Benefit Plans

Stock Based Compensation

The Company maintains a stock incentive plan (the “Stock Incentive Plan”), which is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. Officers, certain employees and the Company's independent directors generally are eligible to participate in the Stock Incentive Plan. Awards made under the Stock Incentive Plan can be in the form of restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance share awards, dividend equivalent rights, non-statutory stock options and stock appreciation rights. Special provisions apply to awards granted under the Stock Incentive Plan in the event of a change in control in the Company. As of December 31, 2016, awards covering 2.4 million shares of common stock were available to be granted under the Stock Incentive Plan.

Restricted Stock or Restricted Unit Awards

For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, the Company awarded 308,373, 216,975 and 299,805 shares, respectively, of restricted stock awards to certain employees, which had a fair value of $6,047, $4,708 and $5,413 on the date such awards were approved by either the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors or the Company's stockholders of the Stock Incentive Plan, as the case may be. These restricted stock awards were granted based upon the achievement of certain corporate performance goals and generally vest over a period of three years. Additionally, during the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, the Company awarded 14,460, 17,385 and 19,250 shares, respectively, of restricted stock to non-employee members of the Board of Directors, which each 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 restricted Unit awards to the Company in the same amount for both restricted stock awards.

Compensation expense is charged to earnings over the vesting periods for the restricted stock or restricted Unit awards expected to vest except if the recipient is not required to provide future service in exchange for vesting of such restricted stock or restricted Unit awards. If vesting of a recipient's restricted stock or restricted Unit awards is not contingent upon future service, the expense is recognized immediately at the date of grant. During the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, we recognized $1,710, $1,352 and $1,451, respectively, of compensation expense related to restricted stock or restricted Unit awards granted to our Chief Executive Officer and one other employee for which future service was not required.

LTIP Unit Awards

For the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company granted to certain employees 254,524 and 264,432 Long-Term Incentive Program ("LTIP") performance units ("LTIP Unit Awards"), which had a fair value of $2,561 and $2,531 on the grant date. The 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 over a performance period of three years. Compensation expense is charged to earnings on a straight-line basis over the respective performance periods. At the end of the respective performance periods 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 LTIP Unit Awards. The Operating Partnership issues General Partner Units to the Company in the same amounts for vested LTIP Unit Awards.

The fair values of the LTIP Unit Awards at issuance were determined by a lattice-binomial option-pricing model based on Monte Carlo simulations using the following assumptions:



	Year Ended December 31, 2016		Year Ended December 31, 2015
Expected dividend yield	2.31	%	1.99	%
Expected volatility - range used	21.01% - 21.19%		20.43% - 21.99%
Expected volatility - weighted average	20.92	%	21.34	%
Risk-free interest rate	0.48% - 1.43%		0.10% - 1.16%

Outstanding Restricted Stock or Restricted Unit Awards and LTIP Unit Awards

For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, we recognized $7,371, $7,177 and $7,605, respectively, in amortization related to restricted stock or restricted Unit awards and LTIP Unit Awards. Restricted stock or restricted Unit award and LTIP Unit Award amortization capitalized in connection with development activities was not significant. At December 31, 2016, we had $6,758 in unrecognized compensation related to unvested restricted stock or restricted Unit awards and LTIP Unit Awards. The weighted average period that the unrecognized compensation is expected to be recognized is 0.88 years.

Restricted stock or restricted Unit award and LTIP Unit Award transactions for the year ended December 31, 2016 are summarized as follows:



	Awards		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2015	649,975		$	15.43
Issued	577,357		$	15.51
Forfeited	(16,172	)	$	16.11
Vested	(293,628	)	$	18.96
Outstanding at December 31, 2016	917,532		$	14.35

401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan

Under the Company's 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan, all eligible employees may participate by making voluntary contributions and the Company may make, but is not required to make, matching contributions, which are funded by the Operating Partnership. For the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014, total expense related to matching contributions was $509, $471 and $387, respectively.