SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]

Share-Based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense, which is included in general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of income, is summarized as follows:


	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Amounts in thousands)	2020		2019		2020		2019
Share-based compensation expense components:
Restricted share expense	$	199	$	297	$	653	$	1,384
Stock option expense	432		992		4,559		3,062
LTIP expense(1)	1,023		1,171		6,323		3,374
Performance-based LTI expense(2)	944		828		2,886		2,315
Deferred share unit (“DSU”) expense	6		22		42		134
Total Share-based compensation expense	$	2,604	$	3,310	$	14,463	$	10,269

(1) LTIP expense includes the time-based portion of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 LTI Plans.

(2) Performance-based LTI expense includes the 2015 and 2017 OPP plans and the performance-based portion of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 LTI Plans.

The total share-based compensation expense recognized for the nine months ended September 30, 2020 includes $5.6 million of accelerated amortization of unvested equity awards in connection with the executive transition of our former President of Development and the amount for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 includes $0.4 million of accelerated amortization of unvested equity awards in connection with the executive transition of our former Chief Operating Officer. Equity award activity during the nine months ended September 30, 2020 included: (i) 2,208,304 stock options vested, (ii) 297,195 LTIP units granted, (iii) 341,022 LTIP units vested, (iv) 50,285 restricted shares vested and (v) 31,679 restricted shares granted.

2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan

On February 20, 2020, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Company approved the Company’s 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan (“2020 LTI Plan”). The Plan is a multi-year, equity compensation program under which participants, including our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, have the opportunity to earn awards in the form of LTIP units that vest based on (i) the passage of time (one-third of the fair value of the program) and (ii) performance goals tied to our relative and absolute total shareholder return (“TSR”) during the three-year performance period following their grant (two-thirds of the fair value of the program). The total grant date fair value under the 2020 LTI Plan was $8.8 million comprising performance-based and time-based awards.