GAAP requires a company to present ownership interests in subsidiaries held by parties other than the company in the consolidated financial statements within the equity section, but separate from the company’s equity. It also requires the amount of consolidated net income attributable to the parent and to the noncontrolling interest to be clearly identified and presented on the face of the consolidated statement of operations and requires changes in ownership interest to be accounted for similarly as equity transactions. If noncontrolling interests are determined to be redeemable, they are to be carried at their redemption value as of the balance sheet date and reported as temporary equity.

The Company has evaluated the terms of the Operating Partnership’s preferred units and classifies the noncontrolling interest represented by such preferred units as stockholders’ equity in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The Company will periodically evaluate individual noncontrolling interests for the ability to continue to recognize the noncontrolling amount as permanent equity in the consolidated balance sheets. Any noncontrolling interests that fail to qualify as permanent equity will be reclassified as temporary equity and adjusted to the greater of (1) the carrying amount, or (2) its redemption value as of the end of the period in which the determination is made.

At December 31, 2021 and 2020, the noncontrolling interests represented by the Preferred OP Units qualified for classification as permanent equity on the Company's consolidated balance sheets. The partnership agreement of the Operating Partnership (as amended, the "Partnership Agreement") provides for the designation and issuance of the OP Units. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, noncontrolling interests in Preferred OP Units were presented net of notes receivable from Preferred Operating Partnership unit holders of $100,000 as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, as more fully described below. The balances for each of the specific preferred OP units as presented in the Statement of Noncontrolling Interests and Equity as of the periods indicated is as follows:

The Partnership Agreement provides for the designation and issuance of the Series A Units. The Series A Units have priority over all other partnership interests of the Operating Partnership with respect to distributions and liquidation.

The Series A Units were issued in June 2007. Series A Units in the amount of $101,700 bear a fixed priority return of 2.3%, and originally had a fixed liquidation value of $115,000. The remaining balance participates in distributions with, and has a liquidation value equal to, that of the common OP Units. The Series A Units are redeemable at the option of the holder, which redemption obligation may be satisfied, at the Company’s option, in cash or shares of its common stock. As a result of the redemption of 114,500 Series A Units in October 2014, the remaining fixed liquidation value was reduced to $101,700 which represents 875,480 Series A Units.

On June 25, 2007, the Operating Partnership loaned the holders of the Series A Units $100,000. The note receivable bears interest at 2.1%. The loan is secured by the borrower’s Series A Units. No future redemption of Series A Units can be made unless the loan secured by the Series A Units is also repaid. The Series A Units are shown on the balance sheet net of the $100,000 loan because the borrower under the loan is also the holder of the Series A Units.

The Partnership Agreement provides for the designation and issuance of the Series B Units. The Series B Units rank junior to the Series A Units, on parity with the Series C Units and Series D Units, and senior to all other partnership interests of the Operating Partnership with respect to distributions and liquidation.

The Series B Units were issued in 2013 and 2014 and have a liquidation value of $25.00 per unit for a current fixed liquidation value of $38,068 which represents 1,522,727 Series B Units. Holders of the Series B Units receive distributions at an annual rate of 6.0%. These distributions are cumulative. The Series B Units became redeemable at the option of the holder on the first anniversary of the date of issuance, which redemption obligations may be satisfied at the Company’s option in cash or shares of its common stock.

The Partnership Agreement provides for the designation and issuance of the Series C Units. The Series C Units rank junior to the Series A Units, on parity with the Series B Units and Series D Units, and senior to all other partnership interests of the Operating Partnership with respect to distributions and liquidation.

The Series C Units were issued in 2013 and 2014 and had a liquidation value of $42.10 per unit. The Series C Units became redeemable at the option of the holder one year from the date of issuance, which redemption obligation could be satisfied at the Company’s option in cash or shares of its common stock.

In December 2014, the Operating Partnership loaned holders of the Series C Units $20,230. The note receivable, which was collateralized by the Series C Units, bears interest at 5.0% and matures on December 15, 2024. The Series C Units were shown on the balance sheet net of the loan because the borrower under the loan receivable was also the holder of the Series C Units.

On December 1, 2018, certain holders of the Series C Units converted their Series C Units into common OP Units, with a total of 407,996 Series C Units being converted into a total of 373,113 common OP Units. On April 25, 2019, the remaining

296,020 Series C Units were converted into 270,709 OP Units. The remaining outstanding balance of the loan receivable of $1,900 and $2,311 is shown as a reduction of the noncontrolling interests related to the OP Units as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively. See footnote 13 for further discussion of noncontrolling interests.

The Partnership Agreement provides for the designation and issuance of the Series D Units. The Series D Units rank junior to the Series A Units, on parity with the Series B Units and Series C Units, and senior to all other partnership interest of the Operating Partnership with respect to distributions and liquidation.

The Series D Units have a liquidation value of $25.00 per unit, for a current fixed liquidation value of $205,435 which represents 8,217,422 Series D Units. Holders of the Series D Units receive distributions at an annual rate between 3.0% and 5.0%. These distributions are cumulative. The Series D Units become redeemable at the option of the holder on the first anniversary of the date of issuance, which redemption obligation may be satisfied at the Company’s option in cash or shares of its common stock. In addition, certain of the Series D Units are exchangeable for common OP Units until the tenth anniversary of the date of issuance, with the number of common OP Units to be issued equal to $25.00 per Series D Unit, divided by the value of a share of common stock as of the exchange date.

The Series D Units have been issued at various times from 2014 to 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Operating Partnership issued a total of 3,522,937 Series D Units valued at $88,073 in conjunction with store acquisitions.

The Company’s interest in its stores is held through the Operating Partnership. Between its general partner and limited partner interests, the Company held a 93.9% majority ownership interest in the Operating Partnership as of December 31, 2021. The remaining ownership interests in the Operating Partnership (including Preferred OP Units) of 6.1% are held by certain former owners of assets acquired by the Operating Partnership. As of December 31,2021 and December 31, 2020, the noncontrolling interests in the Operating Partnership are shown on the balance sheet net of notes receivable of $1,900 and $2,311, respectively, because the borrowers under the loan receivable are also holders of OP Units (Note 12). This loan receivable bears interest at 5.0% per annum and matures on December 15, 2024.

The noncontrolling interest in the Operating Partnership represents OP Units that are not owned by the Company. OP Units are redeemable at the option of the holder, which redemption may be satisfied at the Company's option in cash based upon the fair market value of an equivalent number of shares of the Company’s common stock (based on the ten-day average trading price) at the time of the redemption, or shares of the Company's common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to anti-dilution adjustments provided in the Operating Partnership agreement. As of December 31, 2021, the ten-day average closing stock price was $220.58 and there were 6,528,436 OP Units outstanding. Assuming that all of the OP Unit holders exercised their right to redeem all of their OP Units on December 31, 2021 and the Company elected to pay the OP Unit holders cash, the Company would have paid $1,440,042 in cash consideration to redeem the units.

OP Unit activity is summarized as follows for the periods presented:


	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
OP Units redeemed for common stock	165,652		123,993		340,182
OP Units redeemed for cash	4,500		—		—
Cash paid for OP Units redeemed	$	788	$	—	$	—
OP Units issued in conjunction with acquisitions	897,803		—		—
Value of OP Units issued in conjunction with acquisitions	$	188,319	$	—	$	—
OP Units issued upon redemption of Series C Units	—		—		270,709

On December 1, 2018, 373,113 common OP Units were issued in the conversion of 407,996 Series C Units. These newly issued OP Units were pledged as collateral on the existing loan receivable to the Series C Unit holders. As a result, noncontrolling interests in the Operating Partnership was reported net of $11,091 of the loan receivable as of December 31, 2018, which represents the portion of the note receivable that is collateralized by the OP Units. The remaining 296,020 Series C Units were converted into 270,709 OP Units on April 25, 2019 and the remainder of the loan receivable was reported net with the OP Units. The remaining total outstanding balance of the loan receivable of $1,900 and $2,311 is shown as a reduction of the noncontrolling interests related to the OP Units as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

GAAP requires a company to present ownership interests in subsidiaries held by parties other than the company in the consolidated financial statements within the equity section but separate from the company’s equity. It also requires the amount of consolidated net income attributable to the parent and to the noncontrolling interest to be clearly identified and presented on the face of the consolidated statement of operations and requires changes in ownership interest to be accounted for similarly as equity transactions. If noncontrolling interests are determined to be redeemable, they are to be carried at their redemption value as of the balance sheet date and reported as temporary equity.

The Company has evaluated the terms of the common OP Units and classifies the noncontrolling interest represented by the common OP Units as stockholders’ equity in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. The Company will periodically evaluate individual noncontrolling interests for the ability to continue to recognize the noncontrolling amount as permanent equity in the consolidated balance sheets. Any noncontrolling interests that fail to qualify as permanent equity will be reclassified as temporary equity and adjusted to the greater of (1) the carrying amount, or (2) its redemption value as of the end of the period in which the determination is made.

Other noncontrolling interests represent the ownership interest of partners in two consolidated joint ventures as of December 31, 2021. One joint venture owns four stores in Georgia and the other owns one property under development in Florida. The voting interests of the partners are 10% or less.