based on the Company's TSR as compared to the TSRs of the MSCI US REIT Index and the NAREIT Industrial Index. The participant is also entitled to dividend equivalents for shares issued pursuant to vested 2015 LTIP Unit Awards. The dividend equivalents represent any common dividends that would have been paid with respect to such issued shares after the grant of the 2015 LTIP Unit Awards and prior to the date of settlement.

We recognized $1,507 and $1,351 for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, and $5,574 and $6,248 for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively, in amortization related to restricted stock/Unit awards and LTIP performance units. Restricted stock/Unit award and LTIP performance unit amortization capitalized in connection with development activities was not significant. At September 30, 2015, we had $7,047 in unrecognized compensation related to unvested restricted stock/Unit awards and LTIP performance units, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted average 0.94 year term.