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Related Person Transactions
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2013
Related Person Transactions  
Related Person Transactions

 

 

Note 10. Related Person Transactions

 

Relationship with TA

 

TA is our former 100% owned subsidiary and our largest tenant, and we are TA’s largest shareholder.  TA was created as a separate public company in 2007 as a result of its spin off from us.  As of September 30, 2013, we owned 2,540,000 common shares of TA, representing approximately 8.6% of TA’s outstanding common shares.  Mr. Barry Portnoy, one of our Managing Trustees, is a managing director of TA.  Mr. Thomas O’Brien, an officer of RMR and a former officer of us prior to the TA spin off, is President and Chief Executive Officer and the other managing director of TA.  Mr. Arthur Koumantzelis, who was one of our Independent Trustees prior to the TA spin off, serves as an independent director of TA.  RMR provides management services to both us and TA.

 

TA is the lessee of 36% of our real estate properties, at cost, as of September 30, 2013.  TA has two leases with us, the TA No. 1 lease and the TA No. 2 lease, pursuant to which TA leases 184 travel centers from us.  The TA No. 1 lease is for 144 travel centers that TA operates primarily under the “TravelCenters of America” or “TA” brand names.  The TA No. 2 lease is for 40 travel centers that TA operates under the “Petro” brand name.  The TA No. 1 lease expires on December 31, 2022.  The TA No. 2 lease expires on June 30, 2024, and may be extended by TA for up to two additional periods of 15 years each.  Both of these leases require TA to:  (1) make payments to us of minimum rents; (2) pay us percentage rent equal to 3% of non-fuel revenues and 0.3% of fuel revenues above applicable base year revenues subject to certain limitations; (3) pay us at lease expiration an amount equal to an estimate of the cost of removing underground storage tanks on our leased sites; and (4) maintain the leased travel centers, including structural and non-structural components.  In addition to minimum and percentage rent, TA is obligated to pay us ground rent of approximately $5,152 per year under the TA No. 1 lease.  Previously deferred rent due from TA of $107,085 and $42,915 is due in December 2022 and June 2024, respectively; however, we have not recognized any of the deferred rent as rental income or as rents receivable due to uncertainties regarding future collection.

 

We recognized rental income of $54,560 and $51,717 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $162,034 and $154,626 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, under our leases with TA.  Rental income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012 includes ($83) and ($239) and ($69) and $218, respectively, of adjustments necessary to record the scheduled rent increase on our TA No. 1 lease and the estimated future payment to us by TA for the cost of removing underground storage tanks on a straight line basis.  As of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, we had accruals for unpaid amounts of $31,368 and $29,300, respectively, owed to us by TA, excluding any deferred rents, which accrued amounts are included in other assets on our condensed consolidated balance sheets.  We had deferred percentage rent under our TA No. 1 lease of $464 and $77 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $1,746 and $1,277 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  We have waived an estimated $307 of percentage rent under our TA No. 2 lease as of September 30, 2013 because we previously agreed to waive the first $2,500 of percentage rents under the TA No. 2 lease.  We determine percentage rent due under our TA leases annually and recognize it at year end when all contingencies are met.

 

Under the TA No. 1 and No. 2 leases, TA may request that we fund approved amounts for renovations, improvements and equipment at leased travel centers in return for increases in TA’s minimum annual rent.  We are not required to fund these improvements and TA is not required to sell them to us.  For the nine months ended September 30, 2013, we funded $63,163 for capital improvements purchased from TA under this lease provision; and, as a result, TA’s minimum annual rent payable to us increased by approximately $5,369.

 

On April 15, 2013, TA entered an agreement with Shell Oil Products US, or Shell, pursuant to which Shell has agreed to construct a network of natural gas fueling lanes at up to 100 of TA’s travel centers located along the U.S. interstate highway system, including travel centers TA leases from us.  In connection with that agreement, on April 15, 2013, we and TA amended our leases to specify the economic equivalent for natural gas sales to diesel fuel sales for the calculation of percentage rent payable to us under the leases, with the intended effect that the amount of percentage rent be unaffected by the type of fuel sold, whether diesel fuel or natural gas.  That amendment also made certain administrative changes.  Also on that date, in order to facilitate TA’s agreement with Shell, we entered into a subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreement with Shell, whereby we agreed to recognize Shell’s license and other rights with respect to the natural gas fueling lanes at our travel centers leased to TA on certain conditions and in certain circumstances.

 

On July 1, 2013, we purchased land that we previously leased from a third party and subleased to TA under the TA No. 1 lease.  Effective as of that date, rents due to that third party and TA’s reimbursement of those rents to us under the terms of the TA No. 1 lease ceased.  Also on that date, we and TA amended the TA No. 1 lease to reflect our direct lease to TA of that land and certain minor properties adjacent to existing travel centers included in the TA No. 1 lease that we purchased and to increase the annual rent payable by TA to us by 8.5% of our total investment in these properties, or $537.  See Note 7 for further information regarding these acquisitions.

 

In August 2013, a travel center we leased to TA was taken by eminent domain proceedings by the VDOT.  See Note 7 for further information relating to this travel center and the effects of this taking on our TA No. 1 lease.

 

Relationship with RMR

 

We have no employees.  Personnel and various services we require to operate our business are provided to us by RMR.  We have two agreements with RMR to provide management and administrative services to us: (1) a business management agreement, which relates to our business generally, and (2) a property management agreement, which relates to the property level operations of an office building, which property is adjacent to our Royal Sonesta hotel in Baltimore, MD.

 

Under our business management agreement with RMR, we acknowledge that RMR also provides services to other companies, including TA and Sonesta.  One of our Managing Trustees, Barry Portnoy, is Chairman, majority owner and an employee of RMR.  Our other Managing Trustee, Adam Portnoy, is the son of Barry Portnoy, and an owner, President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of RMR.  Each of our executive officers is also an officer of RMR, including Ethan Bornstein, who is the son-in-law of Barry Portnoy and the brother-in-law of Adam Portnoy.  Certain of TA’s and Sonesta’s executive officers are officers of RMR.  Our Independent Trustees also serve as independent directors or independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR provides management services.  Barry Portnoy serves as a managing director or managing trustee of those companies, including TA, and Adam Portnoy serves as a managing trustee of a majority of those companies, but not TA.  In addition, officers of RMR serve as officers of those companies.

 

Pursuant to our business management and property management agreements with RMR, we incurred business management fees and property management fees of $10,744 and $8,068 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $30,711 and $26,650 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  These amounts are included in general and administrative expenses in our condensed consolidated financial statements.

 

On September 20, 2013, we and RMR agreed to restructure the base business management and incentive fees payable to RMR under our business management agreement beginning in 2014, as follows:

 

·                  The base business management fees we pay to RMR will be calculated on the basis of the lower of: (i) gross historical cost of our real estate assets, as defined, or (ii) our total market capitalization.  Market capitalization will include the market value of our common shares, plus the liquidation preference of preferred shares, if any, and the principal amount of debt.  The market value of our common shares will be calculated based on the average shares outstanding multiplied by the average closing share price during the period in which the fees are earned.

 

·                  10% of the base business management fees we pay to RMR will be paid in our common shares.  The amount of our common shares granted as part of the base business management fee will be calculated based on the average closing share price during the period in which the fees are earned.

 

·                  The annual incentive fees which may be earned by RMR will be calculated based upon total returns realized by our common shareholders (i.e., share price appreciation plus dividends) in excess of benchmarks.  The benchmarks will be set by our Compensation Committee, which is comprised solely of Independent Trustees, and will be disclosed in our annual meeting proxy statements.  Incentive fees will be paid in our common shares which will vest over a multiyear period and will be subject to a “claw back” in the event of certain material restatements of our financial results.

 

Effective July 2013, we, RMR and five other companies to which RMR provides management services purchased from an unrelated third party insurer a combined directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policy providing $10,000 of aggregate coverage and we also purchased from an unrelated third party insurer a separate directors’ and officers’ liability insurance policy providing $5,000 of coverage.  We paid aggregate premiums of approximately $338 in connection with these policies.

 

Relationship with Sonesta

 

On January 31, 2012, pursuant to a series of transactions, we effectively acquired entities that owned the Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston in Cambridge, MA, or the Cambridge Hotel, and had leasehold interests in the New Orleans Hotel, for approximately $150,500.  On that date, in connection with these transactions, we entered into hotel management agreements with Sonesta to manage the Cambridge Hotel and the New Orleans Hotel.  Since that time, we have rebranded additional hotels to Sonesta brands and management.  We currently lease all hotels that we own and which are managed by Sonesta to one of our TRSs.

 

In April 2012, we entered into a pooling agreement with Sonesta that combined our management agreements with Sonesta for hotels that we owned for purposes of calculating gross revenues, payment of hotel operating expenses, payment of fees and distributions and the calculation of minimum returns due to us.  We previously referred to this agreement and combination of hotels and management agreements as our Sonesta No. 1 agreement.  The management agreements for all of our hotels managed by Sonesta, excluding, until June 28, 2013, the New Orleans Hotel, were included in the Sonesta No. 1 agreement.  On June 28, 2013, we acquired the fee interest in the New Orleans Hotel from the third party owner from which we previously leased that hotel and, as a result, the lease with the third party terminated. Simultaneous with this acquisition, we and Sonesta amended and restated the prior management agreement we had with Sonesta for this hotel.  The terms of the amended and restated management agreement are substantially the same as those contained in our other management agreements with Sonesta relating to full service hotels and this management agreement was added to our pooling agreement with Sonesta.  We now refer to the pooling agreement and combination of our 22 Sonesta branded hotels and management agreements as our Sonesta agreement.  See Note 11 for further information about our management agreements with Sonesta.

 

In September 2013, we agreed to acquire a hotel in Orlando, FL for a purchase price of $21,000, excluding closing costs.  This hotel is adjacent to a Sonesta ES Suites hotel that we own and which is managed by Sonesta.  Upon acquisition of this hotel, we intend to rebrand the hotel as a Sonesta hotel.  This acquisition is subject to completion of diligence and other customary closing conditions and we can provide no assurance that we will acquire this property or that terms of the acquisition will not change.  We expect to enter into a hotel management agreement with Sonesta for this property on terms consistent with our other applicable hotel management agreements with Sonesta and add the management agreement for the property to our Sonesta agreement.

 

We are currently marketing our Sonesta hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC for sale.  We can provide no assurance that we will sell this property.  If we complete a sale of this hotel, the annual minimum return due from Sonesta is expected to decrease by an amount based on the net proceeds received.

 

Pursuant to our management agreements with Sonesta, we incurred management, system and reservation fees payable to Sonesta of $2,797 and $1,903 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $7,462 and $3,536 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  These amounts are included in hotel operating expenses in our condensed consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income.  In addition, we also incurred procurement and construction supervision fees payable to Sonesta in connection with capital expenditures at our hotels managed by Sonesta of $699 and $185 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $2,322 and $209 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively.  These amounts have been capitalized in our condensed consolidated balance sheets.  Under our hotel management agreements with Sonesta, routine property maintenance, which is expensed, is an operating expense of the hotels and repairs and periodic renovations, which are capitalized, are funded by us, except in the case of the New Orleans Hotel for capital expenditures incurred prior to June 28, 2013, which were borne in large part by the former lessor.

 

Under our management agreement with Sonesta, the costs of advertising, marketing, promotional and public relations programs and campaigns, including “frequent stay” rewards programs, that are intended for the benefit of all the Sonesta hotels we own, incurred by Sonesta are subject to reimbursement by us or otherwise treated as operating expenses of our hotels, subject to our approval of the applicable marketing program and cost allocation.  Sonesta has developed a guest loyalty program and marketing program for the Sonesta hotels.  Our Board and Independent Trustees agreed, effective July 1, 2013, to our reimbursement to Sonesta for these programs at rates not to exceed: 1.0% of the applicable hotel’s room revenues for the Sonesta guest loyalty program; 1.0% of the total revenues from our Sonesta managed hotels for the Sonesta marketing program; and 0.8% of the applicable hotel’s room revenues for Sonesta’s third party reservation transmission expenses.

 

The stockholders of Sonesta are Mr. Barry Portnoy and Mr. Adam Portnoy, who are our Managing Trustees, and they also serve as directors of Sonesta.  In addition, RMR also provides certain services to Sonesta.

 

Relationship with AIC

 

We, RMR, TA and five other companies to which RMR provides management services each currently own 12.5% of AIC, an Indiana insurance company.  All of our Trustees, all of the trustees and directors of the other publicly held AIC shareholders and nearly all of the directors of RMR currently serve on the board of directors of AIC.  RMR provides management and administrative services to AIC pursuant to a management and administrative services agreement with AIC.  As of September 30, 2013, we have invested $5,209 in AIC.  Although we own less than 20% of AIC, we use the equity method to account for this investment because we believe that we have significant influence over AIC because all of our Trustees are also directors of AIC.  Our investment in AIC had a carrying value of $5,781 and $5,629 as of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively, which amounts are included in other assets on our condensed consolidated balance sheets.  We recognized income of $64 and $115 for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $219 and $236 for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, arising from our investment in AIC.  We and the other shareholders of AIC have purchased property insurance providing $500,000 of coverage pursuant to an insurance program arranged by AIC and with respect to which AIC is a reinsurer of certain coverage amounts.  This program was modified and extended in June 2013 for a one year term and we paid a premium, including taxes and fees, of $6,842 in connection with that renewal, which amount may be adjusted from time to time as we acquire or dispose of properties that are included in this program.  We periodically consider the possibilities for expanding our insurance relationships with AIC to include other types of insurance and may in the future participate in additional insurance offerings AIC may provide or arrange.  We may invest additional amounts in AIC in the future if the expansion of this insurance business requires additional capital, but we are not obligated to do so.  By participating in this insurance business with RMR and the other companies to which RMR provides management services, we expect that we may benefit financially by possibly reducing our insurance expenses or by realizing our pro rata share of any profits of this insurance business.