Related Parties

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Parties

20. Related Parties

Management Agreements

We provide property management, leasing and other related services to certain properties owned by members of the Otto Family. We recognized fee income of $1,227,000, $842,000 and $838,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, in connection with these agreements, which is included as a component of “fee and other income” on our consolidated statements of income. As of December 31, 2020, amounts owed to us under these agreements aggregated $34,000, which are included as a component of “accounts and other receivables” on our consolidated balance sheets.  

We also provide property management, asset management, leasing and other related services to our unconsolidated joint ventures and real estate funds. We recognized fee income of $22,986,000, $17,466,000 and $15,231,000, for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, in connection with these agreements. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, amounts owed to us under these agreements aggregated $5,011,000 and $2,734,000, respectively, which are included as a component of “accounts and other receivables” on our consolidated balance sheets.

Hamburg Trust Consulting GMBH (“HTC”)

We have an agreement with HTC, a licensed broker in Germany, to supervise selling efforts for our private equity real estate funds (or investments in feeder vehicles for these funds) to investors in Germany, including distribution of securitized notes of feeder vehicles for Fund X. Pursuant to this agreement, we have agreed to pay HTC for the costs incurred to sell investments in these funds or their feeder vehicles, including certain incremental costs incurred by HTC as a result of the engagement, plus, a mark-up of 10%. HTC is 100% owned by Albert Behler, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. We incurred expenses of $512,000, $796,000 and $240,000 for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, in connection with this agreement, which are included as a component of “transaction related costs” on our consolidated statements of income. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, we owed $123,000 and $38,000, respectively, to HTC under this agreement, which are included as a component of “accounts payable and accrued expenses” on our consolidated balance sheets.

Mannheim Trust

A subsidiary of Mannheim Trust leases office space at 712 Fifth Avenue, our 50.0% owned unconsolidated joint venture, pursuant to a lease agreement which expires in April 2023. Dr. Martin Bussmann (a member of our Board of Directors) is also a trustee and a director of Mannheim Trust. During the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, we recognized $362,000, $360,000 and $366,000, respectively, for our share of rental income pursuant to this lease.

Due from Affiliates

At December 31, 2019, we had a $36,918,000 note receivable from Fund X that bore interest at LIBOR plus 220 basis points and was included as “due from affiliates” on our consolidated balance sheet. On March 27, 2020, the $36,918,000 note receivable was repaid, together with $349,000 of accrued interest.

Other

We have entered into an agreement with Kramer Design Services (“Kramer Design”) to, among other things, develop company-wide standard branding guidelines. Kramer Design is owned by the spouse of Albert Behler, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized $187,000 of expenses in connection with this agreement. There were no amounts owed to Kramer Design under this agreement as of December 31, 2020.

Kramer Design has also entered into agreements with 712 Fifth Avenue, our 50.0% owned unconsolidated joint venture, to, among other things, create and design marketing materials with respect to the vacant retail space at 712 Fifth Avenue. For the year ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we recognized expense of $29,000 and $325,000, respectively, for our share of the fees incurred in connection with these agreements.