Agreements and Transactions with Related Parties

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Agreements and Transactions with Related Parties

Transactions with Our Advisor

We have an advisory agreement with our Advisor whereby our Advisor performs certain services for us under a fee arrangement, including the identification, evaluation, negotiation, purchase, development, day-to-day management, and disposition of real estate and related assets and mortgage loans. We also reimburse our Advisor for general and administrative duties performed on our behalf. The advisory agreement has a term of one year and may be renewed for successive one-year periods. We may terminate the advisory agreement upon 60 days written notice without cause or penalty. As of December 31, 2021, the advisory agreement has been renewed through March 31, 2022.

We have an unsecured revolving line of credit with WPC with a borrowing capacity of $50.0 million, for which the scheduled maturity date was extended from March 31, 2022 to March 31, 2023 during the fourth quarter of 2021. The line of credit bears an interest rate equal to the rate that WPC can borrow funds under its senior credit facility (including an annual facility fee of 0.20%). During the year ended December 31, 2021, we repaid in full the $21.1 million outstanding balance on the line of credit (including accrued interest), which was the amount outstanding at December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2021, we had no amounts drawn on the line of credit. Subsequent to December 31, 2021 and through the date of this Report, we borrowed $18.0 million under the line of credit (Note 15).

Jointly Owned Investments

As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we owned interests ranging from 50% to 99% in 16 and 18 jointly owned investments, respectively, with the remaining interests held by WPC (four investments as of both dates) or by third parties. Since no other parties hold any rights that supersede our control, we consolidate all of these joint ventures (our sole equity investment, which we accounted for under the equity method of accounting, was sold during the year ended December 31, 2020 (Note 4)).

On December 29, 2020, we acquired the 1.3% remaining shares in a jointly owned net lease student housing property located in Barcelona, Spain, from the joint-venture partner, for total consideration of $4.5 million.

Other Transactions with Our Affiliates

The following tables present a summary of fees we paid, expenses we reimbursed, and distributions we made to our Advisor and other affiliates in accordance with the terms of the relevant agreements (in thousands):


	Years Ended December 31,
	2021		2020		2019
Amounts Included in the Consolidated Statements of Income
Asset management fees	$	12,528	$	11,914	$	11,539
Available Cash Distributions	7,345		7,225		8,132
Personnel and overhead reimbursements	2,714		2,648		3,161
Interest expense	536		468		492
Disposition fees	—		—		1,117
	$	23,123	$	22,255	$	24,441

Acquisition Fees Capitalized
Capitalized personnel and overhead reimbursements	$	135	$	140	$	665
Current acquisition fees	—		110		695
Deferred acquisition fees	—		88		555
	$	135	$	338	$	1,915

The following table presents a summary of amounts included in Due to affiliates in the consolidated financial statements (in thousands):


	December 31,
	2021		2020
Due to Affiliates
External joint-venture loans, accounts payable, and other (a)	$	6,624	$	6,940
Asset management fees payable	1,062		1,328
Acquisition fees, including accrued interest	10		1,871
Loan from WPC, including accrued interest	—		21,144

	$	7,696	$	31,283

___________

(a)Includes loans from our joint-venture partners to the jointly owned investments that we consolidate. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, amounts outstanding to our joint-venture partners, including accrued interest, were $5.5 million and $5.3 million, respectively.

Asset Management Fees

Pursuant to the advisory agreement, our Advisor is entitled to an annual asset management fee ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, depending on the type of investment and based on the average market value or average equity value, as applicable, of our investments. Asset management fees are payable in cash and/or shares of our Class A common stock at our board of directors’ election in consultation with our Advisor. For any portion of fees our Advisor receives in shares, the number of shares issued is determined by dividing the dollar amount of fees by our most recently published estimated net asset value per share (“NAV”) per Class A share, which was $9.07 as of September 30, 2021. Effective January 1, 2019, our Advisor agreed to receive 50% of the asset management fees in shares of our Class A common stock and 50% in cash. Effective April 1, 2020, our Advisor agreed to receive all of its asset management fees in shares of our Class A common stock. As of December 31, 2021, our Advisor owned 8,326,732 shares of our outstanding Class A common stock, or 5.6% of our total Class A and Class C shares outstanding. Asset management fees are included in Property expenses, excluding reimbursable tenant costs in the consolidated financial statements.

Acquisition and Disposition Fees

Our Advisor receives acquisition fees, a portion of which is payable upon acquisition, while the remaining portion is subordinated to a preferred return of a non-compounded cumulative distribution of 5.0% per annum (based initially on our invested capital). The initial acquisition fee and subordinated acquisition fee are 2.5% and 2.0%, respectively, of the aggregate total cost of our portion of each investment for all investments, other than those in readily marketable real estate securities purchased in the secondary market, for which our Advisor will not receive any acquisition fees. Deferred acquisition fees are scheduled to be paid in three equal annual installments following the quarter in which a property was purchased and are subject to the preferred return described above. The preferred return was achieved as of the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Unpaid installments of deferred acquisition fees are included in Due to affiliates in the consolidated financial statements and bear interest at an annual rate of 2.0%. The cumulative total acquisition costs, including acquisition fees paid to the Advisor, may not exceed 6.0% of the aggregate contract purchase price of all investments, which is measured at the end of each year.

Effective January 1, 2020, the Advisor has waived its right to disposition fees with respect to sales and dispositions of single investments and portfolios of investments. The Advisor may still be entitled to disposition fees in connection with a transaction or series of transactions related to a merger, liquidation, or other event, at the discretion of our board of directors. Prior to January 1, 2020, our Advisor was entitled to receive a disposition fee equal to the lesser of (i) 50.0% of the competitive real estate commission (as defined in the advisory agreement) or (ii) 3.0% of the contract sales price of the investment being sold. These fees were paid at the discretion of our board of directors. During the year ended December 31, 2019, a total of $1.1 million of disposition fees were approved and paid in connection with certain 2018 and 2019 dispositions, and are included in Gain on sale of real estate, net in the consolidated financial statements.

Personnel and Overhead Reimbursements

Under the terms of the advisory agreement, our Advisor allocates a portion of its personnel and overhead expenses to us and the other entities that are managed by WPC and its affiliates, which as of December 31, 2021 included Carey European Student Housing Fund I L.P. (WPC’s advisory agreements with Carey Watermark Investors Incorporated and Carey Watermark Investors 2 Incorporated were terminated on April 13, 2020).

We reimburse our Advisor for the allocated costs of personnel and overhead in managing our day-to-day operations, including accounting services, stockholder services, corporate management, and property management and operations. In addition, we reimburse our Advisor for various expenses it incurs in the course of providing services to us. We reimburse certain third-party expenses paid by our Advisor on our behalf, including professional fees, and office expenses. We do not reimburse our Advisor for salaries and benefits paid to our named executive officers or for the cost of personnel that provide services for transactions for where our Advisor receives a fee (such as for acquisitions and dispositions). Under the advisory agreement, the amount of applicable personnel costs allocated to us is capped at 1.0% of our pro rata total revenues for each of 2021, 2020, and 2019. Our Advisor allocates overhead expenses to us based upon the percentage that our full-time employee equivalents comprised of the Advisor’s total full-time employee equivalents. Costs related to our Advisor’s legal transactions group are based on a schedule of expenses relating to services performed for different types of transactions, such as financing, lease amendments, and dispositions, among other categories. In general, personnel and overhead reimbursements are included in General and administrative expenses in the consolidated financial statements.

Excess Operating Expenses

Our Advisor is obligated to reimburse us for the amount by which our operating expenses exceeds the “2%/25% guidelines” (the greater of 2% of average invested assets or 25% of net income) as defined in the advisory agreement for any 12-month period, subject to certain conditions. For the most recent trailing four quarters, our operating expenses were below this threshold.

Available Cash Distributions

WPC’s interest in the Operating Partnership entitles it to receive distributions of up to 10.0% of the available cash generated by the Operating Partnership (“the Available Cash Distribution”), which is defined as cash generated from operations, excluding capital proceeds, as reduced by operating expenses and debt service, excluding prepayments and balloon payments. Available Cash Distributions are included in Net loss (income) attributable to noncontrolling interests in the consolidated financial statements.