Related Person Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Person Transactions

Related Person Transactions

We have relationships and historical and continuing transactions with RMR, RMR Inc., and others related to them, including other companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of which have trustees, directors or officers who are also our Trustees or officers. RMR is a majority owned subsidiary of RMR Inc. The Chair of our Board of Trustees and one of our Managing Trustees, Adam Portnoy, is the sole trustee, an officer and the controlling shareholder of ABP Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc., the chair of the board of directors, a managing director, the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR. Jennifer Clark, our other Managing Trustee, is a managing director and the executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of RMR Inc., an officer and employee of RMR and an officer of ABP Trust. Each of our officers is also an officer and employee of RMR. Some of our Independent Trustees also serve as independent trustees or independent directors of other public companies to which RMR or its subsidiaries provide management services. Mr. Portnoy serves as chair of the boards and as a managing director or managing trustee of these public companies. Other officers of RMR, including Ms. Clark, serve as managing trustees, managing directors or officers of certain of these companies.

Our Manager, RMR. We have two agreements with RMR to provide management services to us. RMR also provides management services to our unconsolidated joint ventures. See Note 6 for more information regarding our and our unconsolidated joint ventures’ management agreements with RMR.

Leases with RMR. We lease office space to RMR in certain of our properties for RMR’s property management offices. Pursuant to our lease agreements with RMR, we recognized rental income from RMR for leased office space of $1,126, $1,138 and $1,120 for the years ended December 31, 2022, 2021 and 2020, respectively. Our office space leases with RMR are terminable by RMR if our management agreements with RMR are terminated.

Share Awards to RMR Employees. As described further in Note 11, we award shares to our officers and other employees of RMR annually. Generally, one fifth of these awards vest on the grant date and one fifth vests on each of the next four anniversaries of the grant dates. In certain instances, we may accelerate the vesting of an award, such as in connection with the award holder’s retirement as an officer of us or an officer or employee of RMR. These awards to RMR employees are in addition to the share awards to our Managing Trustees, as Trustee compensation, and the fees we paid to RMR. See Note 11 for more information regarding our share awards and activity as well as certain share purchases we made in connection with share award recipients satisfying tax withholding obligations on vesting share awards.

Sonesta. In June 2021, we entered into a 30-year lease agreement with a subsidiary of Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, or Sonesta, in connection with the redevelopment of an office property we own in Washington, D.C. as a mixed-

use property. Sonesta’s lease is for the planned full-service hotel component of the property that will include approximately 230,000 rentable square feet, which represents approximately 54% of the total square feet upon completion of the redevelopment. The term of the lease commences upon our delivery of the completed hotel, which we estimate to occur in the second quarter of 2023. Sonesta has two options to extend the term for 10 years each. Pursuant to the lease agreement, Sonesta will pay us annual base rent of approximately $6,436 beginning 18 months after the lease commences. The annual base rent will increase by 10% every five years throughout the term. Sonesta is also obligated to pay its pro rata share of the operating costs for the property. We estimate that the total cost to build the hotel space will be approximately $66,000. Mr. Portnoy is a director and controlling shareholder of Sonesta and Ms. Clark is a director of Sonesta. Another officer and employee of RMR is a director and the president and chief executive officer of Sonesta.Affiliates Insurance Company. Until its dissolution on February 13, 2020, we, ABP Trust and five other companies to which RMR provides management services owned Affiliates Insurance Company, or AIC, in equal portions. In connection with AIC’s dissolution, we and each other AIC shareholder received a liquidating distribution of $287 in June 2020 and a final liquidating distribution of $11 in December 2021.