S-3 1 forms-3.htm S-3

 

Registration No. 333-________________

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM S-3

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

STRAWBERRY FIELDS REIT, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Maryland

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

 

84-2336054

(I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

 

6101 Nimtz Parkway, South Bend, IN 46628

(574) 807-0800

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

Steven Greenfield, Esq.

Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc.

5683 North Lincoln Ave.

Chicago IL 60659

(574) 807-0800

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code of agent for service)

 

Please send copies of all communications, including copies of all communications sent to agent for service, to:

 

Richard Pearlman, Esq.

Igler and Pearlman, P.A.

3122 Mahan Drive, Suite 801-180

Tallahassee, Florida 32308

 

From time to time after the effective date of this registration statement

(Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public)

 

If the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans, please check the following box:

 

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, other than securities offered only in connection with dividend or interest reinvestment plans, check the following box: ☒

 

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.

 

If this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction I.D. or a post-effective amendment thereto that shall become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act, check the following box.

 

If this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction I.D. filed to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box.

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

  Large accelerated filer Accelerated filer
  Non-accelerated filer Smaller reporting company
      Emerging growth company

 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

 

The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. We may not sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED APRIL 15, 2026

 

PROSPECTUS

 

STRAWBERRY FIELDS REIT, INC.

 

$200,000,000

 

Shares of Common Stock

Shares of Preferred Stock

Warrants

Subscription Rights

Units

 

We may offer and sell, from time to time, together or separately, in one or more offerings, (i) shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, which we refer to herein as “common stock,” (ii) shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, which we may issue in one or more series and which we refer to herein as “preferred stock,” (iii) warrants to purchase our equity securities, (iv) subscription rights, and (v) units consisting of two or more of the foregoing, up to a maximum aggregate offering price of $200,000,000.

 

We will offer our securities in amounts, at prices and on the terms to be determined at the time we offer the securities. Each time we offer securities, we will provide a supplement to this prospectus that will contain more specific information about the terms of that offering, including the price at which those securities will be sold. We may also add, update or change in the prospectus supplement any of the information contained in this prospectus. Our common stock is listed for trading on the NYSE American under the trading symbol “STRW.” Each prospectus supplement will indicate if the securities offered thereby will be listed on any securities exchange.

 

The securities may be offered on a delayed or continuous basis and may be offered and sold directly by us, through agents, underwriters or dealers as designated from time to time, through a combination of these methods or through any other method provided in the applicable prospectus supplement. If any underwriters are involved in the sale of the securities, the names of such underwriters and any applicable commissions or discounts will be set forth in a prospectus supplement. For additional information on the methods of sale of the securities, you should refer to the section entitled “Plan of Distribution” in this prospectus and to the corresponding section in the applicable prospectus supplement. You should read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement carefully before you invest.

 

This prospectus may not be used to sell securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement or a free writing prospectus.

 

We are organized and conduct our operations so as to qualify as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes. The specific terms of the securities may include limitations on actual, beneficial or constructive ownership and restrictions on the transfer of the securities that may be appropriate to preserve our status as a REIT.

 

Investing in our securities involves substantial risks. See “Risk Factors” on page 4 of this prospectus.

 

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

The date of this prospectus is ________, 2026

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

About this Prospectus   1
Where You Can Find More Information   1
Incorporation of Certain Documents by Reference   2
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements   2
Our Company   3
Risk Factors   4
Use of Proceeds   4
Description of Securities Offered   4
Description of Common Stock   4
Description of Preferred Stock   8
Description of Warrants   9
Description of Units   10
Description of Subscription Rights   11
Certain Provisions of Maryland Law and of Our Charter and Bylaws   12
Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations   17
Plan of Distribution   44
Legal Matters   45
Experts   45

 

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

 

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), utilizing a “shelf” registration process, which allows us to sell the securities covered by this prospectus from time to time, together or separately, in one or more offerings up to an aggregate public offering price of $200,000,000.

 

This prospectus only provides you with a general description of the securities we may offer. Each time we sell securities, we will provide a supplement to this prospectus that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering, including the number of securities, and the price at which, and the specific manner in which, those securities may be offered and sold. The prospectus supplement may also add to, update or change information contained in this prospectus. Before purchasing any securities, you should carefully read both this prospectus and any supplement, together with additional information described under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

 

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement or amendment. We have not authorized any other person to provide you information different from that contained in this prospectus or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement or amendment. You should assume that the information appearing in this prospectus or any applicable prospectus supplement or the documents incorporated by reference herein or therein is accurate only as of the date on the cover page. Our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since that date.

 

Unless the context requires otherwise, references to “Strawberry”, the “Company”, “we”, “our”, “ours” and “us” are to Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. and its subsidiaries included in our consolidated financial statements. The phrase “this prospectus” refers to this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, unless the context otherwise requires. References to “securities” refer to the shares of common stock, shares of preferred stock, warrants and subscription rights offered by this prospectus, unless we specify or the context indicates or requires otherwise.

 

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

 

We file annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our electronic filings with the SEC are available to the public on the Internet at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov.

 

We also maintain an Internet site where you can find additional information. The address of our Internet site is https://www.strawberryfieldsreit.com. All internet addresses provided in this prospectus or in any accompanying prospectus supplement are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be hyperlinks. In addition, the information on our Internet website, or any other Internet site described herein, is not a part of, and is not incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference in, this prospectus or any accompanying prospectus supplement or other offering materials.

 

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INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

 

The SEC’s rules allow us to incorporate by reference information into this prospectus. This means that we can disclose important information to you by referring you to another document. Any information referred to in this way is considered part of this prospectus from the date we file that document. Any reports filed by us with the SEC after the date of this prospectus will automatically update and, where applicable, supersede any information contained in this prospectus or incorporated by reference in this prospectus. We incorporate by reference the following documents (other than information “furnished” and not “filed”):

 

  Our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the SEC on March 19, 2026 (the “2025 Form 10-K”);
     
  Our definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A, filed with the SEC on April 1, 2026;
     
  Our Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed on January 30, 2026, February 19, 2026, February 26, 2026, and April 15, 2026 (which includes risk factors); and
     
  The description of our securities registered with the SEC pursuant to Section 12 of the Exchange Act included as Exhibit 4.1 to the 2025 Form 10-K.

 

All documents we file pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this prospectus and prior to the termination of the offering of the securities to which this prospectus relates (other than information in such documents that is furnished and not deemed to be filed) shall also be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this prospectus and to be part hereof from the date of filing of those documents.

 

We will provide without charge to each person, including any beneficial owner, to whom this prospectus is delivered, upon his or her written or oral request, a copy of any or all documents referred to above which have been or may be incorporated by reference into this prospectus, excluding exhibits to those documents unless they are specifically incorporated by reference into those documents. You may request a copy of these filings, at no cost, by writing or telephoning us at our principal executive office:

 

Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc.

Attn: Steven Greenfield, Esq.

6101 Nimtz Parkway,

South Bend, IN 46628

(574) 807-0800

 

You should rely only on the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone else to provide you with additional or different information. We are not making an offer of these securities in any state where the offer is not permitted. You should not assume that the information in this prospectus or the applicable prospectus supplement or any document incorporated by reference is accurate as of any date other than the dates of the applicable documents.

 

CAUTIONARY NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

Certain statements in this prospectus are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not statements of historical fact. This prospectus also contains forward-looking statements by third parties relating to market and industry data and forecasts; forecasts and other forward-looking information obtained from these sources are subject to the same qualifications and uncertainties as the other forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. These forward-looking statements include information about possible or assumed future events, including, among other things, discussion and analysis of our future financial condition, results of operations, Funds From Operations (“FFO”), our strategic plans and objectives, cost management, potential property acquisitions, anticipated capital expenditures (and access to capital), amounts of anticipated cash distributions to our stockholders in the future and other matters. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates” and variations of these words and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, are difficult to predict and/or could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements.

 

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Forward-looking statements involve inherent uncertainty and may ultimately prove to be incorrect or false. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise may be required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or actual operating results. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to:

 

  risks and uncertainties related to the national, state and local economies, particularly the economies of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, and the real estate and healthcare industries in general;
  availability and terms of capital and financing;
  the impact of existing and future healthcare reform legislation on our tenants, borrowers and guarantors;
  adverse trends in the healthcare industry, including, but not limited to, changes relating to reimbursements available to our tenants by government or private payors;
  competition in long-term healthcare industry and shifts in the perception of various types of long-term care facilities, including skilled nursing facilities;
  the impact of COVID-19 on our business and the business of our tenants and operators, including without limitation, increased costs and decreased occupancy levels experienced by operators of skilled nursing facilities;
  our tenants’ ability to make rent payments;
  our dependence upon key personnel whose continued service is not guaranteed;
  availability of appropriate acquisition opportunities and the failure to integrate successfully;
  ability to source target-marketed deal flow;
  ability to dispose of assets held for sale for the anticipated proceeds or on a timely basis, or to deploy the proceeds therefrom on favorable terms;
  fluctuations in mortgage and interest rates;
  changes in the ratings of our debt securities;
  risks and uncertainties associated with property ownership and development;
  the potential need to fund improvements or other capital expenditures out of operating cash flow;
  potential liability for uninsured losses and environmental liabilities;
  the outcome of pending or future legal proceedings;
  changes in tax laws and regulations affecting REITs;
  our ability to maintain our qualification as a REIT; and
  the effect of other factors affecting our business or the businesses of our operators that are beyond our or their control, including natural disasters, other health crises or pandemics and governmental action; particularly in the healthcare industry.

 

This list of risks and uncertainties, however, is only a summary of some of the most important factors and is not intended to be exhaustive. New risks and uncertainties may also emerge from time to time that could materially and adversely affect us.

 

OUR COMPANY

 

We are a self-managed and self-administered real estate company that specializes in the acquisition, ownership and triple-net leasing of skilled nursing facilities and other post-acute healthcare properties. We generate substantially all of our revenues by leasing our properties to tenants under long-term leases primarily on a triple-net basis, under which the tenant pays the cost of real estate taxes, insurance and other operating costs of the facility and capital expenditures.

 

We elected to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), commencing with our taxable year ending December 31, 2022. We believe that we have been organized and have operated, and we intend to continue to operate, in a manner to qualify for taxation as a REIT, taking into account our reliance on a REIT savings provision in curing a past asset test violation as described below under “Material U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations – Taxation of the Company”. We operate through an umbrella partnership, commonly referred to as an UPREIT structure, in which substantially all of our properties and assets are held through Strawberry Fields Realty, L.P. (the “Operating Partnership”). We are the general partner of the Operating Partnership. To maintain REIT status, we must meet certain organizational and operational requirements, including requirements related to the sources of our gross income and the composition of our assets, limitations on the concentration of ownership of our stock, and minimum distribution requirements based on our taxable income.

 

The Company’s common stock is registered with the SEC under the Exchange Act, and files periodic reports with the SEC. The Company’s common stock trades on The NYSE American under the symbol “STRW.”

 

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RISK FACTORS

 

An investment in our securities involves risks. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks, uncertainties and assumptions discussed in Exhibit 99.1 under the caption “Risk Factors” included in our Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on April 15, 2026, which is incorporated by reference herein as Exhibit 99.1, as well as any risks described in any applicable prospectus supplement, before you make an investment decision regarding the securities. These risk factors may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by other reports we file with the SEC in the future. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also affect our business operations and financial condition. Some statements in this prospectus constitute forward-looking statements. Please refer to the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

 

USE OF PROCEEDS

 

Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable prospectus supplement, we anticipate that the net proceeds from the sale of the securities that we may offer under this prospectus will be contributed to our Operating Partnership in exchange for OP units. We may also use the net proceeds for (i) the acquisition of additional properties (including equity investments in joint ventures that acquire such properties and/or the acquisition of the interest of our joint venture partners in one or more joint ventures), (ii) other direct or indirect acquisitions of, or investments in, real estate and related assets, and (iii) general corporate purposes. General corporate purposes may include repayment of debt, capital expenditures and any other purposes that we may specify in the applicable prospectus supplement. If a material part of the net proceeds is used to repay indebtedness, we will set forth the interest rate and maturity of such indebtedness in a prospectus supplement, as required.

 

We will have significant discretion in the use of any net proceeds. Investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds from any sale of the securities. We may invest the net proceeds temporarily until we use them for their stated purpose.

 

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES OFFERED

 

The following description is a summary of the material terms of our securities, including Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Warrants, Units, and Subscription Rights as set forth in our charter and our bylaws and the Maryland General Corporation Law (the “MGCL”). These documents may be amended from time to time. You should read our charter and our bylaws because they, not this description, define your rights as a stockholder.

 

Our charter authorizes us to issue up to 600,000,000 shares of stock, consisting of 500,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of April 15, 2026, 13,378,307 shares of our common stock and no shares of our preferred stock were issued and outstanding.

 

All of our outstanding shares of common stock were duly authorized and validly issued and are fully paid and nonassessable.

 

Under Maryland law, stockholders generally are not personally liable for our debts or obligations solely as a result of their status as stockholders.

 

DESCRIPTION OF COMMON STOCK

 

Voting Rights of Common Stock

 

Subject to the provisions of our charter regarding the restrictions on transfer and ownership of shares of our common stock and except as may otherwise be specified in the terms of any class or series of common stock, each outstanding share of common stock entitles the holder to one vote on all matters submitted to a vote of stockholders, including the election of directors, and, except as provided with respect to any other class or series of capital stock, the holders of shares of common stock will possess the exclusive voting power. There is no cumulative voting in the election of the Company’s directors, which means that the stockholders entitled to cast a majority of the votes of the outstanding shares of common stock can elect all of the directors then standing for election, and the holders of the remaining shares will not be able to elect any directors.

 

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Under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation generally cannot dissolve, amend its charter, merge, convert, sell all or substantially all of its assets, engage in a statutory share exchange or engage in similar transactions outside the ordinary course of business unless approved by its board of directors and approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders holding at least two-thirds of the shares entitled to vote on the matter unless a lesser percentage (but not less than a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter) is set forth in the corporation’s charter. Our charter provides that these actions (other than certain amendments to the provisions of our charter related to the removal of directors and the vote required to amend the charter, which requires at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast) may be taken if advised by our board of directors and approved by the vote of stockholders holding at least a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. However, Maryland law permits a corporation to transfer all or substantially all of its assets without the approval of the stockholders of the corporation to one or more persons if all of the equity interests of the person or persons are owned, directly or indirectly, by the corporation. In addition, because assets may be held by a corporation’s subsidiaries, as will be the case with the Company, these subsidiaries may be able to transfer all or substantially all of such assets without a vote of our stockholders.

 

Dividends, Distributions, Liquidation and Other Rights

 

Subject to the preferential rights of any other class or series of our stock and to the provisions of our charter regarding the restrictions on transfer of shares of stock, holders of shares of common stock are entitled to receive dividends on such shares of common stock if, as and when authorized by our board of directors and declared by us out of assets legally available therefor. Such holders are also entitled to share ratably in the assets of the Company legally available for distribution to our stockholders in the event of our liquidation, dissolution or winding up after payment or establishment of reserves for all debts and liabilities of the Company and any shares with preferential rights thereto.

 

Holders of shares of common stock have no appraisal, preference, conversion, exchange, sinking fund or redemption rights, have no preemptive rights to subscribe for any of our securities, except as may be provided by our board of directors in setting the terms and rights of any class or series of our stock. Subject to the preferential rights of any other class or series of our stock and to the provisions of our charter regarding the restrictions on transfer of shares of stock, all shares of common stock have equal dividend, liquidation and other rights.

 

Power to Reclassify Our Unissued Shares of Stock

 

Our charter authorizes our board of directors, without stockholder approval, to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of common or preferred stock into other classes or series of shares of stock and to establish the number of shares in each class or series and to set the preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends or other distributions, qualifications or terms or conditions of redemption for each such class or series. As a result, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of shares of preferred stock that have priority over the shares of common stock with respect to dividends, distributions and rights upon liquidation and with other terms and conditions that could have the effect of delaying, deterring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for holders of shares of our common stock or otherwise might be in their best interest. No shares of preferred stock are presently outstanding, and we have no present plans to issue any shares of preferred stock.

 

Power to Increase or Decrease Authorized Stock and Issue Additional Shares of Our Common Stock and Preferred Stock

 

Our charter authorizes our board of directors, with the approval of a majority of the entire board of directors, to amend our charter to increase or decrease the aggregate number of authorized shares of stock or the number of authorized shares of stock of any class or series without stockholder approval. We believe that the power of our board of directors to increase or decrease the number of authorized shares of stock and to classify or reclassify unissued shares of our common stock or preferred stock and thereafter to cause us to issue such shares of stock will provide us with increased flexibility in structuring possible future financings and acquisitions and in meeting other needs which might arise. The additional classes or series, as well as the additional shares of stock, will be available for future issuance without further action by our stockholders, unless such action is required by applicable law, the terms of any other class or series of stock or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which our securities may be listed or traded. Our board of directors could authorize us to issue a class or series that could, depending upon the terms of the particular class or series, delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in control of the Company that might involve a premium price for our stockholders or otherwise believe to be in their best interests.

 

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Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer

 

In order to qualify as a REIT under the Code, our shares of stock must be beneficially owned by 100 or more persons during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months (other than the first year for which an election to be a REIT has been made) or during a proportionate part of a shorter taxable year. Also, not more than 50% of the value of our outstanding shares of capital stock may be owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals (as defined in the Code to include certain entities) during the last half of a taxable year (other than the first year for which an election to be a REIT has been made).

 

Because our board of directors believes it is at present essential for us to qualify as a REIT, among other purposes, our charter, subject to certain exceptions, contains restrictions on the number of our shares of stock that a person may own. Our charter provides that, subject to certain exceptions, (i) no person, may beneficially or constructively own more than 9.8% in value of the aggregate outstanding shares of our common stock, and (ii) no person may beneficially or constructively own more than 9.8%, in value of the outstanding shares of any class or series of our preferred stock (collectively, the “ownership limit”).

 

Our charter also prohibits any person from:

 

● beneficially or constructively owning or transferring shares of our capital stock if such ownership or transfer would result in our being “closely held” within the meaning of Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a year);

 

● transferring shares of our capital stock if such transfer would result in our capital stock being owned by fewer than 100 persons (determined under the principles of Section 856(a)(5) of the Code);

 

● beneficially or constructively owning shares of our capital stock to the extent that such beneficial or constructive ownership would cause us to constructively own 9.9% or more of the stock or other equity interests (determined in accordance with Section 856(d)(2)(B) of the Code) issued by a tenant, other than a taxable REIT subsidiary (“TRS,” as described below), of our real property;

 

● beneficially or constructively owning or transferring shares of our capital stock if such beneficial or constructive ownership or transfer would otherwise cause us to fail to qualify as a REIT under the Code, including, but not limited to, as a result of any “eligible independent contractor” (as defined in Section 856(d)(9)(A) of the Code) that operates a “qualified health care property” (as defined in Section 856(e)(6)(D)(i) of the Code) on behalf of a TRS failing to qualify as such under the Code; or

 

● acquiring shares of our capital stock if such acquisition would disqualify us as a REIT under the Code.

 

Our board of directors is authorized to consider the lack of certainty in the provisions of the Code relating to the ownership of stock that may prevent a corporation from qualifying as a REIT and may make interpretations concerning the ownership limitations, ownership attribution rules and related matters on as conservative a basis as the board of directors deems advisable so as to minimize or eliminate uncertainty as to our qualification or continued qualification as a REIT. Our charter does not restrict the authority of the board to take such other actions as it deems necessary or advisable to protect us and the interests of the stockholders by preserving our qualification as a REIT under the Code.

 

Our board of directors, in its sole discretion, may prospectively or retroactively exempt a person from certain of the limits described above and may establish or increase an excepted holder percentage limit for such person if our board of directors obtains such representations, covenants and undertakings as it deems appropriate in order to conclude that granting the exemption and/or establishing or increasing the excepted holder percentage limit will not result in our being “closely held” under Section 856(h) of the Code (without regard to whether the ownership interest is held during the last half of a taxable year) or otherwise failing to qualify as a REIT. Our board of directors may not grant an exemption to any person if that exemption would result in our failing to qualify as a REIT. Our board of directors may require a ruling from the IRS or an opinion of counsel, in either case in form and substance satisfactory to our board of directors, in its sole discretion, in order to determine or ensure our status as a REIT.

 

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Notwithstanding the receipt of any ruling or opinion, our board of directors may impose such guidelines or restrictions as it deems appropriate in connection with granting any such exemption. In connection with granting a waiver of the ownership limit or creating an exempted holder limit or at any other time, our board of directors from time to time may increase or decrease the ownership limit, subject to certain exceptions. A decreased ownership limit will not apply to any person or entity whose percentage of ownership of our stock is in excess of the decreased ownership limit until the person or entity’s ownership of our stock equals or falls below the decreased ownership limit, but any further acquisition of our stock will be subject to the decreased ownership limit.

 

Any attempted transfer of shares of our capital stock which, if effective, would violate any of the restrictions described above will result in the number of shares of our capital stock causing the violation (rounded up to the nearest whole share) to be automatically transferred to a trust for the exclusive benefit of one or more charitable beneficiaries and the purported owner or transferee (the “prohibited owner”) acquiring no rights in such shares, except that any transfer that results in the violation of the restriction relating to shares of our capital stock being beneficially owned by fewer than 100 persons will be void ab initio. In either case, the prohibited owner will not acquire any rights in those shares. The automatic transfer will be deemed to be effective as of the close of business on the business day prior to the date of the purported transfer or other event that results in the transfer to the trust. Shares held in the trust will be issued and outstanding shares. The prohibited owner will not benefit economically from ownership of any shares held in the trust, will have no rights to dividends or other distributions and will have no rights to vote or other rights attributable to the shares held in the trust. The trustee of the trust will have all voting rights and rights to dividends or other distributions with respect to shares held in the trust. These rights will be exercised for the exclusive benefit of the charitable beneficiary. Any dividend or other distribution paid prior to our discovery that shares have been transferred to the trust will be paid by the recipient to the trustee upon demand. Any dividend or other distribution authorized but unpaid will be paid when due to the trustee. Any dividend or other distribution paid to the trustee will be held in trust for the charitable beneficiary. Subject to Maryland law, the trustee will have the authority (i) to rescind as void any vote cast by the prohibited owner prior to our discovery that the shares have been transferred to the trust and (ii) to recast the vote in accordance with the desires of the trustee acting for the benefit of the charitable beneficiary. However, if we have already taken irreversible corporate action, then the trustee will not have the authority to rescind and recast the vote.

 

Within 20 days of receiving notice from us that shares of our stock have been transferred to the trust, the trustee will sell the shares to a person, designated by the trustee, whose ownership of the shares will not violate the above ownership and transfer limitations. Upon the sale, the interest of the charitable beneficiary in the shares sold will terminate and the trustee will distribute the net proceeds of the sale to the prohibited owner and to the charitable beneficiary as follows. The prohibited owner will receive the lesser of (i) the price paid by the prohibited owner for the shares or, if the prohibited owner did not give value for the shares in connection with the event causing the shares to be held in the trust (e.g., a gift, devise or other similar transaction), the market price (as defined in our charter) of the shares on the day of the event causing the shares to be held in the trust and (ii) the price per share received by the trustee (net of any commission and other expenses of sale) from the sale or other disposition of the shares. The trustee may reduce the amount payable to the prohibited owner by the amount of dividends or other distributions paid to the prohibited owner and owed by the prohibited owner to the trustee. Any net sale proceeds in excess of the amount payable to the prohibited owner will be paid immediately to the charitable beneficiary. If, prior to our discovery that shares of our stock have been transferred to the trust, the shares are sold by the prohibited owner, then (i) the shares shall be deemed to have been sold on behalf of the trust and (ii) to the extent that the prohibited owner received an amount for the shares that exceeds the amount he or she was entitled to receive, the excess shall be paid to the trustee upon demand.

 

In addition, shares of our stock held in the trust will be deemed to have been offered for sale to us, or our designee, at a price per share equal to the lesser of (i) the price per share in the transaction that resulted in the transfer to the trust (or, in the case of a devise or gift, the market price at the time of the devise or gift) and (ii) the market price on the date we, or our designee, accept the offer, which we may reduce by the amount of dividends and distributions paid to the prohibited owner and owed by the prohibited owner to the trustee. We will have the right to accept the offer until the trustee has sold the shares. Upon a sale to us, the interest of the charitable beneficiary in the shares sold will terminate and the trustee will distribute the net proceeds of the sale to the prohibited owner.

 

If a transfer to a charitable trust, as described above, would be ineffective for any reason to prevent a violation of a restriction contained in our charter, the transfer that would have resulted in a violation will be void ab initio, and the prohibited owner shall acquire no rights in those shares.

 

The foregoing restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply if our board of directors determines that it is no longer in our best interests to attempt to qualify, or to continue to qualify, as a REIT.

 

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Any certificate representing shares of our capital stock, and any notices delivered in lieu of certificates with respect to the issuance or transfer of uncertificated shares, will bear a legend referring to the restrictions described above.

 

Any person who acquires or attempts or intends to acquire beneficial or constructive ownership of shares of our capital stock that will or may violate any of the foregoing restrictions on transferability and ownership, or any person who would have owned shares of our capital stock that resulted in a transfer of shares to a charitable trust, is required to give written notice immediately to us, or in the case of a proposed or attempted transaction, to give at least 15 days’ prior written notice, and provide us with such other information as we may request in order to determine the effect of the transfer on our status as a REIT.

 

Every owner of 5% or more (or any lower percentage as required by the Code or the regulations promulgated thereunder) in number or value of the outstanding shares of our capital stock, within 30 days after the end of each taxable year, is required to give us written notice, stating his or her name and address, the number of shares of each class and series of shares of our capital stock that he or she beneficially owns and a description of the manner in which the shares are held. Each of these owners must provide us with additional information that we may request in order to determine the effect, if any, of his or her beneficial ownership on our status as a REIT and to ensure compliance with the ownership limits. In addition, each stockholder will upon demand be required to provide us with information that we may request in good faith in order to determine our status as a REIT and to comply with the requirements of any taxing authority or governmental authority or to determine our compliance.

 

These ownership limitations could delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for shares of our common stock or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders.

 

Transfer Agent and Registrar

 

The transfer agent and registrar for our shares of common stock is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.

 

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED STOCK

 

The following paragraphs constitute a general description of the terms of the preferred stock we may issue from time to time. Particular terms of any preferred stock we offer will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to such securities. The description in the applicable prospectus supplement of any preferred stock we offer will not necessarily be complete and will be qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable preferred stock designation, which will be filed with the SEC if we offer preferred stock.

 

Our charter authorizes our board of directors issue up to 100,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, in one or more series and with rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions that our board of directors may fix or designate without any further vote or action by our stockholders. Our charter also authorizes our board of directors to classify and reclassify any unissued shares of our common stock or preferred stock into other classes or series of stock, including one or more classes or series of preferred stock, and authorizes us to issue the newly classified shares. Before authorizing the issuance of a new class or series of preferred stock, our board of directors is required by Maryland law and our charter, subject to the provisions of our charter regarding the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock, to fix the preferences, conversion and other rights, voting powers, restrictions, limitations as to dividends and other distributions, qualifications and terms and conditions of redemption for each class or series. Our board of directors also may increase or decrease the authorized number of shares of any class or series of our stock, including any class or series of our preferred stock, and may classify or reclassify any unissued shares of a class or series of our stock by fixing or altering from time to time the terms of such shares.

 

These actions may be taken without stockholder approval unless such approval is required by applicable law, the terms of any other class or series of our stock or the rules of any stock exchange or automated quotation system on which any shares of our stock are listed or traded. Therefore, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of shares of preferred stock that have priority over our common stock with respect to dividends or other distributions or rights upon liquidation or the issuance of shares of common stock or preferred stock with terms and conditions that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control or other transaction that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be in the best interest of our stockholders.

 

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Terms

 

Articles supplementary that will become part of our charter will set forth the specific terms of any new series of preferred stock offered. A prospectus supplement will describe these specific terms, including:

 

● the title and stated value;

 

● the number of shares, liquidation preference and offering price;

 

● the dividend rate, dividend periods and payment dates;

 

● the date on which dividends begin to accrue or accumulate;

 

● any auction and remarketing procedures;

 

● any retirement or sinking fund requirement;

 

● the price and the terms and conditions of any redemption right;

 

● any listing on any securities exchange;

 

● the price and the terms and conditions of any conversion or exchange right;

 

● any voting rights;

 

● the relative ranking and preferences as to dividends, liquidation, dissolution or winding up;

 

● any limitations on issuing any series of preferred stock ranking senior to or on a parity with the series of preferred stock as to dividends, liquidation, dissolution or winding up;

 

● any limitations on direct or beneficial ownership and restrictions on transfer; and

 

● any other specific terms, preferences, rights, limitations or restrictions.

 

Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer; Change of Control Provisions

 

As discussed above under “Description of Common Stock-Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer,” our charter contains restrictions on ownership and transfers of our capital stock. In addition, the articles supplementary designating the terms of each series of preferred stock may also contain additional provisions restricting the ownership and transfer of the preferred stock. The prospectus supplement will describe any additional ownership limitation relating to a series of our preferred stock.

 

DESCRIPTION OF WARRANTS

 

The following paragraphs constitute a general description of the terms of the warrants we may issue from time to time. Particular terms of any warrants we offer will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to such warrants. The description in the applicable prospectus supplement of any warrants we offer will not necessarily be complete and will be qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable warrant certificate or warrant agreement, which will be filed with the SEC if we offer warrants.

 

General

 

We may issue warrants to purchase our equity securities. We may issue warrants independently or together with any other offered securities. The warrants may be attached to or separate from those offered securities. We may issue the warrants under warrant agreements to be entered into between us and a transfer agent or bank or trust company to be named in the applicable prospectus supplement, as warrant agent, all as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. Any warrant agent will act solely as our agent in connection with the warrants and will not assume any obligation or relationship of agency or trust for or with any holders or beneficial owners of warrants.

 

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The prospectus supplement relating to any warrants that we may offer will contain the specific terms of the warrants. These terms may include the following:

 

  the title of the warrants;
     
  the designation, amount and terms of the securities for which the warrants are exercisable;
     
  the designation and terms of the other securities, if any, with which the warrants are to be issued and the number of warrants issued with each other security;
     
  the price or prices at which the warrants will be issued;
     
  the aggregate number of warrants;
     
  any provisions for adjustment of the number or amount of securities receivable upon exercise of the warrants or the exercise price of the warrants;
     
  the price or prices at which the securities purchasable upon exercise of the warrants may be purchased;
     
  the date on which the right to exercise the warrants will commence, and the date on which the right will expire;
     
  if applicable, the date on and after which the warrants and the securities purchasable upon exercise of the warrants will be separately transferable;
     
  if applicable, a discussion of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations applicable to the warrants;
     
  any other terms of the warrants, including terms, procedures and limitations relating to the redemption, exchange and exercise of the warrants;
     
  the maximum or minimum number of warrants that may be exercised at any time; and
     
  information with respect to book-entry procedures, if any.

 

Exercise of Warrants

 

Each warrant will entitle the holder of warrants to purchase for cash the amount of equity securities at the exercise price stated or determinable in the prospectus supplement for the warrants. Warrants may be exercised at any time up to the close of business on the expiration date shown in the applicable prospectus supplement, unless otherwise specified in such prospectus supplement. After the close of business on the expiration date, unexercised warrants will become void. Warrants may be exercised as described in the applicable prospectus supplement. When the warrant holder makes the payment and properly completes and signs the warrant certificate at the corporate trust office of the warrant agent or any other office indicated in the prospectus supplement, we will, as soon as possible, forward the equity securities that the warrant holder has purchased. If the warrant holder exercises the warrant for less than all of the warrants represented by the warrant certificate, we will issue a new warrant certificate for the remaining warrants.

 

DESCRIPTION OF UNITS

 

This section describes some of the general terms and provisions applicable to units we may issue from time to time. We will describe the specific terms of a series of units and the applicable unit agreement in the applicable prospectus supplement. The following description and any description of the units in the applicable prospectus supplement may not be complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the terms and provisions of the applicable unit agreement. A form of the unit agreement reflecting the particular terms and provisions of a series of offered units will be filed with the SEC in connection with the offering and incorporated by reference in the registration statement and this prospectus.

 

We may issue units from time to time in such amounts and in as many distinct series as we determine. We will issue each series of units under a unit agreement to be entered into between us and a unit agent to be designated in the applicable prospectus supplement. When we refer to a series of units, we mean all units issued as part of the same series under the applicable unit agreement.

 

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We may issue units consisting of any combination of two or more securities described in this prospectus. Each unit will be issued so that the holder of the unit is also the holder of each security included in the unit. Thus, the holder of a unit will have the rights and obligations of a holder of each included security. The unit agreement under which a unit is issued may provide that the securities included in the unit may not be held or transferred separately, at any time or at any time before a specified date.

 

The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the terms of the units offered pursuant to it, including one or more of the following:

 

  the designation and terms of the units and of the securities comprising the units, including whether and under what circumstances those securities may be held or transferred separately;
     
  the aggregate number of, and the price at which we will issue, the units;
     
  any provisions for the issuance, payment, settlement, transfer or exchange of the units or of the securities comprising the units;
     
  whether the units will be issued in fully registered or global form;
     
  the name of the unit agent;
     
  a description of the terms of any unit agreement to be entered into between us and a bank or trust company, as unit agent, governing the units;
     
  if appropriate, a discussion of the material U.S. federal income tax consequences applicable to the units; and
     
  whether the units will be listed on any securities exchange.

 

Additionally, in order to enable us to preserve our status as a REIT, we may take certain actions to restrict ownership and transfer of our outstanding securities, including any units. The prospectus supplement related to the offering of any units will specify any additional ownership limitation relating to the units being offered thereby.

 

DESCRIPTION OF SUBSCRIPTION RIGHTS

 

The following paragraphs constitute a general description of the terms of the subscription rights we may issue from time to time. Particular terms of any subscription rights we offer will be described in the prospectus supplement relating to such subscription rights. The description in the applicable prospectus supplement of any subscription rights we offer will not necessarily be complete and will be qualified in its entirety by reference to the applicable subscription rights certificate or subscription rights agreement, which will be filed with the SEC if we offer subscription rights.

 

We may issue subscription rights to purchase our common shares, preferred shares or other securities. These subscription rights may be issued independently or together with any other security offered hereby and may or may not be transferable by the securityholder receiving the subscription rights in such offering. In connection with any offering of subscription rights, we may enter into a standby arrangement with one or more underwriters or other purchasers pursuant to which the underwriters or other purchasers may be required to purchase any or a portion of the securities remaining unsubscribed for after such offering.

 

The applicable prospectus supplement will describe the specific terms of any offering of subscription rights for which this prospectus is being delivered, including the following:

 

  the price, if any, for the subscription rights;
     
  the exercise price payable for each common share, preferred share or other security upon the exercise of the subscription rights;
     
  the number of subscription rights issued to each securityholder;

 

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  the number and terms of the common shares, preferred shares or other securities which may be purchased per each subscription right;
     
  the extent to which the subscription rights are transferable;
     
  any other terms of the subscription rights, including the terms, procedures and limitations relating to the exchange and exercise of the subscription rights;
     
  the date on which the right to exercise the subscription rights shall commence, and the date on which the subscription rights shall expire;
     
  the extent to which the subscription rights may include an over-subscription privilege with respect to unsubscribed securities; and
     
  if applicable, the material terms of any standby underwriting or purchase arrangement entered into by us in connection with the offering of subscription rights.

 

CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF MARYLAND LAW AND OF OUR CHARTER AND BYLAWS

 

Although the following summary describes certain provisions of Maryland law and the material provisions of our charter and bylaws, it is not a complete description of our charter and bylaws, copies of which are filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, or of Maryland law.

 

Our Board of Directors

 

Our charter and bylaws provide that the number of directors of the Company may be established, increased or decreased by our board of directors, but may not be less than the minimum number required under the MGCL, which is one, or, unless our bylaws are amended, more than fifteen. We have elected by a provision of our charter to be subject to a provision of Maryland law requiring that, subject to the rights of holders of one or more classes or series of preferred stock, any vacancy resulting from an increase in the number of directors, or the resignation, death or removal of a director may be filled only by a majority of the remaining directors, even if the remaining directors do not constitute a quorum, and any director elected to fill a vacancy will serve for the full term of the directorship in which such vacancy occurred and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies.

 

Each member of our board of directors is elected by our stockholders to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders and until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies. Holders of shares of our common stock will have no right to cumulative voting in the election of directors, and directors will be elected by a plurality of the votes cast in the election of directors. Consequently, at each annual meeting of stockholders, stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast in the election of directors will be able to elect all of our directors.

 

Removal of Directors

 

Our charter provides that, subject to the rights of holders of one or more classes or series of preferred stock to elect or remove one or more directors, a director may be removed only for cause (as defined in our charter) and only by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast generally in the election of directors. This provision, when coupled with the exclusive power of our board of directors to fill vacant directorships, may preclude stockholders from removing incumbent directors except for cause and by a substantial affirmative vote and filling the vacancies created by such removal with their own nominees.

 

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Business Combinations

 

Under the MGCL, certain “business combinations” (including a merger, consolidation, share exchange or, in circumstances specified in the statute, an asset transfer or issuance or reclassification of equity securities) between a Maryland corporation and an “interested stockholder” (defined generally as any person (other than the corporation or any subsidiary) who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock after the date on which the corporation had 100 or more beneficial owners of its stock, or an affiliate or associate of the corporation who, at any time within the two-year period immediately prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of 10% or more of the voting power of the then outstanding stock of the corporation after the date on which the corporation had 100 or more beneficial owners of its stock) or an affiliate of an interested stockholder, are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. Thereafter, any such business combination between the Maryland corporation and an interested stockholder generally must be recommended by the board of directors of such corporation and approved by the affirmative vote of at least (1) 80% of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of outstanding shares of voting stock of the corporation and (2) two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast by holders of voting stock of the corporation other than shares held by the interested stockholder with whom (or with whose affiliate) the business combination is to be effected or held by an affiliate or associate of the interested stockholder, unless, among other conditions, the corporation’s common stockholders receive a minimum price (as defined in the MGCL) for their shares and the consideration is received in cash or in the same form as previously paid by the interested stockholder for its shares. Under the MGCL, a person is not an “interested stockholder” under the statute if the board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which the person otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. The board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by it.

 

The statute permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by the board of directors prior to the time that the interested stockholder became an interested stockholder. As permitted by the MGCL, our board of directors has adopted a resolution exempting any business combination between us and any other person from the provisions of this statute, provided that the business combination is first approved by our board of directors (including a majority of directors who are not affiliates or associates of such persons). However, our board of directors may repeal or modify this resolution at any time in the future, in which case the applicable provisions of this statute will become applicable to business combinations between us and interested stockholders.

 

Control Share Acquisitions

 

The MGCL provides that a holder of “control shares” of a Maryland corporation acquired in a “control share acquisition” has no voting rights with respect to those shares except to the extent approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter, excluded shares of stock in respect of which any of the following persons is entitled to exercise or direct the exercise of the voting power of such shares generally in the election of directors: (1) the person who makes or proposes to make a control share acquisition, (2) an officer of the corporation or (3) an employee of the corporation who is also a director of the corporation. “Control shares” are outstanding shares of voting stock which, if aggregated with all other such shares of stock previously acquired by the acquirer or in respect of which the acquirer is able to exercise or direct the exercise of voting power (except solely by virtue of a revocable proxy), would entitle the acquirer to exercise voting power in electing directors within one of the following ranges of voting power: (1) one-tenth or more but less than one-third, (2) one-third or more but less than a majority or (3) a majority or more of all voting power. Control shares do not include shares the acquiring person is then entitled to vote as a result of having previously obtained stockholder approval. A “control share acquisition” means the acquisition of issued and outstanding control shares, subject to certain exceptions.

 

A person who has made or proposes to make a control share acquisition, upon satisfaction of certain conditions (including an undertaking to pay expenses and making an “acquiring person statement” as described in the MGCL), may compel the board of directors to call a special meeting of stockholders to be held within 50 days of demand to consider the voting rights of the shares. If no request for a meeting is made, the corporation may itself present the question at any stockholders meeting.

 

If voting rights are not approved at the meeting or if the acquiring person does not deliver an acquiring person statement as required by the statute, then, subject to certain conditions and limitations, the corporation may redeem any or all of the control shares (except those for which voting rights have previously been approved) for fair value determined, without regard to the absence of voting rights for the control shares, as of the date of the last control share acquisition by the acquirer or of any meeting of stockholders at which the voting rights of such shares are considered and not approved. If voting rights for control shares are approved at a stockholders meeting and the acquirer becomes entitled to vote a majority of the shares entitled to vote, all other stockholders may exercise appraisal rights. The fair value of the shares as determined for purposes of such appraisal rights may not be less than the highest price per share paid by the acquirer in the control share acquisition.

 

The control share acquisition statute does not apply to, among other things, (1) shares acquired in a merger, consolidation or share exchange if the corporation is a party to the transaction or (2) acquisitions approved or exempted by the charter or bylaws of the corporation.

 

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Our bylaws contain a provision exempting from the control share acquisition statute any acquisition by any person of shares of our stock. There can be no assurance that such provision will not be amended or eliminated at any time in the future by our board of directors.

 

Subtitle 8

 

Subtitle 8 of Title 3 of the MGCL permits the board of directors of a Maryland corporation with a class of equity securities registered under the Exchange Act and at least three independent directors to elect to be subject, by provision in its charter or bylaws or a resolution of its board of directors, without stockholder approval, and notwithstanding any contrary provision in the charter or bylaws, to any or all of five provisions of the MGCL which provide, respectively, that:

 

1. the corporation’s board of directors will be divided into three classes;

 

2. the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast in the election of directors generally is required to remove a director;

 

3. the number of directors may be fixed only by the vote of the directors;

 

4. a vacancy on its board of directors be filled only by the remaining directors and, if the board of directors is divided into classes, that directors elected to fill a vacancy will serve for the remainder of the full term of the class of directors in which the vacancy occurred; and

 

5. the request of stockholders entitled to cast at least a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting is required for the calling of a special meeting of stockholders.

 

We have elected by a provision in our charter to be subject to the provisions of Subtitle 8 relating to the filling of vacancies on our board of directors. In addition, without our having elected to be subject to Subtitle 8, our charter and bylaws already (1) require the affirmative vote of holders of shares entitled to cast at least two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast generally in the election of directors to remove a director from our board of directors, (2) vest in our board of directors the exclusive power to fix the number of directors and (3) require, unless called by our chairman, our president and chief executive officer or our board of directors, the request of stockholders entitled to cast not less than a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting to call a special meeting. Our board of directors is not currently classified. In the future, our board of directors may elect, without stockholder approval, to classify our board of directors or elect to be subject to any of the other provisions of Subtitle 8.

 

Meetings of Stockholders

 

Pursuant to our bylaws, an annual meeting of our stockholders for the purpose of the election of directors and the transaction of any other business will be held on a date and at the time and place set by our board of directors. Each of our directors is elected by our stockholders to serve until the next annual meeting or until his or her successor is duly elected and qualifies under Maryland law. In addition, our chairman, our president and chief executive officer or our board of directors may call a special meeting of our stockholders. Subject to the provisions of our bylaws, a special meeting of our stockholders to act on any matter that may properly be considered by our stockholders will also be called by our secretary upon the written request of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting on such matter, accompanied by the information required by our bylaws. Our secretary will inform the requesting stockholders of the reasonably estimated cost of preparing and mailing the notice of meeting (including our proxy materials), and the requesting stockholder must pay such estimated cost before our secretary may prepare and mail the notice of the special meeting.

 

Amendments to Our Charter and Bylaws

 

Under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation generally cannot amend its charter unless approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter unless a lesser percentage (but not less than a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter) is set forth in the corporation’s charter. Except for certain amendments related to the removal of directors and the vote required to amend the charter (which must be declared advisable by our board of directors and approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast not less than two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter), our charter generally may be amended only if the amendment is declared advisable by our board of directors and approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Our board of directors, with the approval of a majority of the entire board, and without any action by our stockholders, may also amend our charter to increase or decrease the aggregate number of shares of stock or the number of shares of stock of any class or series we are authorized to issue.

 

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Our board of directors has the exclusive power to adopt, alter or repeal any provision of our bylaws and to make new bylaws.

 

Extraordinary Transactions

 

Under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation generally cannot dissolve, merge, convert, sell all or substantially all of its assets, engage in a statutory share exchange or engage in similar transactions outside the ordinary course of business unless approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast at least two-thirds of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter unless a lesser percentage (but not less than a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter) is set forth in the corporation’s charter. As permitted by the MGCL, our charter provides that any of these actions may be approved by the affirmative vote of stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter. Many of our operating assets will be held by our subsidiaries, and these subsidiaries may be able to merge or sell all or substantially all of their assets without the approval of our stockholders.

 

Appraisal Rights

 

Our charter provides that our stockholders generally will not be entitled to exercise statutory appraisal rights.

 

Advance Notice of Director Nominations and New Business

 

Our bylaws provide that, with respect to an annual meeting of stockholders, nominations of individuals for election to our board of directors and the proposal of other business to be considered by our stockholders at an annual meeting of stockholders may be made only (1) pursuant to our notice of the meeting, (2) by or at the direction of our board of directors or (3) by any stockholder who was a stockholder of record at the record date set by our board of directors for the purposes of determining stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting, at the time of giving of notice and at the time of the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting on the election of the individual so nominated or such other business and who has complied with the advance notice procedures set forth in our bylaws, including a requirement to provide certain information about the stockholder and its affiliates and the nominee or business proposal, as applicable.

 

With respect to special meetings of stockholders, only the business specified in our notice of meeting may be brought before the meeting. Nominations of individuals for election to our board of directors may be made at a special meeting of stockholders at which directors are to be elected only (1) by or at the direction of our board of directors or (2) provided that the special meeting has been properly called in accordance with our bylaws for the purpose of electing directors, by any stockholder who was a stockholder of record at the record date set by our board of directors for the purposes of determining stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting, at the time of giving of notice and at the time of the meeting, who is entitled to vote at the meeting on the election of each individual so nominated and who has complied with the advance notice provisions set forth in our bylaws, including a requirement to provide certain information about the stockholder and its affiliates and the nominee.

 

Anti-Takeover Effect of Certain Provisions of Maryland Law and Our Charter and Bylaws

 

Our charter and bylaws and Maryland law contain provisions that may delay, defer or prevent a change in control or other transaction that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders, including:

 

● supermajority vote and cause requirements for removal of directors;

 

● requirement that stockholders entitled to cast a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast at the meeting must act together to make a written request before our stockholders can require us to call a special meeting of stockholders;

 

● provisions that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by the remaining directors for the full term of the directorship in which the vacancy occurred;

 

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● the power of our board of directors, without stockholder approval, to increase or decrease the aggregate number of authorized shares of stock or the number of shares of any class or series of stock;

 

● the power of our board of directors to cause us to issue additional shares of stock of any class or series and to fix the terms of one or more classes or series of stock without stockholder approval;

 

● the restrictions on ownership and transfer of our stock; and

 

● advance notice requirements for director nominations and stockholder proposals.

 

Likewise, if the resolution opting out of the business combination provisions of the MGCL was repealed, or the business combination is not approved by our board of directors, or the provision in the bylaws opting out of the control share acquisition provisions of the MGCL were rescinded, these provisions of the MGCL could have similar anti-takeover effects.

 

Exclusive Forum

 

Our bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland, or, if that court does not have jurisdiction, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Northern Division, will be the sole and absolute forum for (a) any Internal Corporate Claim, as such term is defined in Section 1-101 of the MGCL, (b) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf other than actions arising under the federal securities laws, (c) any action asserting a claim of breach of any duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or to our stockholders, (d) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees arising pursuant to any provision of the MGCL or our charter or bylaws or (e) any action asserting a claim against us or any of our directors, officers or other employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine and no such action may be brought in any court sitting outside of the State of Maryland or in another circuit court within the State of Maryland unless we consent in writing to such court. These provisions of our bylaws will not apply to claims that may be asserted under federal securities laws.

 

Limitation of Liability and Indemnification of Directors and Officers

 

Maryland law permits a Maryland corporation to include in its charter a provision eliminating the liability of its directors and officers to the corporation and its stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from (1) actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services or (2) active and deliberate dishonesty that is established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action. Our charter contains a provision that eliminates such liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.

 

Our charter obligates us, to the fullest extent permitted by Maryland law in effect from time to time, to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, pay or reimburse reasonable expenses of our officers and directors against liabilities to the maximum extent permitted by the MGCL, as amended from time to time.

 

The MGCL requires a corporation (unless its charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not) to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made, or threatened to be made, a party by reason of his or her service in that capacity. The MGCL permits a corporation to indemnify its present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made, or threatened to be made, a party by reason of their service in those or other capacities unless it is established that:

 

● the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (1) was committed in bad faith or (2) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty;

 

● the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or

 

● in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful.

 

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However, under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation may not indemnify a director or officer for an adverse judgment in a suit by or in the right of the corporation or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, unless in either case a court orders indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, and then only for expenses. In addition, the MGCL permits a Maryland corporation to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon its receipt of:

 

● a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification by the corporation; and

 

● a written undertaking by the director or officer or on the director’s or officer’s behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed by the corporation if it is ultimately determined that the director or officer did not meet the standard of conduct.

 

● Our charter obligates us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law in effect from time to time, to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of such a proceeding to:

 

● any present or former director or officer of the Company who is made, or threatened to be made, a party to the proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity; or

 

● any individual who, while a director or officer of the Company and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, partner, trustee, member or manager of another corporation, real estate investment trust, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or other enterprise and who is made, or threatened to be made, a party to the proceeding by reason of his or her service in that capacity.

 

Our charter also permits us to indemnify and advance expenses to any individual who served the Predecessor Company in any of the capacities described above and to any employee or agent of the Company or our Predecessor.

 

We entered into customary indemnification agreements with our directors and executive officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify our directors and executive officers against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status as directors or officers to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law and provide for the advancement of expenses in connection therewith.

 

REIT Qualification

 

Our charter provides that our board of directors may revoke or otherwise terminate our REIT election, without approval of our stockholders, if it determines that it is no longer in our best interest to attempt to qualify, or to continue to qualify, as a REIT.

 

Transfer Agent and Registrar

 

The transfer agent and registrar for our shares of common stock is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.

 

MATERIAL U.S. FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS

 

This section summarizes the material federal income tax considerations that may be relevant to you as a holder of our stock. For purposes of this section, references to “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer only to Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc., and not to the Operating Partnership or our other subsidiaries, unless otherwise required by the context. Because this section is a summary, it does not address all aspects of taxation that may be relevant to particular stockholders in light of their personal investment or tax circumstances, or to certain types of stockholders that are subject to special treatment under the federal income tax laws, such as:

 

  insurance companies;
     
   tax-exempt organizations (except to the limited extent discussed in “—Taxation of Tax-Exempt Stockholders” below);
     
  financial institutions or broker-dealers;
     
  non-U.S. individuals and foreign corporations (except to the limited extent discussed in “—Taxation of Non-U.S. Stockholders” below);

 

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  U.S. expatriates;
     
  persons who account for their investment in our stock on a mark-to-market basis;
     
  subchapter S corporations;
     
  U.S. stockholders (as defined below) whose functional currency is not the U.S. dollar;
     
  regulated investment companies and REITs;
     
  trusts and estates;
     
  holders who receive our stock through the exercise of employee stock options or otherwise as compensation;
     
  persons holding our stock as part of a “straddle,” “hedge,” “conversion transaction,” “synthetic security” or other integrated investment;
     
  persons subject to the alternative minimum tax provisions of the Code; and
     
  persons holding our stock through a partnership or similar pass-through entity.

 

This summary assumes that stockholders hold our stock as capital assets for federal income tax purposes, which generally means property held for investment.

 

The statements in this section are not intended to be, and should not be construed as, tax advice. Greenberg Traurig, LLP has acted as our tax counsel in connection with the preparation and review of this section. The statements in this section are based on the Code, current, temporary and proposed Treasury regulations, the legislative history of the Code, current administrative interpretations and practices of the IRS, and court decisions. The reference to IRS interpretations and practices includes the IRS positions as set forth in private letter rulings, which are not binding on the IRS except with respect to the taxpayer that receives the ruling. In each case, these sources are relied upon as they exist on the date of this summary. Future legislation, Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations and court decisions could change current law or adversely affect existing interpretations of current law on which the information in this section is based. Any such change could apply retroactively. We have not received any rulings from the IRS concerning our qualification as a REIT. Accordingly, even if there is no change in the applicable law, no assurance can be provided that the statements made in the following discussion, which do not bind the IRS or the courts, will not be challenged by the IRS or will be sustained by a court if so challenged.

 

WE URGE YOU TO CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR REGARDING THE SPECIFIC TAX CONSEQUENCES TO YOU OF THE PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP AND SALE OF OUR STOCK AND OF OUR ELECTION TO BE TAXED AS A REIT. SPECIFICALLY, YOU SHOULD CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR REGARDING THE FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND FOREIGN INCOME AND OTHER TAX CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH PURCHASE, OWNERSHIP, SALE AND ELECTION, AND REGARDING POTENTIAL CHANGES IN APPLICABLE TAX LAWS.

 

Taxation of the Company

 

We have elected to be taxed as a REIT for federal income tax purposes commencing with our taxable year ending December 31, 2022. We believe that have been organized and operated in such a manner so as to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the Code, taking into account our reliance on a REIT savings provision in curing a past asset test violation as described below, and we intend to continue to qualify, but no assurances can be given that we will operate in a manner so as to qualify or remain qualified as a REIT. This section discusses the laws governing the federal income tax treatment of a REIT and its stockholders. These laws are highly technical and complex. This summary sets forth only the material aspects of such provisions and is qualified in its entirety by the express language of applicable Code provisions, Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder, and administrative and judicial interpretations thereof. This section is not a substitute for careful tax planning. We urge you, as a prospective investor, to consult your own tax advisor regarding the specific tax consequences to you of a purchase of shares of our stock, ownership and sale of the shares and of our election to be taxed as a REIT.

 

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In connection with the filing of this Prospectus Greenberg Traurig, LLP is rendering its opinion that, commencing with our taxable year ended December 31, 2022, we have been organized and operated in conformity with the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code, and that our proposed method of operation will enable us to continue to satisfy the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code. Investors should be aware that Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s opinion is based upon certain assumptions and conditioned upon representations made by us as to factual matters, including representations regarding the nature of our assets and the conduct of our business (including those of our subsidiaries), is not binding upon the IRS or any court, and speaks as of the date issued. In addition, Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s opinion is based on existing federal income tax law governing qualification as a REIT, which is subject to change, either prospectively or retroactively. Moreover, our qualification and taxation as a REIT will depend upon our ability to meet, on a continuing basis, through actual annual and quarterly operating results, certain qualification tests set forth in the federal income tax laws. Those qualification requirements relate to the sources of our gross income and the composition of our assets, limitations on the concentration of ownership of our stock, and minimum distribution requirements based on our taxable income. Greenberg Traurig, LLP will not review our compliance with those tests on a continuing basis. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that our actual results of operations for any particular taxable year will satisfy such requirements. Greenberg Traurig LLP’s opinion does not foreclose the possibility that we may need to use one or more of the REIT savings provisions described in this prospectus, which would require us to pay an excise or penalty tax (which could be material), in order for us to maintain our REIT qualification and, as described below, we are relying on the REIT savings provisions in connection with an asset test compliance violation that was identified in 2025 and rectified.

 

Commencing in August 2024, the Company issued bonds to Israeli investors (the “Israeli Bonds”) out of Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. (the “REIT”), unlike earlier bond issuances which had been undertaken by Strawberry Fields REIT, Ltd. (“BVI, Ltd.”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Strawberry Fields Realty, LP (the “Operating Partnership”). The change in the issuance structure was intended to save costs of preparing additional financial reports based on international financial accounting standards that are potentially avoided where the issuer of the Israeli Bonds is a public company. In order to maintain the intended economic equivalency between shares of the REIT’s common stock and partnership units (“OP Units”) issued by the Operating Partnership, which is a feature of our UPREIT structure, the proceeds from the issuance of the Israeli bonds were transferred by the REIT to BVI Ltd. via a back-to-back loan (the “Intercompany Loan”) bearing interest at the same rate as the Israeli Bonds. The Intercompany Loan as originally issued was inadvertently structured as an unsecured loan. But for our reliance on a REIT savings provision, the Intercompany Loan would have caused a failure of the REIT to satisfy its asset test requirements for the 3rd and 4th quarters of its 2024 tax year, as well as the 1st and 2nd quarters in 2025. The inadvertent failure was identified during the 2nd quarter of 2025, and rectified during the 3rd quarter of 2025 by a pledge of equity of wholly-owned property-owning subsidiaries of BVI, Ltd., which caused the Intercompany Loan thereafter to be treated as a qualifying mortgage loan for purposes of the asset requirements applicable to REITs. In addressing the asset test violation caused by the Intercompany Loan, the REIT is relying upon a REIT savings provision applicable to certain asset test violations. The requirements for use of this statutory REIT savings provision are that (i) the REIT identified the failure in a schedule attached to its tax return (which is contained in a schedule attached to an amended tax return filed with respect to the 2024 tax year and a similar schedule will be attached to the 2025 tax return when filed), (ii) the violation, which was identified in the 2nd quarter of 2025, must be rectified within six months following the end of such quarter (which occurred upon securing the Intercompany Loan with interests in real property during the 3rd quarter of 2025), (iii) there must be reasonable cause for the violation (which in this case consisted of the inadvertent failure to immediately secure the Intercompany Loan with interests in real property, which was not identified by the Company and its legal, accounting and tax advisors as a potential asset violation until the 2nd quarter of 2025, notwithstanding its regular compliance procedures), and (iv) the REIT must pay a penalty tax equal to the lesser of (a) $50,000 and (b) the net income generated by the asset that caused the violation during the period in question, multiplied by the highest federal corporate tax rate (currently 21%) (paid with the REIT’s amended 2024 tax return and its 2025 tax return when filed). The penalty tax determined with respect to the 2024 tax year was calculated to be $50,000, and an additional penalty tax of $50,000 is anticipated with respect to the 2025 tax year when the return for such year is filed.

 

For as long as we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we generally will not be subject to federal corporate income tax on our taxable income that we distribute to our stockholders on a current basis, because the REIT provisions of the Code generally allow a REIT to deduct dividends paid to its stockholders. This substantially eliminates the federal “double taxation” on earnings (taxation at both the corporate level and stockholder level) that usually results from an investment in a corporation. However, even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we will be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances:

 

● We will pay federal corporate income tax on any taxable income, including undistributed net capital gain, that we do not distribute to stockholders during, or within a specified time period after, the calendar year in which the income is earned.

 

● We will pay income tax at the highest corporate rate on:

 

  net income from the sale or other disposition of property acquired through foreclosure (“foreclosure property”) that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, and
     
  other non-qualifying income from foreclosure property that would not otherwise be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% income test applicable to REITs as described below.

 

● We will pay a 100% tax on net income from prohibited transactions (which are, in general, sales or other dispositions of property other than foreclosure property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business).

 

● If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, as described below under “—Gross Income Tests,” and nonetheless continue to qualify as a REIT because we meet other requirements, we will pay a 100% tax on the gross income attributable to the greater of the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, in either case, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability.

 

● If we fail to distribute during a calendar year at least the sum of (i) 85% of our REIT ordinary income for the year, (ii) 95% of our REIT capital gain net income for the year, and (iii) any undistributed taxable income required to be distributed from earlier periods, we will pay a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of the required distribution over the amount that we actually distribute.

 

● We may elect to retain and pay income tax on our net long-term capital gain. In that case, a stockholder would be taxed on its proportionate share of our undistributed long-term capital gain (to the extent that we made a timely designation of such gain to the stockholders) and would receive a credit or refund for its proportionate share of the tax that we paid.

 

● To the extent that we had built-in gain assets at the time of the effectiveness of our REIT election on January 1, 2022 and we subsequently recognize gain on the disposition of such an asset during the 5-year period following the effectiveness of our REIT election, or if we otherwise acquire any asset from a C corporation (i.e., a corporation generally subject to corporate-level tax) in a tax-deferred carryover-basis transaction and we subsequently recognize gain on the disposition of the asset during the 5-year period beginning on the date on which we acquired the asset, then all or a portion of the gain may be subject to tax at the highest regular corporate rate.

 

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● We may be subject to a 100% excise tax on certain transactions with any TRS that are not conducted on an arm’s-length basis, including services provided by a TRS.

 

● If we fail any of the asset tests, other than a de minimis failure of the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or 10% value test, as described below under “—Asset Tests,” as long as the failure was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, we file a description of each asset that caused such failure with the IRS, and we dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify such failure, in such circumstance we may retain our qualification as a REIT but will then be required to pay a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest federal income tax rate then applicable to U.S. corporations on the net income from the non-qualifying assets during the period in which we failed to satisfy the asset tests. As described above, we have paid or will pay such a tax with respect to the curing of violations that occurred with respect to our 2024 and 2025 tax years.

 

● If we fail to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification, other than the gross income tests and the asset tests, and such failure is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, we may retain our qualification as a REIT but will be required to pay a penalty of $50,000 for each such failure.

 

● We may be required to pay monetary penalties to the IRS in certain circumstances, including if we fail to meet record-keeping requirements intended to monitor our compliance with rules relating to the composition of a REIT’s stockholders, as described below in “—Recordkeeping Requirements.”

 

● The earnings of our lower-tier entities that are subchapter C corporations, including any TRSs of the Company, will be subject to federal corporate income tax.

 

In addition, notwithstanding our qualification as a REIT, we also may have to pay certain state and local income taxes because not all states and localities treat REITs in the same manner that they are treated for federal income tax purposes. Moreover, as further described below, our TRS and any other TRSs we form in the future will be subject to federal, state and local corporate income tax on their taxable income.

 

Requirements for Qualification

 

A REIT is a corporation, trust, or association that meets certain requirements. In order for us to qualify, and continue to qualify, as a REIT, the Company must meet, generally on a continuing basis, each of the following requirements:

 

1. It is managed by one or more trustees or directors.

 

2. Its beneficial ownership is evidenced by transferable shares, or by transferable certificates of beneficial interest.

 

3. It would be taxable as a domestic corporation, but for the special rules Sections 856 through 859 of the Code that apply to REITs.

 

4. It is neither a financial institution nor an insurance company subject to special provisions of the federal income tax laws.

 

5. It has at least 100 persons are beneficial owners of its shares or ownership certificates.

 

6. Not more than 50% in value of its outstanding shares are owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer individuals, which the Code defines to include certain entities, during the last half of any taxable year.

 

7. It elects to be a REIT, or has made such election for a previous taxable year, and satisfies all relevant filing and other administrative requirements established by the IRS that must be met to elect and maintain REIT status.

 

8. It meets certain other qualification tests, described below, regarding the nature of its income and assets and the amount of its distributions to stockholders.

 

9. It uses a calendar year for federal income tax purposes and complies with the recordkeeping requirements of the federal income tax laws.

 

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We must meet requirements 1 through 4, 7, 8 and 9 during our entire taxable year and must meet requirement 5 during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months. If we comply with all the requirements for ascertaining the ownership of our outstanding stock in a taxable year and have no reason to know that we violated requirement 6, we will be deemed to have satisfied requirement 6 for that taxable year. For purposes of determining stock ownership under requirement 6, an “individual” generally includes a supplemental unemployment compensation benefits plan, a private foundation, or a portion of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes. An “individual,” however, generally does not include a trust that is a qualified employee pension or profit-sharing trust under the federal income tax laws, and beneficiaries of such a trust will be treated as holding our stock in proportion to their actuarial interests in the trust for purposes of requirement 6. Requirements 5 and 6, relating to the ownership of our stock, did not have to be met during our initial tax year as a REIT in 2022.

 

As a Maryland corporation, we satisfied the third requirement. In addition, we are managed by a board of directors, we have transferable shares and we do not intend to operate as a financial institution or insurance company. We utilize the calendar year for federal income tax reporting purposes. Our charter provides restrictions regarding the transfer and ownership of shares of our capital stock which are intended, among other things, to enable us to satisfy requirements 5 and 6 above. See “Description of Stock — Restrictions on Ownership and Transfer.” These provisions permit us to refuse to recognize certain transfers of shares that could otherwise cause us to violate these REIT provisions. We can offer no assurance that our refusal to recognize a transfer will be effective. Notwithstanding compliance with the share ownership requirements outlined above, certain tax-exempt stockholders may be required to treat all or a portion of their distributions from us as UBTI if tax-exempt stockholders, in the aggregate, exceed certain ownership thresholds set forth in the Code.

 

Effect of Lower-Tier Entities

 

Qualified REIT Subsidiaries

 

A corporation that is a “qualified REIT subsidiary” is not treated as a corporation separate from its parent REIT. All assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of a “qualified REIT subsidiary” are treated as assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of the REIT. A “qualified REIT subsidiary” is a corporation, other than a TRS, all of the stock of which is owned by the REIT. Thus, in applying the requirements described herein, any “qualified REIT subsidiary” that we own will be ignored, and all assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit of such subsidiary will be treated as our assets, liabilities, and items of income, deduction, and credit.

 

Other Disregarded Entities and Partnerships

 

An unincorporated domestic entity, such as a limited liability company, that has a single owner for federal income tax purposes generally is not treated as an entity separate from its owner for federal income tax purposes. An unincorporated domestic entity with two or more owners generally is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership that has other partners, the REIT is treated as owning its proportionate share of the assets of the partnership and as earning its allocable share of the gross income of the partnership for purposes of the applicable REIT qualification tests. Our proportionate share for purposes of the 10% value test (see “—Asset Tests”) is based on our proportionate interest in the equity interests and certain debt securities issued by the partnership. For all of the other asset and income tests, our proportionate share is based on our proportionate interest in the capital interests in the partnership. Our proportionate share of the assets, liabilities, and items of income of any partnership, joint venture, or limited liability company that is treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes in which we hold an equity interest, directly or indirectly, including the Operating Partnership, will be treated as our assets and gross income for purposes of applying the various REIT qualification requirements.

 

We have control of our Operating Partnership and intend to control any subsidiary partnerships and limited liability companies, and we intend to operate them in a manner consistent with the requirements for our qualification as a REIT. We may from time to time be a limited partner or non-managing member in some of our partnerships and limited liability companies. If a partnership or limited liability company in which we own an interest takes or expects to take actions that could jeopardize our status as a REIT or require us to pay tax, we may be forced to dispose of our interest in such entity. In addition, it is possible that a partnership or limited liability company could take an action that could cause us to fail a gross income or asset test, and that we would not become aware of such action in time to dispose of our interest in the partnership or limited liability company or take other corrective action on a timely basis. In that case, we could fail to qualify as a REIT unless we were entitled to relief, as described below.

 

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In addition, the character of the assets and gross income of the partnership, qualified REIT subsidiary or other disregarded entity shall retain the same character in the hands of the REIT for purposes of satisfying the gross income tests and asset tests set forth in the Code.

 

Taxable REIT Subsidiaries (TRSs)

 

A REIT may own up to 100% of the shares of one or more TRSs. A TRS is a fully taxable corporation that may earn income that would not be qualifying income if earned directly by the parent REIT. The subsidiary and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a TRS. A corporation (other than a REIT) of which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the outstanding securities will automatically be treated as a TRS. The separate existence of a TRS or other taxable corporation, unlike a “qualified REIT subsidiary” or other disregarded entity, as discussed above, is not ignored for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Accordingly, a TRS is generally subject to corporate income tax on its earnings, which may reduce the cash flow generated by such entity. We are not treated as holding the assets of a TRS or as receiving any income that the TRS earns. Rather, the stock issued by a TRS to us is an asset in our hands, and we treat the distributions paid to us from such TRS, if any, as dividend income to the extent of the TRS’s current and accumulated earnings and profits. This treatment may affect our compliance with the gross income and asset tests. Because we do not include the assets and income of TRSs in determining our compliance with the REIT requirements, we may use such entities to undertake indirectly activities that the REIT rules might otherwise preclude us from doing directly or through pass-through subsidiaries. Overall, no more than 20% of the value of a REIT’s gross assets may consist of stock or securities of one or more TRSs.

 

A TRS pays income tax at regular corporate rates on any income that it earns. In addition, limitations on the deductibility of net interest expense by businesses could apply to any TRSs that we own. Further, the rules impose a 100% excise tax on certain transactions between a TRS and its parent REIT or the REIT’s tenants that are not conducted on an arm’s-length basis.

 

Rent that we receive from a TRS will qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of the gross income tests applicable to REITs so long as either (A) the property is a health care property and is operated on behalf of the lessee TRS by an “eligible independent contractor” that meets certain requirements, or (B) (1) at least 90% of the leased space in the property is leased to persons other than TRSs and related-party tenants, and (2) the amount paid by the TRS to rent space at the property is substantially comparable to rents paid by other tenants of the property for comparable space, as described in further detail below under “—Gross Income Tests — Rents from Real Property.” If we lease space to a TRS in the future, we will seek to comply with these requirements. We do not currently own, or have plans to form or acquire, any TRSs, although we may elect to treat entities as TRSs in the future. Any such TRSs will be subject to corporate income tax on their taxable income.

 

Gross Income Tests

 

We must satisfy two gross income tests annually to qualify and maintain our qualification as a REIT. First, at least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of certain specified types of income that we derive, directly or indirectly, from investments relating to real property or mortgages on real property or qualified temporary investment income. Qualifying income for purposes of that 75% gross income test generally includes:

 

● rents from real property;

 

● interest on debt secured by mortgages on real property, or on interests in real property, other than on nonqualified publicly-offered REIT debt instruments;

 

● dividends or other distributions on, and gain from the sale of, shares in other REITs;

 

● gain from the sale of real estate assets;

 

● income and gain derived from foreclosure property;

 

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● amounts (other than amounts the determination of which depends in whole or in part on the income or profits of any person) received or accrued as consideration for entering into agreements (i) to make loans secured by mortgages on real property or on interests in real property or (ii) to purchase or lease real property (including interests in real property and interests in mortgages on real property); and

 

● income derived from the temporary investment of new capital that is attributable to the issuance of our stock or a public offering of our debt with a maturity date of at least five years and that we receive during the one-year period beginning on the date on which we received such new capital.

 

Generally, gross income from dispositions of real property held primarily for sale in the ordinary course of business is excluded altogether from the 75% income test.

 

Although a debt instrument issued by a “publicly offered REIT” (i.e., a REIT that is required to file annual and periodic reports with the SEC under the Exchange Act) is treated as a “real estate asset” for the asset tests, neither the gain from the sale of such debt instruments nor interest on such debt instruments is treated as qualifying income for the 75% gross income test unless the debt instrument is secured by real property or an interest in real property.

 

Second, in general, at least 95% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of income that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, other types of interest and dividends, gain from the sale or disposition of stock or securities, or any combination of these. Gross income from our sale of property that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business is excluded from both the numerator and the denominator in both gross income tests, but is subject to a 100% tax on income from prohibited transactions. In addition, income and gain from “hedging transactions” (as defined in “—Hedging Transactions”) that we enter into to hedge indebtedness incurred or to be incurred to acquire or carry real estate assets and that are clearly and timely identified as such will be excluded from both the numerator and the denominator for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests. In addition, certain foreign currency gains will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests. See “— Foreign Currency Gain.” Finally, gross income attributable to cancellation of indebtedness income will be excluded from both the numerator and denominator for purposes of both of the gross income tests. The following paragraphs discuss the specific application of the gross income tests to us.

 

Rents from Real Property. Rent that we receive from our real property will qualify as “rents from real property,” which is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, only if the following conditions are met:

 

● First, the rent must not be based, in whole or in part, on the income or profits of any person; however, an amount received or accrued generally will not be excluded from the term “rents from real property” solely by reason of being based on a fixed percentage or percentages of gross receipts or sales if the percentages (1) are fixed at the time that the leases are entered into; (2) are not renegotiated during the term of the leases in a manner that has the effect of basing rent on income or profits; and (3) conform with normal business practice. More generally, rent will not qualify as “rents from real property” if, considering the leases and all surrounding circumstances, the arrangement does not conform with normal business practice, but is in reality used as a means of basing the rent on income or profits.

 

● Second, rents received from a tenant will not qualify as “rents from real property” if we or a direct or constructive owner of 10% or more of our stock directly or constructively owns 10% or more of the tenant except that rents received from a TRS under certain circumstances qualify as rents from real property even if the REIT owns more than a 10% interest in the subsidiary.

 

● Third, if the rent attributable to personal property leased in connection with a lease of real property is 15% or less of the total rent received under the lease, then the rent attributable to personal property will qualify as rents from real property. However, if the 15% threshold is exceeded, none of the rent attributable to personal property will qualify as rents from real property.

 

● Fourth, we generally must not operate or manage our real property or furnish or render services to our tenants, other than through an “independent contractor” who is adequately compensated and from whom we do not derive revenue. Furthermore, we may own up to 100% of the stock of a TRS which may provide customary and noncustomary services to our tenants without tainting our rental income for the related properties. However, we need not provide services through an “independent contractor” or a TRS, but instead may provide services directly to our tenants, if the services are “usually or customarily rendered” in connection with the rental of space for occupancy only and are not considered to be provided for the tenants’ convenience. In addition, we may provide a minimal amount of “noncustomary” services to the tenants of a property, other than through an independent contractor or a TRS, as long as our income from the services (valued at not less than 150% of our direct cost of performing such services) does not exceed 1% of our income from the related property.

 

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If we own, actually or constructively, 10% or more (measured by voting power or fair market value) of the stock of a corporate lessee, or 10% or more of the assets or net profits of any non-corporate lessee (each a “related party tenant”), other than a TRS, any income that we receive from the lessee will be non-qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests. The constructive ownership rules generally provide that, if 10% or more in value of our stock is owned, directly or indirectly, by or for any person, we are considered as owning the shares owned, directly or indirectly, by or for such person. Our charter prohibits transfers of our stock that would cause us to own actually or constructively, 10% or more of the ownership interests in any non-TRS lessee. Based on the foregoing, we should not own, actually or constructively, 10% or more of any lessee other than a TRS. However, because the constructive ownership rules are broad and it is not possible to continually monitor direct and indirect transfers of our stock, no absolute assurance can be given that such transfers or other events of which we have no knowledge will not cause us to constructively own 10% or more of a lessee (or a subtenant, in which case only rent attributable to the subtenant is disqualified) other than a TRS at some future date.

 

We may own up to 100% of the shares of one or more TRSs. Under an exception to the related-party tenant rule described in the preceding paragraph, rent that we receive from a TRS will qualify as “rents from real property” as long as (i) at least 90% of the leased space in the property is leased to persons other than TRSs and related-party tenants, and (ii) the amount paid by the TRS to rent space at the property is substantially comparable to rents paid by other tenants of the property for comparable space. The “substantially comparable” requirement must be satisfied when the lease is entered into, when it is extended, and when the lease is modified, if the modification increases the rent paid by the TRS. If the requirement that at least 90% of the leased space in the related property is rented to unrelated tenants is met when a lease is entered into, extended, or modified, such requirement will continue to be met as long as there is no increase in the space leased to any TRS or related party tenant. Any increased rent attributable to a modification of a lease with a TRS in which we own directly or indirectly more than 50% of the voting power or value of the stock (a “controlled TRS”) may not be treated as “rents from real property.” If in the future we receive rent from a TRS, we will seek to comply with this exception.

 

While rents from real property do not generally include amounts received from an entity in which the REIT owns, directly or indirectly, a 10% or greater interest by voting power or value, the Code permits a REIT to lease a healthcare facility to a TRS, provided that the TRS engages an eligible independent contractor (i.e., an unrelated third party) to manage and operate the healthcare facility. A healthcare facility is defined as a hospital, nursing facility, assisted living facility or congregate care facility, and may also include certain independent living facilities or other licensed facilities that provide medical or nursing services to patients. The eligible independent contractor must be responsible for the daily supervision and direction of the employees on behalf of the TRS pursuant to a management agreement or similar service contract.

 

Under the Code, a TRS can receive all revenue and bear all expenses of operating qualified healthcare property, less the independent contractor’s fee. The TRS’s net income, after paying management fees, rent to the REIT, and other operating expenses, would be subject to corporate level taxation. The net after-tax earnings of the TRS may be distributed by the TRS to the REIT and would constitute good REIT income for purposes of the 95% income test, but not for purposes of the 75% income test.

 

With respect to senior housing properties that are healthcare facilities, we could utilize a TRS structure for our senior housing properties by leasing such properties to our TRS or one of its subsidiaries and engaging third party operators; however, we generally lease our senior housing properties to tenants under triple-net or similar lease structures, where the tenant bears all or substantially all of the costs (including cost increases for real estate taxes, utilities, insurance and ordinary repairs).

 

The rent attributable to the personal property leased in connection with the lease of a property must not be greater than 15% of the total rent received under the lease in order to be treated as qualifying rental income for purposes of the gross income tests applicable to REITs. The rent attributable to the personal property contained in a property is generally the amount that bears the same ratio to total rent for the taxable year as the average of the fair market values of the personal property at the beginning and at the end of the taxable year bears to the average of the aggregate fair market values of both the real and personal property contained in the property at the beginning and at the end of such taxable year (the “personal property ratio”). With respect to each of our leases, we believe either that the personal property ratio is less than 15% or that any rent attributable to excess personal property, when taken together with all of our other non-qualifying income, will not jeopardize our ability to qualify as a REIT. There can be no assurance, however, that the IRS would not challenge our calculation of a personal property ratio, or that a court would not uphold such assertion. If such a challenge were successfully asserted, we could fail to satisfy the 75% or 95% gross income test, and thus potentially lose our REIT status.

 

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Except as described below, we generally cannot furnish or render noncustomary services to the tenants of our properties, or manage or operate our properties, other than through an independent contractor who is adequately compensated and from whom we do not derive or receive any income. However, we need not provide services through an “independent contractor,” but instead may provide services directly to our tenants, if the services are “usually or customarily rendered” in connection with the rental of space for occupancy only and are not considered to be provided for the tenants’ convenience. In addition, we may provide a minimal amount of “noncustomary” services to the tenants of a property, other than through an independent contractor, as long as our income from the services (valued at not less than 150% of our direct cost for performing such services) does not exceed 1% of our income from the related property. Finally, we may own up to 100% of the shares of one or more TRSs, which may provide noncustomary services to our tenants without tainting our rents from the related properties. We believe that we do not perform any services other than customary ones for our lessees, other than any services that are provided through independent contractors or TRSs. In such a case, income attributable to the noncustomary services will not be treated as qualifying rental income, but will not adversely affect the qualification of other rental income derived from the property.

 

If a portion of the rent that we receive from a property does not qualify as “rents from real property” because the rent attributable to personal property exceeds 15% of the total rent for a taxable year, the portion of the rent that is attributable to personal property will not be qualifying income for purposes of either the 75% or 95% gross income test. Thus, if such rent attributable to personal property, plus any other income that is non-qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test, during a taxable year exceeds 5% of our gross income during the year, we could lose our REIT qualification. If, however, the rent from a particular property does not qualify as “rents from real property” because either (i) the rent is considered to be based on the income or profits of the related lessee, (ii) the lessee either is a related party tenant or fails to qualify for the exceptions to the related party tenant rule for qualifying TRSs or (iii) we furnish more than a de minimis amount of noncustomary services to the tenants of the property, or manage or operate the property, other than through a qualifying independent contractor or a TRS, in such cases none of the rent from that property would qualify as “rents from real property.” In such scenarios, we might lose our REIT qualification because we would be unable to satisfy either the 75% or 95% gross income test. In addition to the rent, the lessees are required to pay certain additional charges. We believe that our leases are structured in a manner that will enable us to continue to satisfy the REIT gross income tests.

 

Interest. The term “interest” generally does not include any amount received or accrued, directly or indirectly, if the determination of such amount depends in whole or in part on the income or profits of any person. However, interest generally includes the following:

 

● an amount that is based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales; and

 

● an amount that is based on the income or profits of a debtor, as long as the debtor derives substantially all of its income from the real property securing the debt from leasing substantially all of its interest in the property, and only to the extent that the amounts received by the debtor would be qualifying “rents from real property” if received directly by a REIT.

 

Interest on debt secured by a mortgage on real property or on interests in real property, including, for this purpose, discount points, prepayment penalties, loan assumption fees, and late payment charges that are not compensation for services, generally is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test. However, if a loan is secured by real property and other property and the highest principal amount of a loan outstanding during a taxable year exceeds the fair market value of the real property securing the loan as of the date the REIT agreed to originate or acquire the loan or on the date the REIT modifies the loan (if the modification is treated as “significant” for federal income tax purposes), a portion of the interest income from such loan will not be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, but will be qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test. The portion of the interest income that will not be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test will be equal to the portion of the principal amount of the loan that is not secured by real property — that is, the amount by which the loan exceeds the value of the real estate that is security for the loan. For purposes of this paragraph, however, we do not need to redetermine the fair market value of the real property securing a loan in connection with a loan modification that is occasioned by a borrower default or made at a time when we reasonably believe that the modification to the loan will substantially reduce a significant risk of default on the original loan. In addition, in the case of a loan that is secured by both real property and personal property, if the fair market value of such personal property does not exceed 15% of the total fair market value of all such property securing the loan, then the personal property securing the loan will be treated as real property for purposes of determining whether the interest on such loan is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test.

 

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If a loan contains a provision that entitles a REIT to a percentage of the borrower’s gain upon the sale of the real property securing the loan or a percentage of the appreciation in the property’s value as of a specific date, income attributable to that loan provision will be treated as gain from the sale of the property securing the loan, which generally is qualifying income for purposes of both gross income tests provided that the loan and the underlying property are both held for investment.

 

We may modify the terms of any mortgage loans that we originate or acquire. Under the Code, if the terms of a loan are modified in a manner constituting a “significant modification,” such modification triggers a deemed exchange of the original loan for the modified loan. IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-51 provides a safe harbor pursuant to which we will not be required to redetermine the fair market value of the real property securing a loan for purposes of the gross income and asset tests in connection with a loan modification that is (i) occasioned by a borrower default or (ii) made at a time when we reasonably believe that the modification to the loan will substantially reduce a significant risk of default on the original loan. To the extent we significantly modify loans in a manner that does not qualify for that safe harbor, we will be required to redetermine the value of the real property securing the loan at the time that it was significantly modified, which could result in a portion of the interest income on the loan being treated as nonqualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test. In determining the value of the real property securing such a loan, we generally will not obtain third party appraisals but rather will rely on internal valuations.

 

We expect that the interest, original issue discount, and market discount income that we receive from any mortgage related assets generally will be qualifying income for purposes of both gross income tests. We hold certain notes receivable that are not secured by mortgages on real property. Interest from such instruments generally qualifies for purposes of the 95% gross income test, but not for purposes of the 75% gross income test. We intend to monitor the amount of such nonqualifying income, along with nonqualifying income from other sources, in a manner so as to enable us to comply with such REIT qualification requirements.

 

Dividends. Our share of any dividends received from any corporation (including any TRS, but excluding any REIT) in which we own an equity interest will qualify for purposes of the 95% gross income test, but not for purposes of the 75% gross income test. Our share of any dividends received from any other REIT in which we own an equity interest, if any, will be qualifying income for purposes of both gross income tests.

 

Fee Income. We may receive various fees. Fee income generally will not be treated as qualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests. Any fees earned by a TRS are not taken into account by us for purposes of the gross income tests. We do not expect such amounts, if any, to be significant.

 

Prohibited Transactions. A REIT will incur a 100% tax on the net income derived from any sale or other disposition of property, other than foreclosure property, that the REIT holds primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business. Any gain that we realize on the sale of property held as inventory or otherwise held primarily for sale to customers, in the ordinary course of business, will generally be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a 100% penalty tax. Our gain would include any gain realized by a “qualified REIT subsidiary” and our share of any gain realized by any of the pass-through entities (i.e., entities that are classified for tax purposes as either partnerships or disregarded entities) in which we own an interest. This prohibited transaction income may also adversely affect our ability to satisfy the 75% Income Test and the 95% Income Test for qualification as a REIT. We believe that none of our assets will be held primarily for sale to customers and that a sale of any of our assets would not be in the ordinary course of our business. Whether a REIT holds an asset “primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business” depends, however, on the facts and circumstances in effect from time to time, including those related to a particular asset. A safe harbor to the characterization of the sale of property by a REIT as a prohibited transaction and the 100% prohibited transaction tax is available if the following requirements are met:

 

● the REIT has held the property for not less than two years;

 

● the aggregate expenditures made by the REIT, or any partner of the REIT, during the two-year period preceding the date of the sale that are includable in the basis of the property do not exceed 30% of the selling price of the property;

 

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● either (i) during the year in question, the REIT did not make more than seven sales of property, other than foreclosure property or tax-deferred sales to which Section 1031 or 1033 of the Code applies, (ii) the aggregate adjusted bases of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 10% of the aggregate bases of all of the assets of the REIT at the beginning of the year, (iii) the aggregate fair market value of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 10% of the aggregate fair market value of all of the assets of the REIT at the beginning of the year, (iv) (a) the aggregate adjusted bases of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 20% of the aggregate adjusted bases of all property of the REIT at the beginning of the year and (b) the 3-year average annual percentage of properties sold by the REIT compared to all the REIT’s properties (measured by adjusted bases), taking into account the current and two prior years, did not exceed 10%, or (v) (a) the aggregate fair market value of all such properties sold by the REIT during the year did not exceed 20% of the aggregate fair market value of all property of the REIT at the beginning of the year and (b) the 3-year average annual percentage of properties sold by the REIT compared to all the REIT’s properties (measured by fair market value), taking into account the current and two prior years, did not exceed 10%;

 

● in the case of property not acquired through foreclosure or lease termination, the REIT has held the property for at least two years for the production of rental income; and

 

● if the REIT has made more than seven sales of non-foreclosure property during the taxable year, substantially all of the marketing and development expenditures with respect to the property were made through an independent contractor from whom the REIT derives no income, or through a TRS.

 

We will attempt to comply with the terms of the safe-harbor provisions in the federal income tax laws prescribing when an asset sale will not be characterized as a prohibited transaction. We cannot assure you, however, that we can comply with the safe-harbor provisions in all cases, or that we will avoid owning property that may be characterized as property that we hold “primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business.” The 100% tax will not apply to gains from the sale of property that is held through a TRS or other taxable corporation, although such income will be taxed to the corporation at regular corporate income tax rates.

 

Foreclosure Property. We will be subject to tax at the maximum corporate rate on any income from foreclosure property, which includes certain foreign currency gains and related deductions, other than income that otherwise would be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, less expenses directly connected with the production of that income. However, gross income from foreclosure property will qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests. Foreclosure property is any real property, including interests in real property, and any personal property incident to such real property:

 

● that is acquired by a REIT as the result of the REIT having bid on such property at foreclosure, or having otherwise reduced such property to ownership or possession by agreement or process of law, after there was a default or default was imminent on a lease of such property or on indebtedness that such property secured;

 

● for which the related loan was acquired by the REIT at a time when the default was not imminent or anticipated; and

 

● for which the REIT makes a proper election to treat the property as foreclosure property.

 

A REIT will not be considered to have foreclosed on a property where the REIT takes control of the property as a mortgagee-in-possession and cannot receive any profit or sustain any loss except as a creditor of the mortgagor. Property generally ceases to be foreclosure property at the end of the third taxable year (or, with respect to qualified healthcare property, the second taxable year) following the taxable year in which the REIT acquired the property, or longer if an extension is granted by the Secretary of the Treasury. However, this grace period terminates and foreclosure property ceases to be foreclosure property on the first day:

 

● on which a lease is entered into for the property that, by its terms, will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test, or any amount is received or accrued, directly or indirectly, pursuant to a lease entered into on or after such day that will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test;

 

● on which any construction takes place on the property, other than completion of a building or any other improvement where more than 10% of the construction was completed before default became imminent; or

 

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● which is more than 90 days after the day on which the REIT acquired the property and the property is used in a trade or business which is conducted by the REIT, other than through an independent contractor from whom the REIT itself does not derive or receive any income, or a TRS.

 

We may have the option to foreclose on mortgage loans or terminate leases when a borrower or lessee is in default. The foregoing rules could affect a decision by us to foreclose on a particular mortgage loan or terminate a particular lease, and could affect whether we choose to foreclose with regard to a particular mortgage loan or terminate a particular lease.

 

Hedging Transactions. From time to time, we or our Operating Partnership or other subsidiary entities may enter into certain hedging transactions with respect to one or more of our assets or liabilities. Our hedging activities may include entering into interest rate swaps, caps, and floors, options to purchase such items, and futures and forward contracts. Income and gain from “hedging transactions” will be excluded from gross income for purposes of both the 75% and 95% gross income tests provided that we satisfy the identification requirements discussed below. For purposes of this paragraph, a “hedging transaction” means (i) any transaction entered into in the normal course of our or our Operating Partnership’s trade or business primarily to manage the risk of interest rate, price changes, or currency fluctuations with respect to borrowings made or to be made, or ordinary obligations incurred or to be incurred, to acquire or carry real estate assets, (ii) any transaction entered into primarily to manage the risk of currency fluctuations with respect to any item of income or gain that would be qualifying income under the 75% or 95% gross income test (or any property which generates such income or gain), or (iii) any transaction entered into to “offset” a transaction described in (i) or (ii) if a portion of the hedged indebtedness is extinguished or the related property is disposed of. We are required to clearly identify any such hedging transaction before the close of the day on which it was acquired, originated, or entered into, and to satisfy other identification requirements. To the extent that we enter into other transactions involving derivative instruments or hedges that do not comply with the requirements described above in this paragraph, any resultant income from such transactions may be treated as nonqualifying income for purposes of the 75% and/or 95% gross income tests, and the positive value of our position in such an arrangement may be treated as a nonqualifying asset for purposes of the gross asset tests applicable to REITs. We intend to structure any hedging transactions in a manner that does not jeopardize our qualification as a REIT.

 

Foreign Currency Gain. Certain foreign currency gains will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests. “Real estate foreign exchange gain” will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests. Real estate foreign exchange gain generally includes foreign currency gain attributable to any item of income or gain that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, foreign currency gain attributable to the acquisition or ownership of (or becoming or being the obligor under) obligations secured by mortgages on real property or an interest in real property and certain foreign currency gains attributable to certain “qualified business units” of a REIT that would satisfy the 75% gross income test and 75% asset test (discussed below) on a stand-alone basis. “Passive foreign exchange gain” will be excluded from gross income for purposes of the 95% gross income test. Passive foreign exchange gain generally includes real estate foreign exchange gain as described above, and also includes foreign currency gain attributable to any item of income or gain that is qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test and foreign currency gain attributable to the acquisition or ownership of (or becoming or being the obligor under) obligations. These exclusions for real estate foreign exchange gain and passive foreign exchange gain do not apply to foreign currency gain derived from dealing, or engaging in substantial and regular trading, in securities. Such gain is treated as non-qualifying income for purposes of both the 75% and 95% gross income tests.

 

Phantom Income. Due to the nature of the assets in which we may invest, we may be required to recognize taxable income from certain assets in advance of our receipt of cash flow from or proceeds from disposition of such assets, and may be required to report taxable income that exceeds the economic income ultimately realized on such assets.

 

We may originate loans with original issue discount. In general, we will be required to accrue original issue discount based on the constant yield to maturity of the loan, and to treat it as taxable income in accordance with applicable federal income tax rules even though such yield may exceed cash payments, if any, received on such loan.

 

In addition, we are generally required to take certain amounts in income no later than the time such amounts are reflected in our consolidated financial statements. This rule may require the accrual of income with respect to any loans that we may acquire earlier than would be the case under the general tax rules.

 

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In addition, in the event that any loan is delinquent as to mandatory principal and interest payments, or in the event payments with respect to a particular loan are not made when due, we may nonetheless be required to continue to recognize the unpaid interest as taxable income.

 

Finally, we may be required under the terms of indebtedness that we incur to use cash received from interest payments or other sources of income to make principal payments on that indebtedness, with the effect of recognizing income but not having a corresponding amount of cash available for distribution to our stockholders.

 

Failure to Satisfy Gross Income Tests. If we fail to satisfy one or both of the gross income tests for any taxable year, we nevertheless may qualify as a REIT for that year if we qualify for relief under certain provisions of the federal income tax laws. Those relief provisions are available if:

 

● our failure to meet those tests is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect;

 

● following such failure for any taxable year, we file a schedule of the sources of our income in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and

 

● any incorrect information on the schedule is not due to fraud with intent to evade tax.

 

We cannot predict, however, whether in all circumstances we would qualify for the relief provisions. In addition, as discussed above in “—Taxation of the Company,” even if the relief provisions apply, we would incur a 100% tax on the gross income attributable to the greater of the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test multiplied, in either case, by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability.

 

Asset Tests

 

To qualify as a REIT, we also must satisfy the following asset tests at the end of each quarter of each taxable year relating to the nature and diversification of our assets:

 

First, at least 75% of the value of our total assets must consist of:

 

● cash or cash items, including certain receivables and, in certain circumstances, foreign currencies;

 

● U.S. government securities;

 

● interests in real property, including leaseholds and options to acquire real property and leaseholds, and personal property to the extent such personal property is leased in connection with real property and rents attributable to such personal property are treated as “rents from real property” (i.e., because it comprises not more than 15% of the total rent received from the personal property together with the real property in connection with which it is leased);

 

● interests in mortgage loans secured by real property;

 

● stock in other REITs and debt instruments issued by “publicly offered REITs”; and

 

● investments in stock or debt instruments during the one-year period following our receipt of new capital that we raise through equity offerings or public offerings of debt with at least a five-year term.

 

Second, of our investments not included in the 75% asset class, the value of our interest in any one issuer’s securities (other than a TRS) may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets, known as the 5% asset test.

 

Third, of our investments not included in the 75% asset class, we may not own more than 10% of the voting power of any one issuer’s outstanding securities or 10% of the value of any one issuer’s outstanding securities, known as the 10% vote test and 10% value test, respectively.

 

Fourth, no more than 25% (formerly 20% for tax years prior to 2026) of the value of our total assets may consist of the securities of one or more TRSs.

 

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Fifth, no more than 25% of the value of our total assets may consist of any combination of securities of TRSs and other non-TRS taxable subsidiaries and other assets that are not qualifying assets for purposes of the 75% asset test.

 

Sixth, no more than 25% of the value of our total assets may consist of debt instruments issued by “publicly offered REITs” to the extent that such debt instruments are not secured by real property or interests in real property.

 

For purposes of the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test, the term “securities” does not include shares in another REIT, debt of “publicly offered REITs,” equity or debt securities of a qualified REIT subsidiary or TRS, mortgage loans that constitute real estate assets, or equity interests in a partnership. The term “securities,” however, generally includes debt securities issued by a partnership or another REIT (other than a “publicly offered REIT”), except that for purposes of the 10% value test, the term “securities” does not include:

 

● “Straight debt” securities, which is defined as a written unconditional promise to pay on demand or on a specified date a sum certain in money if (i) the debt is not convertible, directly or indirectly, into equity, and (ii) the interest rate and interest payment dates are not contingent on profits, the borrower’s discretion, or similar factors. “Straight debt” securities do not include any securities issued by a partnership or a corporation in which we or any controlled TRS (i.e., a TRS in which we own directly or indirectly more than 50% of the voting power or value of the stock) hold non-”straight debt” securities that have an aggregate value of more than 1% of the issuer’s outstanding securities. However, “straight debt” securities include debt subject to the following contingencies:

 

● a contingency relating to the time of payment of interest or principal, as long as either (i) there is no change to the effective yield of the debt obligation, other than a change to the annual yield that does not exceed the greater of 0.25% or 5% of the annual yield, or (ii) neither the aggregate issue price nor the aggregate face amount of the issuer’s debt obligations held by us exceeds $1 million and no more than 12 months of unaccrued interest on the debt obligations can be required to be prepaid; and

 

● a contingency relating to the time or amount of payment upon a default or prepayment of a debt obligation, as long as the contingency is consistent with customary commercial practice;

 

● Any loan to an individual or an estate;

 

● Any “section 467 rental agreement,” other than an agreement with a related party tenant;

 

● Any obligation to pay “rents from real property”;

 

● Certain securities issued by governmental entities;

 

● Any security issued by a REIT;

 

● Any debt instrument issued by an entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes in which we are a partner to the extent of our proportionate interest in the equity and debt securities of the partnership; and

 

● Any debt instrument issued by an entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes that is not described in the preceding bullet points if at least 75% of the partnership’s gross income, excluding income from prohibited transactions, is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test described above in “—Gross Income Tests.”

 

For purposes of the 10% value test, our proportionate share of the assets of a partnership is our proportionate interest in any securities issued by the partnership, without regard to the securities described in the two preceding bullet points.

 

In general, under the applicable Treasury regulations, if a loan is secured by real property and other property and the highest principal amount of the loan outstanding during a taxable year exceeds the fair market value of the real property securing the loan as of: (1) the date we agreed to acquire or originate the loan; or (2) in the event of a significant modification, the date we modified the loan, then a portion of the interest income from such a loan will not be qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, but will be qualifying income for purposes of the 95% gross income test. Although the law is not entirely clear, a portion of the loan will also likely be a non-qualifying asset for purposes of the 75% asset test. The non-qualifying portion of such a loan would be subject to, among other requirements, the 10% vote or value test. IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-51 provides a safe harbor under which the IRS has stated that it will not challenge a REIT’s treatment of a loan as being, in part, a qualifying real estate asset in an amount equal to the lesser of (1) the fair market value of the loan on the relevant quarterly REIT asset testing date or (2) the greater of (a) the fair market value of the real property securing the loan on the relevant quarterly REIT testing date or (b) the fair market value of the real property securing the loan on the date the REIT committed to originate or acquire the loan. We intend to invest in mortgage loans, if any, in a manner that will enable us to continue to satisfy the asset and gross income test requirements.

 

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We will monitor the status of our assets for purposes of the various asset tests and will manage our portfolio in order to comply at all times with such tests. However, there is no assurance that we will not inadvertently fail to comply with such tests. If we fail to satisfy the asset tests at the end of a calendar quarter, we will not lose our REIT qualification if:

 

● we satisfied the asset tests at the end of the preceding calendar quarter; and

 

● the discrepancy between the value of our assets and the asset test requirements arose from changes in the market values of our assets and was not wholly or partly caused by the acquisition of one or more non-qualifying assets.

 

If we did not satisfy the condition described in the second item, above, we still could avoid disqualification by eliminating any discrepancy within 30 days after the close of the calendar quarter in which it arose.

 

If we violate the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or the 10% value test described above, we will not lose our REIT qualification if (i) the failure is de minimis (up to the lesser of 1% of our assets or $10 million) and (ii) we dispose of assets causing the failure or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify such failure. If we fail any of the asset tests (other than de minimis failures described in the preceding sentence), as long as the failure was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, we will not lose our REIT qualification if we (i) dispose of assets causing the failure or otherwise comply with the asset tests within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, (ii) file a description of each asset causing the failure with the IRS and (iii) pay a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest corporate tax rate applicable to the net income from the assets causing the failure during the period in which we failed to satisfy the asset tests. As described above, we are relying upon this savings provision in curing an asset test violation that was identified in 2025.

 

We believe that our existing investments comply with the foregoing asset tests, and we intend to monitor compliance on an ongoing basis.

 

We believe that the assets that we hold, and that we will acquire in the future, will allow us to satisfy the foregoing asset test requirements. However, we do not typically obtain independent appraisals to support our conclusions as to the value of our assets, and may not obtain independent appraisals to support our conclusions as to the value of the real estate collateral for any mortgage loan that we may hold. Moreover, the values of some assets may not be susceptible to a precise determination. As a result, there can be no assurance that the IRS will not contend that our ownership of certain assets violates one or more of the asset tests applicable to REITs.

 

Distribution Requirements

 

Each taxable year, we must distribute dividends, other than capital gain dividends and deemed distributions of retained capital gain, to our stockholders in an aggregate amount at least equal to:

 

  the sum of
     
  90% of our “REIT taxable income,” computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain or loss, and
     
  90% of our after-tax net income, if any, from foreclosure property, minus
     
  the excess of the sum of specified items of non-cash income (including original issue discount on any loans) over 5% of our REIT taxable income, computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain.

 

We must make such distributions in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if either (i) we declare the distribution before we timely file our federal income tax return for the year and pay the distribution on or before the first regular dividend payment date after such declaration or (ii) we declare the distribution in October, November or December of the taxable year, payable to stockholders of record on a specified day in any such month, and we actually pay the dividend before the end of January of the following year. The distributions under clause (i) are taxable to the stockholders in the year in which paid, and the distributions in clause (ii) are treated as paid on December 31st of the prior taxable year. In both instances, these distributions relate to our prior taxable year for purposes of the 90% distribution requirement.

 

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Further, if we were not a “publicly offered REIT,” for our distributions to be counted as satisfying the annual distribution requirement for REITs and to provide us with the dividends paid deduction, such distributions must not be “preferential dividends.” A dividend is not a preferential dividend if that distribution is (i) pro rata among all outstanding shares within a particular class of stock and (ii) in accordance with the preferences among different classes of stock as set forth in our charter. This preferential dividend rule does not apply to us so long as we qualify and continue to qualify as a “publicly offered REIT.”

 

We will pay federal income tax on taxable income, including net capital gain, that we do not distribute to stockholders. Furthermore, if we fail to distribute during a calendar year, or by the end of January following the calendar year in the case of distributions with declaration and record dates falling in the last three months of the calendar year, at least the sum of:

 

● 85% of our REIT ordinary income for such year,

 

● 95% of our REIT capital gain income for such year, and

 

● any undistributed taxable income from prior periods,

 

we will, in such case, incur a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of such required distribution over the amounts we actually distribute during such year.

 

We may elect to retain and pay income tax on the net long-term capital gain we receive in a taxable year. If we so elect, we will be treated as having distributed any such retained amount for purposes of the 4% nondeductible excise tax described above. We intend to make timely distributions sufficient to satisfy the annual distribution requirements and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% nondeductible excise tax.

 

It is possible that, from time to time, we may experience timing differences between the actual receipt of income and actual payment of deductible expenses and the inclusion of that income and deduction of such expenses in arriving at our REIT taxable income. For example, we may not deduct recognized capital losses from our “REIT taxable income.” Further, it is possible that, from time to time, we may be allocated a share of net capital gain attributable to the sale of depreciated property that exceeds our allocable share of cash attributable to that sale. As a result of the foregoing, we may have less cash than is necessary to distribute taxable income sufficient to avoid corporate income tax and the excise tax imposed on certain undistributed income or even to meet the 90% distribution requirement. In such a situation, we may need to borrow funds or, if possible, pay taxable dividends in the form of our stock or debt securities.

 

We may satisfy the REIT annual distribution requirements by making taxable distributions of our stock or debt securities. The IRS has issued a revenue procedure authorizing publicly offered REITs to treat certain distributions that are paid partly in cash and partly in stock as dividends that would satisfy the REIT annual distribution requirement and qualify for the dividends paid deduction for federal income tax purposes. We currently do not intend to pay taxable dividends using our stock.

 

Under certain circumstances, we may be able to correct a failure to meet the distribution requirement for a year by paying “deficiency dividends” to our stockholders in a later year. We may include such deficiency dividends in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year. Although we may be able to avoid income tax on amounts distributed as deficiency dividends, we will be required to pay interest and penalties to the IRS based upon the amount of any deduction we take for deficiency dividends for an earlier year.

 

We are required to file an annual federal income tax return, which, like other corporate returns, is subject to examination by the IRS. Because the tax laws require us to make many judgments regarding the proper treatment of a transaction or an item of income or deduction, it is possible that the IRS will challenge positions we take in computing our REIT taxable income and our distributions. Issues could arise, for example, with respect to the allocation of the purchase price of properties between depreciable or amortizable assets and non-depreciable or non-amortizable assets such as land and the current deductibility of certain fees or other expenses. If the IRS were to successfully challenge our characterization of a transaction or determination of our REIT taxable income, we could be found to have failed to satisfy a requirement for qualification as a REIT. If, as a result of a challenge, we are determined to have failed to satisfy the distribution requirements for a taxable year, we would be disqualified as a REIT unless we were permitted to pay a deficiency distribution to our stockholders and pay penalties and interest thereon to the IRS, as provided by the Code. A deficiency distribution cannot be used to satisfy the distribution requirement however, if the failure to meet the requirement is not due to a later adjustment to our income by the IRS.

 

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Recordkeeping Requirements

 

To avoid a monetary penalty, we must request on an annual basis information from our stockholders designed to disclose the actual ownership of our outstanding stock. We intend to comply with these requirements.

 

Failure to Qualify

 

If we fail to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification, other than the gross income tests and the asset tests, we could avoid disqualification if our failure is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect and we pay a penalty of $50,000 for each such failure. In addition, there are relief provisions for a failure of the gross income tests and asset tests, as described in “—Gross Income Tests” and “—Asset Tests.”

 

If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year, and no relief provision applies, we would be subject to federal income tax and any applicable alternative minimum tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates (currently, 21%). In calculating our taxable income in a year in which we fail to qualify as a REIT, we would not be able to deduct amounts paid out to stockholders. In fact, we would not be required to distribute any amounts to stockholders in that year. In such event, to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, distributions to stockholders generally would be taxable as dividend income. Subject to certain limitations of the federal income tax laws, corporate stockholders may be eligible for the dividends received deduction and stockholders taxed at individual rates may be eligible for the reduced federal income tax rate of up to 20% on such dividends. Unless we qualified for relief under specific statutory provisions, if our REIT status is terminated, for any reason, we also would be disqualified from taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the year during which we ceased to qualify as a REIT. We cannot predict whether in all circumstances we would qualify for such statutory relief.

 

Taxation of Stockholders

 

Taxable U.S. Stockholders

 

As used herein, the term “U.S. stockholder” means a beneficial owner of our capital stock that for federal income tax purposes is:

 

● a citizen or resident of the United States;

 

● a corporation (including an entity treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes) created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any of its states or the District of Columbia;

 

● an estate whose income is subject to federal income taxation regardless of its source;

 

● any trust if (i) a U.S. court is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of such trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust or (ii) it has a valid election in place to be treated as a U.S. person; or

 

● a person or entity otherwise subject to federal income taxation on a net income basis.

 

If a partnership, entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes holds our capital stock, the federal income tax treatment of a partner in the partnership will generally depend on the status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. If you are a partner in a partnership holding our capital stock, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of the ownership and disposition of our capital stock by the partnership.

 

As long as we qualify as a REIT, a taxable U.S. stockholder must generally take into account as ordinary income distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we do not designate as capital gain dividends or retained long-term capital gain. Our dividends will not qualify for the dividends received deduction generally available to corporations.

 

Individuals, trusts and estates may deduct up to 20% of certain pass-through income, including ordinary REIT dividends that are not “capital gain dividends” or “qualified dividend income,” subject to certain limitations (the “pass-through deduction”). The maximum tax rate for U.S. stockholders taxed at individual rates is currently 37%. For taxpayers qualifying for the full pass-through deduction, the effective maximum tax rate on ordinary REIT dividends is 29.6%. In addition, individuals, trusts and estates whose income exceeds certain thresholds are also subject to a 3.8% Medicare tax on dividends received from us.

 

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Dividends paid to a U.S. stockholder generally will not qualify for the 20% tax rate for “qualified dividend income.” Qualified dividend income generally includes dividends paid by domestic C corporations and certain qualified foreign corporations to U.S. stockholders that are taxed at individual rates. Because we are not generally subject to federal income tax on the portion of our REIT taxable income distributed to our stockholders (See “— Taxation of the Company” above), our dividends generally will not be eligible for the 20% rate on qualified dividend income. As a result, our ordinary REIT dividends generally will be taxed at a higher tax rate as described above. However, the 20% tax rate for qualified dividend income will apply to our ordinary REIT dividends (i) attributable to dividends received by us from non-REIT corporations during the taxable year, such as a TRS, and (ii) to the extent attributable to income upon which we have paid corporate income tax (e.g., to the extent that we distribute less than 100% of our taxable income). In general, to qualify for the reduced tax rate on qualified dividend income, a stockholder must hold our capital stock for more than 60 days during the 121 day period beginning on the date that is 60 days before the date on which our capital stock becomes ex-dividend.

 

A U.S. stockholder generally will take into account as long-term capital gain any distributions that we designate as capital gain dividends without regard to the period for which the U.S. stockholder has held our stock. We generally will designate our capital gain dividends as either 20% or 25% rate distributions. See “— Capital Gains and Losses.” A corporate U.S. stockholder, however, may be required to treat up to 20% of certain capital gain dividends as ordinary income.

 

We may elect to retain and pay income tax on the net long-term capital gain that we receive in a taxable year. In that case, to the extent that we designate such amount in a timely notice to such stockholder, a U.S. stockholder would be taxed on its proportionate share of our undistributed long-term capital gain. The U.S. stockholder would receive a credit for its proportionate share of the tax that we paid. The U.S. stockholder would increase the basis in its stock by the amount of its proportionate share of our undistributed long-term capital gain, minus its share of the tax that we paid.

 

A U.S. stockholder will not incur tax on a distribution in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits if the distribution does not exceed the adjusted basis of the U.S. stockholder in the shares of capital stock on which the distribution was paid. Instead, the distribution will reduce the adjusted basis of such stock. A U.S. stockholder will recognize a distribution in excess of both our current and accumulated earnings and profits and the U.S. stockholder’s adjusted basis in his or her stock as long-term capital gain, or short-term capital gain if the shares of stock have been held for one year or less, assuming the shares of stock are a capital asset in the hands of the U.S. stockholder. In addition, if we declare a distribution in October, November, or December of any year that is payable to a U.S. stockholder of record on a specified date in any such month, such distribution will be treated as both paid by us and received by the U.S. stockholder on December 31 of such year, provided that we actually pay the distribution during January of the following calendar year.

 

U.S. stockholders may not include in their individual income tax returns any of our net operating losses or capital losses. Instead, these losses are generally carried over by us for potential offset against our future income. Taxable distributions from us and gain from the disposition of our capital stock will not be treated as passive activity income and, therefore, U.S. stockholders generally will not be able to apply any “passive activity losses,” such as losses from certain types of limited partnerships in which the U.S. stockholder is a limited partner, against such income. In addition, taxable distributions from us and gain from the disposition of our capital stock generally will be treated as investment income for purposes of the investment interest expense limitations.

 

Taxation of U.S. Stockholders on the Disposition of Capital Stock

 

A U.S. stockholder who is not a dealer in securities must generally treat any gain or loss realized upon a taxable disposition of our stock as long-term capital gain or loss if the U.S. stockholder has held our stock for more than one year, and otherwise as short-term capital gain or loss. In general, a U.S. stockholder will realize gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between the sum of the fair market value of any property and the amount of cash received in such disposition, and the U.S. stockholder’s adjusted tax basis. A stockholder’s adjusted tax basis generally will equal the U.S. stockholder’s acquisition cost, increased by the excess of net capital gains deemed distributed to the U.S. stockholder (discussed above) less tax deemed paid on such gains, and reduced by any returns of capital. However, a U.S. stockholder must treat any loss upon a sale or exchange of stock held by such stockholder for six months or less as a long-term capital loss to the extent of capital gain dividends and any other actual or deemed distributions from us that such U.S. stockholder treats as long-term capital gain. All or a portion of any loss that a U.S. stockholder realizes upon a taxable disposition of shares of our stock may be disallowed if the U.S. stockholder purchases other shares of our stock within 30 days before or after the disposition. Also, the IRS is authorized to issue Treasury Regulations that would subject a portion of the capital gain a U.S. stockholder recognizes from selling his shares or from a capital gain distribution to a tax at a 25% rate, to the extent the capital gain is attributable to depreciation previously deducted.

 

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If a U.S. stockholder has shares of our common stock redeemed by us, the U.S. stockholder will be treated as if the U.S. stockholder sold the redeemed shares if all of the U.S. stockholder’s shares of our common stock are redeemed or if the redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend within the meaning of Section 302(b)(1) of the Code or substantially disproportionate within the meaning of Section 302(b)(2) of the Code. If a redemption distribution is not treated as a sale of the redeemed shares, it will be treated as a dividend distribution, and will not be entitled to return of capital treatment as in the case of a sale or exchange transaction. U.S. stockholders should consult with their tax advisors regarding the taxation of any particular redemption of our shares.

 

Capital Gains and Losses

 

A taxpayer generally must hold a capital asset for more than one year for gain or loss derived from its sale or exchange to be treated as long-term capital gain or loss. The highest marginal individual income tax rate currently is 37%. The maximum tax rate on long-term capital gain applicable to taxpayers taxed at individual rates is 20% for sales and exchanges of assets held for more than one year. In addition, certain net capital gains attributable to depreciable real property held for more than 12 months are subject to a 25% maximum federal income tax rate to the extent of previously claimed real property depreciation. The maximum tax rate on long-term capital gain from the sale or exchange of “Section 1250 property,” or depreciable real property, is 25%, which applies to the lesser of the total amount of the gain or the accumulated depreciation on the Section 1250 property. In addition, individuals, trusts and estates whose income exceeds certain thresholds are also subject to a 3.8% Medicare tax on gain from the sale of our stock.

 

With respect to distributions that we designate as capital gain dividends and any retained capital gain that we are deemed to distribute, we generally may designate whether such a distribution is taxable to U.S. stockholders taxed at individual rates currently at a 20% or 25% rate. Thus, the tax rate differential between capital gain and ordinary income for those taxpayers may be significant. In addition, the characterization of income as capital gain or ordinary income may affect the deductibility of capital losses. A non-corporate taxpayer may deduct capital losses not offset by capital gains against its ordinary income only up to a maximum annual amount of $3,000. A non-corporate taxpayer may carry forward unused capital losses indefinitely. A corporate taxpayer must pay tax on its net capital gain at ordinary corporate rates. A corporate taxpayer may deduct capital losses only to the extent of capital gains, with unused losses being carried back three years and forward five years.

 

FATCA Withholding

 

Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, a U.S. withholding tax at a 30% rate will be imposed on dividends paid to certain U.S. stockholders who own our shares through foreign accounts or foreign intermediaries if certain disclosure requirements related to U.S. accounts or ownership are not satisfied. We will not pay any additional amounts in respect of any amounts withheld.

 

Taxation of Tax-Exempt Stockholders

 

Tax-exempt entities, including qualified employee pension and profit-sharing trusts and individual retirement accounts, generally are exempt from federal income taxation. However, they are subject to taxation on their unrelated business taxable income (“UBTI”). Although many investments in real estate generate UBTI, the IRS has issued a ruling that dividend distributions from a REIT to an exempt employee pension trust do not constitute UBTI. Based on that ruling, amounts that we distribute to tax-exempt stockholders generally should not constitute UBTI. However, if a tax-exempt stockholder were to finance (or be deemed to finance) its acquisition of capital stock with debt, a portion of the income that it receives from us would constitute UBTI pursuant to the “debt-financed property” rules. Moreover, social clubs, voluntary employee benefit associations, supplemental unemployment benefit trusts and qualified group legal services plans that are exempt from taxation under special provisions of the federal income tax laws are subject to different UBTI rules, which generally will require them to characterize distributions that they receive from us as UBTI. Finally, in certain circumstances, a qualified employee pension or profit-sharing trust that owns more than 10% of our capital stock must treat a percentage of the dividends that it receives from us as UBTI. Such percentage is equal to the gross income we derive from an unrelated trade or business, determined as if we were a pension trust, divided by our total gross income for the year in which we pay the dividends. That rule applies to a pension trust holding more than 10% of our capital stock only if:

 

● the percentage of our dividends that the tax-exempt trust must treat as UBTI is at least 5%;

 

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● we qualify as a REIT by reason of the modification of the rule requiring that no more than 50% of our capital stock be owned by five or fewer individuals that allows the beneficiaries of the pension trust to be treated as holding our capital stock in proportion to their actuarial interests in the pension trust; and either

 

● one pension trust owns more than 25% of the value of our capital stock; or

 

● a group of pension trusts individually holding more than 10% of the value of our capital stock collectively owns more than 50% of the value of our capital stock.

 

Taxation of Non-U.S. Stockholders

 

The term “non-U.S. stockholder” means a beneficial owner of our capital stock that is not a U.S. stockholder, a partnership (or entity treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes) or a tax-exempt stockholder. The rules governing federal income taxation of nonresident alien individuals, foreign corporations, foreign partnerships, and other foreign stockholders are highly complex. This section is only a summary of such rules. We urge non-U.S. stockholders to consult their tax advisors to determine the impact of federal, state, and local income tax laws on the purchase, ownership and sale of our capital stock, including any reporting requirements.

 

Distributions

 

A non-U.S. stockholder that receives a distribution that is not attributable to gain from our sale or exchange of a “United States real property interest” (“USRPI”), as defined below, and that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend or retained capital gain, will recognize ordinary income to the extent that we pay such distribution out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. A withholding tax equal to 30% of the gross amount of the distribution ordinarily will apply to such distribution unless an applicable tax treaty reduces or eliminates the tax. However, if a distribution is treated as effectively connected with the non-U.S. stockholder’s conduct of a U.S. trade or business, the non-U.S. stockholder generally will be subject to federal income tax on the distribution at graduated rates, in the same manner as U.S. stockholders are taxed with respect to such distribution, and will be required to file a tax return in the U.S. on which such income and tax are reported, and a non-U.S. stockholder that is a corporation also may be subject to the 30% branch profits tax with respect to that distribution. We plan to withhold U.S. income tax at the rate of 30% on the gross amount of any such distribution paid to a non-U.S. stockholder except to the extent that:

 

● a lower treaty rate applies and the non-U.S. stockholder files an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, as applicable, evidencing eligibility for that reduced rate with us;

 

● the non-U.S. stockholder files an IRS Form W-8ECI with us claiming that the distribution is effectively connected income; or

 

● the distribution is treated as attributable to a sale of a USRPI under FIRPTA (discussed below).

 

A non-U.S. stockholder will not incur tax on a distribution in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits if the excess portion of such distribution does not exceed the adjusted basis of the non-U.S. stockholder in the shares of capital stock on which the distribution was paid. Instead, the excess portion of such distribution will reduce the adjusted basis of such stock. A non-U.S. stockholder will be subject to tax on a distribution that exceeds both our current and accumulated earnings and profits and the adjusted basis of its capital stock, if the non-U.S. stockholder otherwise would be subject to tax on gain from the sale or disposition of its capital stock, as described below. We may be required to withhold 15% of any distribution that exceeds our current and accumulated earnings and profits. Consequently, although we intend to withhold at a rate of 30% on the entire amount of any distribution, to the extent that we do not do so, we may withhold at a rate of 15% on any portion of a distribution not subject to withholding at a rate of 30%. Because we generally cannot determine at the time we make a distribution whether the distribution will exceed our current and accumulated earnings and profits, we normally will withhold tax on the entire amount of any distribution at the same rate as we would withhold on a dividend. However, a non-U.S. stockholder may claim a refund of amounts that we withhold if we later determine that a distribution in fact exceeded our current and accumulated earnings and profits.

 

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For any year in which we qualify as a REIT, a non-U.S. stockholder may incur tax on distributions that are attributable to gain from our sale or exchange of a USRPI under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Act of 1980 (“FIRPTA”). A USRPI includes certain interests in real property and stock in corporations at least 50% of whose assets consist of interests in real property. Under FIRPTA, subject to the exceptions discussed below, a non-U.S. stockholder is taxed on distributions attributable to gain from sales of USRPIs as if such gain were effectively connected with a U.S. business of the non-U.S. stockholder. A non-U.S. stockholder thus would be taxed on such a distribution at the normal capital gains rates applicable to U.S. stockholders, subject to applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of a nonresident alien individual, and would be required to file a U.S. tax return on which the income and tax would be reported. A non-U.S. corporate stockholder not entitled to treaty relief or exemption also may be subject to the 30% branch profits tax on such a distribution.

 

Capital gain distributions to the holders of shares of a class of our capital stock that are attributable to our sale of real property will be treated as ordinary dividends rather than as gain from the sale of a USRPI, as long as (i) (a) such class of capital stock is treated as being “regularly traded” on an established securities market in the United States, and (b) the non-U.S. stockholder did not own more than 10% of such class of capital stock at any time during the one-year period preceding the distribution or (ii) the non-U.S. stockholder was treated as a “qualified shareholder” or “qualified foreign pension fund,” as discussed below. As a result, non-U.S. stockholders generally will be subject to withholding tax on such capital gain distributions in the same manner as they are subject to withholding tax on ordinary dividends. We believe that our common stock is regularly traded on an established securities market in the United States. However, no assurance can be given tax our common stock will continue to be so traded on an established securities market in the United States. If a class of our capital stock is not regularly traded on an established securities market in the United States or the non-U.S. stockholder owned more than 10% of the applicable class of our capital stock at any time during the one-year period preceding the distribution, capital gain distributions that are attributable to our sale of real property would be subject to tax under FIRPTA, as described in the preceding paragraph. In such case, we must withhold 21% of any distribution that we could designate as a capital gain dividend. A non-U.S. stockholder may receive a credit against its tax liability for the amount we withhold. Moreover, if a non-U.S. stockholder disposes of shares of our capital stock during the 30-day period preceding a dividend payment, and such non-U.S. stockholder (or a person related to such non-U.S. stockholder) acquires or enters into a contract or option to acquire that capital stock within 61 days of the first day of the 30-day period described above, and any portion of such dividend payment would, but for the disposition, be treated as a USRPI capital gain to such non-U.S. stockholder, then such non-U.S. stockholder shall be treated as having USRPI capital gain in an amount that, but for the disposition, would have been treated as USRPI capital gain.

 

Although the law is not clear on the matter, it appears that amounts that we designate as retained capital gains in respect of our capital stock held by U.S. stockholders generally should be treated with respect to non-U.S. stockholders in the same manner as actual distributions by us of capital gain dividends. Under this approach, a non-U.S. stockholder would be able to offset as a credit against its federal income tax liability resulting from its proportionate share of the tax paid by us on such retained capital gains, and to receive from the IRS a refund to the extent of the non-U.S. stockholder’s proportionate share of such tax paid by us exceeds its actual federal income tax liability, provided that the non-U.S. stockholder furnishes required information to the IRS on a timely basis.

 

Dispositions

 

Non-U.S. stockholders could incur tax under FIRPTA with respect to gain realized upon a disposition of our capital stock if we are a United States real property holding corporation during a specified testing period. If at least 50% of a REIT’s assets are USRPIs, then the REIT will be a United States real property holding corporation. We believe that we are and will continue to be a United States real property holding corporation based on our investment strategy. However, despite our status as a United States real property holding corporation, a non-U.S. stockholder generally would not incur tax under FIRPTA on gain from the sale of our capital stock if we are a “domestically controlled qualified investment entity.” A domestically controlled qualified investment entity includes a REIT in which, at all times during a specified testing period, less than 50% in value of its shares are held, directly or indirectly, by non-U.S. stockholders. We cannot assure you that this test will be met. If a class of our capital stock is regularly traded on an established securities market, an additional exception to the tax under FIRPTA will be available with respect to that class of our capital stock, even if we do not qualify as a domestically controlled qualified investment entity at the time the non-U.S. stockholder sells shares of that class of our capital stock. Under that exception, the gain from such a sale by such a non-U.S. stockholder will not be subject to tax under FIRPTA if:

 

● that class of our capital stock is treated as being regularly traded under applicable Treasury regulations on an established securities market; and

 

● the non-U.S. stockholder owned, actually and constructively, 10% or less of that class of our capital stock at all times during a specified testing period.

 

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Although we believe that our common stock has been regularly traded on an established securities market, no assurance can be given that our common stock will continue to be so traded, in which case this exemption from application of FIRPTA upon the sale of our common stock by a non-U.S. stockholder would not be available.

 

If the gain on the sale of shares of our capital stock were taxed under FIRPTA, a non-U.S. stockholder would be taxed on that gain in the same manner as U.S. stockholders, subject to applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals, and such gain and the tax thereon would be required to be reported on a tax return filed in the U.S. Furthermore, a non-U.S. stockholder generally will incur tax on gain not subject to FIRPTA if:

 

● the gain is effectively connected with the non-U.S. stockholder’s U.S. trade or business, in which case the non-U.S. stockholder will be subject to the same treatment as U.S. stockholders with respect to such gain; or

 

● the non-U.S. stockholder is a nonresident alien individual who was present in the United States for 183 days or more during the taxable year and has a “tax home” in the United States, in which case the non-U.S. stockholder will incur a 30% tax on his or her capital gains.

 

Qualified Shareholders

 

Subject to the exception discussed below, any distribution to a “qualified shareholder” who holds REIT stock directly or indirectly (through one or more partnerships) will not be subject to federal income taxation under FIRPTA and thus will not be subject to the special withholding rules under FIRPTA. While a “qualified shareholder” will not be subject to FIRPTA withholding on REIT distributions, the portion of REIT distributions attributable to certain investors in a “qualified shareholder” (i.e., non-U.S. persons who hold interests in the “qualified shareholder” (other than interests solely as a creditor), and directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of the stock of such REIT (whether or not by reason of the investor’s ownership in the “qualified stockholder”)) may be subject to FIRPTA withholding. REIT distributions received by a “qualified stockholder” that are exempt from FIRPTA withholding may still be subject to regular U.S. withholding tax.

 

In addition, a sale of our stock by a “qualified shareholder” who holds such stock directly or indirectly (through one or more partnerships) generally will not be subject to federal income taxation under FIRPTA. As with distributions, the portion of amounts realized attributable to certain investors in a “qualified shareholder” (i.e., non-U.S. persons who hold interests in the “qualified shareholder” (other than interests solely as a creditor), and directly or indirectly hold more than 10% of the stock of such REIT (whether or not by reason of the investor’s ownership in the “qualified shareholder”)) may be subject to federal income taxation and FIRPTA withholding on a sale of our stock.

 

A “qualified shareholder” is a foreign person that (i) either is eligible for the benefits of a comprehensive income tax treaty which includes an exchange of information program and whose principal class of interests is listed and regularly traded on one or more recognized stock exchanges (as defined in such comprehensive income tax treaty), or is a foreign partnership that is created or organized under foreign law as a limited partnership in a jurisdiction that has an agreement for the exchange of information with respect to taxes with the United States and has a class of limited partnership units representing greater than 50% of the value of all the partnership units that is regularly traded on the NYSE American or NASDAQ markets, (ii) is a qualified collective investment vehicle (defined below), and (iii) maintains records on the identity of each person who, at any time during the foreign person’s taxable year, is the direct owner of 5% or more of the class of interests or units (as applicable) described in (i), above.

 

A qualified collective investment vehicle is a foreign person that (i) would be eligible for a reduced rate of withholding under the comprehensive income tax treaty described above, even if such entity holds more than 10% of the stock of such REIT, (ii) is publicly traded, is treated as a partnership under the Code, is a withholding foreign partnership, and would be treated as a “United States real property holding corporation” if it were a domestic corporation, or (iii) is designated as such by the Secretary of the Treasury and is either (a) fiscally transparent within the meaning of Section 894 of the Code, or (b) required to include dividends in its gross income, but is entitled to a deduction for distributions to its investors.

 

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Qualified Foreign Pension Funds

 

Any distribution to a “qualified foreign pension fund” (or an entity all of the interests of which are held by a “qualified foreign pension fund”) which holds REIT stock directly or indirectly (through one or more partnerships) will not be subject to federal income taxation under FIRPTA and thus will not be subject to the special withholding rules under FIRPTA. REIT distributions received by a “qualified foreign pension fund” that are exempt from FIRPTA withholding may nevertheless be subject to regular U.S. withholding tax (e.g., on ordinary dividends). In addition, a sale of our stock by a “qualified foreign pension fund” that holds such stock directly or indirectly (through one or more partnerships) will not be subject to federal income taxation under FIRPTA.

 

A qualified foreign pension fund is any trust, corporation, or other organization or arrangement (i) which is created or organized under the law of a country other than the United States, (ii) which is established to provide retirement or pension benefits to participants or beneficiaries that are current or former employees (or persons designated by such employees) of one or more employers in consideration for services rendered, (iii) which does not have a single participant or beneficiary with a right to more than 5% of its assets or income, (iv) which is subject to government regulation and provides annual information reporting about its beneficiaries to the relevant tax authorities in the country in which it is established or operates, and (v) with respect to which, under the laws of the country in which it is established or operates, (a) contributions to such organization or arrangement that would otherwise be subject to tax under such laws are deductible or excluded from the gross income of such entity or taxed at a reduced rate, or (b) taxation of any investment income of such organization or arrangement is deferred or such income is taxed at a reduced rate.

 

FATCA Withholding

 

Under FATCA, a U.S. withholding tax at a 30% rate will be imposed on dividends paid on our capital stock received by certain non-U.S. stockholders if certain disclosure requirements related to U.S. accounts or ownership are not satisfied. If payment of withholding taxes is required, non-U.S. stockholders that are otherwise eligible for an exemption from, or reduction of, U.S. withholding taxes with respect of such dividends and proceeds will be required to seek a refund from the IRS to obtain the benefit of such exemption or reduction. We will not pay any additional amounts in respect of any amounts withheld.

 

Information Reporting Requirements and Withholding

 

We will report to our stockholders and to the IRS the amount of distributions we pay during each calendar year, and the amount of tax we withhold, if any. Under the backup withholding rules, a stockholder may be subject to backup withholding, at a rate of 24%, with respect to distributions unless the stockholder:

 

● is a corporation or qualifies for certain other exempt categories and, when required, demonstrates this fact; or

 

● provides a taxpayer identification number, certifies as to no loss of exemption from backup withholding, and otherwise complies with the applicable requirements of the backup withholding rules.

 

A stockholder who does not provide us with its correct taxpayer identification number may also be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS. Any amount paid as backup withholding will be creditable against the stockholder’s income tax liability. In addition, we may be required to withhold a portion of capital gain distributions to any stockholders who fail to certify their non-foreign status to us.

 

Backup withholding will generally not apply to payments of dividends made by us or our paying agents, in their capacities as such, to a non-U.S. stockholder provided that the non-U.S. stockholder furnishes to us or our paying agent the required certification as to its non-U.S. status, such as providing a valid IRS Form W-8BEN, W-8BEN-E or W-8ECI, or certain other requirements are met. Notwithstanding the foregoing, backup withholding may apply if either we or our paying agent has actual knowledge, or reason to know, that the holder is a U.S. person that is not an exempt recipient. Payments of the proceeds from a disposition or a redemption effected outside the U.S. by a non-U.S. stockholder made by or through a foreign office of a broker generally will not be subject to information reporting or backup withholding. However, information reporting (but not backup withholding) generally will apply to such a payment if the broker has certain connections with the U.S. unless the broker has documentary evidence in its records that the beneficial owner is a non-U.S. stockholder and specified conditions are met or an exemption is otherwise established. Payment of the proceeds from a disposition by a non-U.S. stockholder of stock made by or through the U.S. office of a broker is generally subject to information reporting and backup withholding unless the non-U.S. stockholder certifies under penalties of perjury that it is not a U.S. person and satisfies certain other requirements, or otherwise establishes an exemption from information reporting and backup withholding.

 

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Backup withholding is not an additional tax. Any amounts withheld under the backup withholding rules may be refunded or credited against the stockholder’s federal income tax liability if certain required information is furnished to the IRS. Stockholders should consult their tax advisors regarding application of backup withholding to them and the availability of, and procedure for obtaining an exemption from, backup withholding.

 

Other Tax Consequences

 

Tax Aspects of Our Investments in Our Operating Partnership and Subsidiary Partnerships

 

The following discussion summarizes certain federal income tax considerations applicable to our direct or indirect investments in our Operating Partnership and any subsidiary partnerships or limited liability companies that we form or acquire (each individually a “Partnership” and, collectively, the “Partnerships”). The discussion does not cover state or local tax laws or any federal tax laws other than income tax laws.

 

Substantially all of the Company’s investments are held indirectly through the Operating Partnership. In general, partnerships are “pass-through” entities that are not subject to federal income tax at the partnership level. However, a partner is allocated its proportionate share of the items of income, gain, loss, deduction and credit of a partnership, and is required to include these items in calculating its tax liability, without regard to whether it receives a distribution from the partnership. The Company includes its proportionate share of these partnership items in its income for purposes of the various REIT income tests and the computation of its REIT taxable income. Moreover, for purposes of the REIT asset tests, the Company includes its proportionate share of assets held through the Operating Partnership.

 

Classification as Partnerships. We will include in our income our distributive share of each Partnership’s income and to deduct our distributive share of each Partnership’s losses only if such Partnership is classified for federal income tax purposes as a partnership (or an entity that is disregarded for federal income tax purposes if the entity is treated as having only one owner for federal income tax purposes) rather than as a corporation or an association taxable as a corporation. An unincorporated entity with at least two owners or members will be classified as a partnership, rather than as a corporation, for federal income tax purposes if it:

 

● is treated as a partnership under the Treasury regulations relating to entity classification (the “check-the-box regulations”); and

 

● is not a “publicly-traded partnership.”

 

Under the check-the-box regulations, an unincorporated entity with at least two owners or members may elect to be classified either as an association taxable as a corporation or as a partnership. If such an entity is a U.S. entity and fails to make an election, it generally will be treated as a partnership (or an entity that is disregarded for federal income tax purposes if the entity is treated as having only one owner for federal income tax purposes) for federal income tax purposes. Our Operating Partnership intends to be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and will not elect to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation under the check-the-box regulations.

 

A publicly-traded partnership is a partnership whose interests are traded on an established securities market or are readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof. A publicly-traded partnership will not, however, be treated as a corporation for any taxable year if, for each taxable year in which it was classified as a publicly-traded partnership, 90% or more of the partnership’s gross income for such year consists of certain passive-type income, including real property rents, gains from the sale or other disposition of real property, interest, and dividends (the “90% passive income exception”). We believe our Operating Partnership should not be treated as a corporation because we expect it would be eligible for the 90% passive income exception. Treasury regulations (the “PTP regulations”) also provide limited safe harbors from the definition of a publicly-traded partnership. Pursuant to one of those safe harbors (the “private placement exclusion”), interests in a partnership will not be treated as readily tradable on a secondary market or the substantial equivalent thereof if (i) all interests in the partnership were issued in a transaction or transactions that were not required to be registered under the Securities Act and (ii) the partnership does not have more than 100 partners at any time during the partnership’s taxable year. In determining the number of partners in a partnership, a person owning an interest in a partnership, grantor trust, or S corporation that owns an interest in the partnership is treated as a partner in such partnership only if (i) substantially all of the value of the owner’s interest in the entity is attributable to the entity’s direct or indirect interest in the partnership and (ii) a principal purpose of the use of the entity is to permit the partnership to satisfy the 100-partner limitation.

 

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We have not requested, and do not intend to request, a ruling from the IRS that our Operating Partnership will be classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes. If for any reason our Operating Partnership were taxable as a corporation, rather than as a partnership, for federal income tax purposes, we may not be able to qualify as a REIT unless we qualified for certain relief provisions. See “— Gross Income Tests” and “— Asset Tests.” In addition, any change in a Partnership’s status for tax purposes might be treated as a taxable event, in which case we might incur tax liability without any related cash distribution. See “— Distribution Requirements.” Further, items of income and deduction of such Partnership would not pass through to its partners, and its partners would be treated as stockholders for tax purposes. Consequently, such Partnership would be required to pay income tax at corporate rates on its net income, and distributions to its partners would constitute dividends that would not be deductible in computing such Partnership’s taxable income.

 

Income Taxation of the Partnerships and their Partners

 

Partners, Not the Partnerships, Subject to Tax. In general, a partnership is not a taxable entity for federal income tax purposes. Rather, we are required to take into account our allocable share of each Partnership’s income, gains, losses, deductions, and credits for any taxable year of such Partnership ending within or with our taxable year, without regard to whether we have received or will receive any distribution from such Partnership. However, the tax liability for adjustments to a Partnership’s tax returns made as a result of an audit by the IRS will be imposed on the Partnership itself in certain circumstances absent an election to the contrary.

 

Partnership Allocations. Although a partnership agreement generally will determine the allocation of income and losses among partners, such allocations will be disregarded for tax purposes if they do not comply with the provisions of the federal income tax laws governing partnership allocations. If an allocation is not recognized for federal income tax purposes, the item subject to the allocation will be reallocated in accordance with the partners’ interests in the partnership, which will be determined by taking into account all of the facts and circumstances relating to the economic arrangement of the partners with respect to such item. Our Operating Partnership’s allocations of taxable income, gain, and loss are intended to comply with the requirements of the federal income tax laws governing partnership allocations.

 

Tax Allocations With Respect to Partnership Properties. Pursuant to Section 704(c) of the Code, income, gain, loss, and deduction attributable to appreciated or depreciated property that is contributed to a partnership in exchange for an interest in the partnership must be allocated in a manner such that the contributing partner is charged with, or benefits from, respectively, the unrealized gain or unrealized loss associated with the property at the time of the contribution. In the case of a contribution of property, the amount of the unrealized gain or unrealized loss (“built-in gain” or “built-in loss”) is generally equal to the difference between the fair market value of the contributed property at the time of contribution and the adjusted tax basis of such property at the time of contribution (a “book-tax difference”). Any property purchased for cash initially will have an adjusted tax basis equal to its fair market value, resulting in no book-tax difference. Our Operating Partnership may admit partners in the future in exchange for a contribution of property, which will result in book-tax differences.

 

Allocations with respect to book-tax differences are solely for federal income tax purposes and do not affect the book capital accounts or other economic or legal arrangements among the partners. The U.S. Treasury Department has issued regulations requiring partnerships to use a “reasonable method” for allocating items with respect to which there is a book-tax difference and outlining several reasonable allocation methods. Under certain available methods, the carryover basis in the hands of our Operating Partnership of properties contributed to us would cause us to be allocated lower amounts of depreciation deductions for tax purposes than would be allocated to us if all our properties were to have a tax basis equal to their fair market value at the time of contribution.

 

Under the partnership agreement for our Operating Partnership, depreciation or amortization deductions of our Operating Partnership generally will be allocated among the partners in accordance with their respective interests in our Operating Partnership, except to the extent that our Operating Partnership is required under Section 704(c) of the Code to use a method for allocating depreciation deductions attributable to contributed properties that results in the contributing partner receiving a disproportionately large share of such deductions when compared to the tax basis of such property. In this case, the contributing partner may be allocated (1) lower amounts of depreciation deductions for tax purposes with respect to contributed properties than would be allocated to such contributing partner if each such property were to have a tax basis equal to its fair market value at the time of contribution, and/or (2) taxable gain in the event of a sale of such contributed properties in excess of the economic profit allocated to such contributing partner as a result of such sale. These allocations may cause the contributing partner to recognize taxable income in excess of cash proceeds received by the contributing partner, which might require such partner to utilize cash from other sources to satisfy his or her tax liability or, if the REIT happens to be the contributing partner, adversely affect our ability to comply with the REIT distribution requirements.

 

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We anticipate that the REIT primarily will be contributing cash to the Operating Partnership, in which case we do not anticipate that these rules will adversely impact the allocations of income and gain from the Operating Partnership to the REIT. However, we (us and the Operating Partnership) have entered into a contribution agreement with certain affiliates pursuant to which the Operating Partnership acquired real properties having a lower basis than the fair market value of these properties. Accordingly, the tax principles discussed in this section could require lower allocations of depreciation expense and, in the event of a sale of one or more of these properties, higher allocations of income or gain to those contributing partners. While the application of these tax principles would not ordinarily have an adverse impact on any allocations of income, deduction, and/or gain to us as a REIT, the Operating Partnership also has entered into a tax protection agreement with the contributing partners that generally limit the Operating Partnership’s ability to dispose of these properties. Further, if the Operating Partnership were to dispose of one (or more) of these properties, the Operating Partnership could be obligated to make certain payments to the contributing partners to compensate them for the additional taxes payable as a result of the gains that are recognized and allocated to the contributing partners under these tax principles. As a result, the net proceeds available for distribution to us by the Operating Partnership after making any such tax payments to the contributing partners would be reduced.

 

The foregoing principles also could affect the calculation of our earnings and profits for purposes of determining which portion of our distributions is taxable as a dividend. The allocations described in the above paragraphs may result in a higher portion of our distributions being taxed as a dividend if we acquire properties in exchange for units of our Operating Partnership than would have occurred had we purchased such properties for cash.

 

In general, if any asset contributed to or revalued by the Operating Partnership is determined to have a fair market value that is greater than its adjusted tax basis, partners who have contributed those assets, including the Company, will be allocated lower amounts of depreciation deductions as to specific properties for tax purposes by the Operating Partnership and increased taxable income and gain on sale. Thus, the Company may be allocated lower depreciation and other deductions, and possibly greater amounts of taxable income in the event of a sale of contributed assets. These amounts may be in excess of the economic or book income allocated to it as a result of the sale. In this regard, it should be noted that as the general partner of the Operating Partnership, the Company will determine, taking into account the tax consequences to it, when and whether to sell any given property.

 

The Company will be allocated its share of the Operating Partnership’s taxable income or loss for each year regardless of the amount of cash that may be distributed to it by the Operating Partnership. As a result, the Company could be allocated taxable income for a year in excess of the amount of cash distributed to it. This excess taxable income is sometimes referred to as “phantom income.” Because the Company relies on cash distributions from the Operating Partnership to meet its REIT distribution requirements, which are specified percentages of its REIT taxable income, the recognition of this phantom income might adversely affect the Company’s ability to comply with those requirements.

 

Basis in Operating Partnership Interest

 

The adjusted tax basis of a partner’s interest in the Operating Partnership generally is equal to (1) the amount of cash and the basis of any other property contributed to the Operating Partnership by the partner, (2) increased by the partner’s (a) allocable share of the Operating Partnership’s income and (b) allocable share of indebtedness of the Operating Partnership, and (3) reduced, but not below zero, by (a) the partner’s allocable share of the Operating Partnership’s loss and (b) the amount of cash distributed to the partner, including constructive cash distributions resulting from a reduction in the partner’s share of indebtedness of the Operating Partnership.

 

If the allocation of a partner’s distributive share of the Operating Partnership’s loss would reduce the adjusted tax basis of such partner’s partnership interest in the Operating Partnership below zero, the recognition of such loss will be deferred until such time as the recognition of such loss would not reduce an adjusted tax basis below zero. If a distribution from the Operating Partnership or a reduction in a partner’s share of the Operating Partnership’s liabilities (which is treated as a constructive distribution for tax purposes) would reduce such partner’s adjusted tax basis below zero, any such distribution, including a constructive distribution, would constitute taxable income to such partner. The gain realized by the partner upon the receipt of any such distribution or constructive distribution would normally be characterized as capital gain, and if the partner’s partnership interest in the Operating Partnership has been held for longer than the long-term capital gain holding period (currently one year), the distribution would constitute long-term capital gain.

 

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Sale of a Partnership’s Property

 

Generally, any gain realized by a Partnership on the sale of property held by the Partnership for more than one year will be long-term capital gain, except for any portion of such gain that is treated as depreciation or cost recovery recapture. Under Section 704(c) of the Code, any gain or loss recognized by a Partnership on the disposition of contributed properties will be allocated first to the partners of the Partnership who contributed such properties to the extent of their built-in gain or loss on those properties for federal income tax purposes. The partners’ built-in gain or loss on such contributed properties will equal the difference between the partners’ proportionate share of the book value of those properties and the partners’ tax basis allocable to those properties at the time of the contribution as reduced for any decrease in the “book-tax difference.” See “— Income Taxation of the Partnerships and Their Partners — Tax Allocations With Respect to Partnership Properties.” Any remaining gain or loss recognized by the Partnership on the disposition of the contributed properties, and any gain or loss recognized by the Partnership on the disposition of the other properties, will be allocated among the partners in accordance with their respective percentage interests in the Partnership.

 

Our share of any gain realized by a Partnership on the sale of any property held by the Partnership as inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of the Partnership’s trade or business will be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a 100% penalty tax. Such prohibited transaction income also may have an adverse effect upon our ability to satisfy the income tests for REIT status. See “—Gross Income Tests.” We do not presently intend to acquire or hold or to allow any Partnership to acquire or hold any property that represents inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of our or such Partnership’s trade or business.

 

Legislative or Other Actions Affecting REITs

 

The present federal income tax treatment of REITs may be modified, possibly with retroactive effect, by legislative, judicial, or administrative action at any time. The REIT rules are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department which may result in statutory changes as well as revisions to regulations and interpretations. We cannot predict any future law changes on REITs and their stockholders. Prospective investors are urged to consult with their tax advisors regarding the effect of potential changes to the federal tax laws on an investment in our stock.

 

State and Local Taxes

 

The Company and its stockholders are subject to state or local taxation in various state or local jurisdictions, including those in which it or they transact business or reside. The state and local tax treatment of the Company and its stockholders may not conform to the federal income tax consequences discussed above. Consequently, prospective stockholders of the Company should consult their own tax advisors regarding the effect of state and local tax laws on an investment in the Company.

 

To the extent that the Company and any TRSs are required to pay federal, state or local taxes, the Company will have less cash available for distribution to stockholders.

 

Statement of Stock Ownership

 

We are required to demand annual written statements from the record holders of designated percentages of our shares disclosing the actual owners of the shares. Any record stockholder who, upon our request, does not provide us with required information concerning actual ownership of the shares is required to include specified information relating to his or her shares in his or her federal income tax return. We also must maintain, within the Internal Revenue District in which we are required to file, our federal income tax return, permanent records showing the information we have received about the actual ownership of shares and a list of those persons failing or refusing to comply with our demand.

 

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Tax Shelter Reporting

 

Under applicable Treasury regulations, if a stockholder recognizes a loss with respect to the shares of $2 million or more for an individual stockholder or $10 million or more for a corporate stockholder, the stockholder may be required to file a disclosure statement with the IRS on Form 8886. Direct stockholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempt from this reporting requirement, but stockholders of a REIT currently are not excepted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer’s treatment of the loss is proper. Stockholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.

 

PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

 

These securities may be offered and sold directly by us, through dealers or agents designated from time to time, or to or through underwriters or may be offered and sold directly by us for consideration consisting of goods and property, including real property directly by us or through a specific bidding or auction process, a rights offering or through a combination of these methods. The prospectus supplement with respect to the securities being offered will set forth the terms of the offering, including the names of the underwriters, dealers or agents, if any, the purchase price of the securities, our net proceeds, any underwriting discounts and other items constituting underwriters’ compensation, public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers and any securities exchanges on which such securities may be listed. These securities may also be offered by us to our shareholders in lieu of dividends.

 

The distribution of securities may be affected, from time to time, in one or more transactions, including:

 

  block transactions (which may involve crosses) and transactions on the NYSE American or any other organized market where the securities may be traded;
     
  purchases by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for its own account pursuant to a prospectus supplement;
     
  ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which a broker-dealer solicits purchasers;
     
  sales “at the market” to or through a market maker or into an existing trading market, on an exchange or otherwise; and
     
  sales in other ways not involving market makers or established trading markets, including direct sales to purchasers.

 

The securities may be sold at a fixed price or prices, which may be changed, or at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, at prices relating to the prevailing market prices or at negotiated prices. The consideration may be cash or another form negotiated by the parties. Agents, underwriters or broker-dealers may be paid compensation for offering and selling the securities. That compensation may be in the form of discounts, concessions or commissions to be received from us or from the purchasers of the securities. Dealers and agents participating in the distribution of the securities may be deemed to be underwriters, and compensation received by them on resale of the securities may be deemed to be underwriting discounts and commissions under the Securities Act. If such dealers or agents were deemed to be underwriters, they may be subject to statutory liabilities under the Securities Act.

 

We may also make direct sales through subscription rights distributed to our existing stockholders on a pro rata basis, which may or may not be transferable. In any distribution of subscription rights to our stockholders, if all of the underlying securities are not subscribed for, we may then sell the unsubscribed securities directly to third parties or may engage the services of one or more underwriters, dealers or agents, including standby underwriters, to sell the unsubscribed securities to third parties.

 

If underwriters are used in an offering, we will execute an underwriting agreement with such underwriters and will specify the name of each underwriter and the terms of the transaction (including any underwriting discounts and other terms constituting compensation of the underwriters and any dealers) in a prospectus supplement. If an underwriting syndicate is used, the managing underwriter(s) will be specified on the cover of the prospectus supplement. If underwriters are used in the sale, the offered securities will be acquired by the underwriters for their own accounts and may be resold from time to time in one or more transactions, including negotiated transactions, at a fixed public offering price or at varying prices determined at the time of sale. Any public offering price and any discounts or concessions allowed or reallowed or paid to dealers may be changed from time to time. Unless otherwise set forth in the prospectus supplement, the obligations of the underwriters to purchase the offered securities will be subject to conditions precedent and the underwriters will be obligated to purchase all of the offered securities if any are purchased.

 

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If dealers are used in an offering, we will sell the securities to the dealers as principals. The dealers may resell the securities to the public at varying prices, which they determine at the time of resale. The names of the dealers and the terms of the transaction will be specified in a prospectus supplement.

 

The securities may be sold directly by us or through agents we designate. If agents are used in an offering, the names of the agents and the terms of the agency will be specified in a prospectus supplement. Unless otherwise indicated in a prospectus supplement, the agents will act on a best-efforts basis for the period of their appointment.

 

Dealers and agents named in a prospectus supplement may be deemed to be underwriters (within the meaning of the Securities Act) of the securities described therein. In addition, we may sell the securities directly to institutional investors or others who may be deemed to be underwriters within the meaning of the Securities Act with respect to any resales thereof.

 

In compliance with the guidelines of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), the aggregate value of all compensation to be received by participating FINRA members in any offering will not exceed 8% of the offering proceeds.

 

Underwriters, dealers and agents, may be entitled to indemnification by us against specific civil liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribution with respect to payments which the underwriters or agents may be required to make in respect thereof, under underwriting or other agreements. The terms of any indemnification provisions will be set forth in a prospectus supplement. Certain underwriters, dealers or agents and their associates may engage in transactions with and perform services for us in the ordinary course of business.

 

If so indicated in a prospectus supplement, we will authorize underwriters or other persons acting as our agents to solicit offers by institutional investors to purchase securities pursuant to contracts providing for payment and delivery on a future date. We may enter into contracts with commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, pension funds, investment companies, educational and charitable institutions and other institutional investors. The obligations of any institutional investor will be subject to the condition that its purchase of the offered securities will not be illegal at the time of delivery. The underwriters and other agents will not be responsible for the validity or performance of contracts.

 

Each prospectus supplement will indicate if the securities offered thereby will be listed on any securities exchange; however, we anticipate that any shares of common stock sold pursuant to a prospectus supplement will be eligible for trading on the NYSE American, subject to official notice of issuance. Any underwriters to whom securities are sold by us for public offering and sale may make a market in the securities, but such underwriters will not be obligated to do so and may discontinue any market making at any time without notice.

 

LEGAL MATTERS

 

The validity of the securities being offered hereby and certain other Maryland law matters will be passed upon by Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler, P.A. Certain other legal matters will be passed upon for us by Igler and Pearlman, P.A. Greenberg Traurig, LLP has provided an opinion as to certain U.S. federal income tax matters. If legal matters in connection with offerings made pursuant to this prospectus are passed upon by counsel for the underwriters, dealers or agents, if any, such counsel will be named in the prospectus supplement relating to such offering.

 

EXPERTS

 

Our consolidated financial statements appearing in our 2025 Form 10-K have been audited by Hacker, Johnson & Smith P.A., an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report, which is incorporated herein by reference. Such consolidated financial statements have been so incorporated in reliance upon the reports of such firm given its authority as experts in accounting and auditing.

 

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PART II

INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS

 

ITEM 14. OTHER EXPENSES OF ISSUANCE AND DISTRIBUTION.

 

The following table sets forth all expenses to be paid by us in connection with this registration statement and the listing of our common stock. All amounts shown are estimates except for the SEC registration fee and the listing fee.

 

SEC Registration Fee  $27,620 
FINRA Filing Fee  $* 
Accounting Fees and Expenses  $* 
Sales Agent Expenses  * 
Legal Fees and Expenses  $* 
Printing Fees  $* 
Miscellaneous Expenses  $* 
Total  * 

 

* These fees and expenses are based on the amount and nature of the securities offered, the number and timing of issuances, and the parties involved in such offerings. Therefore, we cannot now estimate such amounts. An estimate of all such expenses will be included in any applicable prospectus supplement.

 

ITEM 15. INDEMNIFICATION OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS.

 

Maryland law permits a Maryland corporation to include in its charter a provision eliminating the liability of its directors and officers to the corporation and its stockholders for money damages except for liability resulting from actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services or active and deliberate dishonesty that is established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action. Our charter contains such a provision that eliminates such liability to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law.

 

The MGCL requires a Maryland corporation (unless its charter provides otherwise, which our charter does not), to indemnify a director or officer who has been successful, on the merits or otherwise, in the defense of any proceeding to which he or she is made a party by reason of his or her service in that capacity. The MGCL permits a Maryland corporation to indemnify its present and former directors and officers, among others, against judgments, penalties, fines, settlements and reasonable expenses actually incurred by them in connection with any proceeding to which they may be made or threatened to be made a party by reason of their service in those or other capacities unless it is established that:

 

  the act or omission of the director or officer was material to the matter giving rise to the proceeding and (a) was committed in bad faith or (b) was the result of active and deliberate dishonesty;
     
  the director or officer actually received an improper personal benefit in money, property or services; or
     
  in the case of any criminal proceeding, the director or officer had reasonable cause to believe that the act or omission was unlawful.

 

Under the MGCL, a Maryland corporation may not indemnify a director or officer for an adverse judgment in a suit by or in the right of the corporation or for a judgment of liability on the basis that a personal benefit was improperly received. A court may order indemnification if it determines that the director or officer is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnification, even though the director or officer did not meet the prescribed standard of conduct or was adjudged liable on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received. However, indemnification for an adverse judgment in a suit by us or in the right of the corporation, or for a judgment of liability on the basis that personal benefit was improperly received, is limited to expenses.

 

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In addition, the MGCL permits a corporation to advance reasonable expenses to a director or officer upon the corporation’s receipt of:

 

  a written affirmation by the director or officer of his or her good faith belief that he or she has met the standard of conduct necessary for indemnification by the corporation; and
     
  a written undertaking by the director or officer or on the director’s or officer’s behalf to repay the amount paid or reimbursed by the corporation if it is ultimately determined that the director or officer did not meet the standard of conduct.

 

Our charter obligates us, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law in effect from time to time, to indemnify and, without requiring a preliminary determination of the ultimate entitlement to indemnification, pay or reimburse reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to:

 

  any present or former director or officer of ours who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in a proceeding by reason of his or her service in such capacity; and
     
  any individual who, while a director or officer of ours and at our request, serves or has served as a director, officer, trustee, member, manager, or partner of another corporation, real estate investment trust, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan or any other enterprise and who is made or threatened to be made a party to, or witness in a proceeding by reason of his or her service in such capacity;
     
  in either case, from and against any claim or liability to which such person may become subject or which such person may incur by reason of his or her service in such capacity.

 

Our charter also requires us to indemnify and advance expenses to any person who served a predecessor of ours in any of the capacities described above and any employee or agent of ours or a predecessor of ours.

 

We entered into customary indemnification agreements with our directors and executive officers that will require us, among other things, to indemnify our directors and executive officers against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status as directors or officers to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law and provide for the advancement of expenses in connection therewith.

 

We maintain directors’ and officers’ liability insurance which will indemnify our directors and officers against damages (including legal fees and expenses), arising out of certain kinds of claims which might be made against them based on acts and things done (or not done) by them while acting in their capacity as directors and officers.

 

Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be provided to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable.

 

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ITEM 16. EXHIBITS.

 

Exhibit   Description
     
1.1*   Form of Underwriting Agreement
     
3.1   Articles of Amendment and Restatement of Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
3.2   Amended and Restated Bylaws of Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
4.1   Description of Capital Stock, incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the 2025 Form 10-K.
     
4.2*   Form of Articles Supplementary for Preferred Stock (including form of preferred stock certificate).
     
4.3*   Form of Warrant Agreement (including form of warrant certificate).
     
4.4*   Form of Subscription Rights Agreement
     
4.5*   Form of Unit
     
5.1   Opinion of Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler, P.A. regarding the validity of the securities being registered.
     
5.2   Opinion of Igler and Pearlman, P.A. regarding the validity and binding obligations of the Company with respect to warrants, subscription rights, and units.
     
8.1   Opinion of Greenberg Traurig, LLP regarding tax matters.
     
10.1   Deed of Trust dated April 23, 2018, between Strawberry Fields REIT, LTD and Mishmeret Trust Services Company Ltd. .incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.2   Deed of Trust dated November 24, 2015, between Strawberry Fields REIT, LTD and Mishmeret Trust Services Company Ltd., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.3   Deed of Trust dated July 27, 2021 between Strawberry Fields REIT, LTD and Mishmeret Trust Services Company Ltd., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.4   First Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership dated June 1, 2021 of Strawberry Fields Realty LP, incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
 10.5   Contribution Agreement dated June 8, 2021 between Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc., Strawberry Fields REIT, LLC and of Strawberry Fields Realty LP., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.6   Tax Protection Agreement effective as of June 8, 2021 among Strawberry Fields Realty LP, Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. and Strawberry Fields REIT, LLC., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.7   Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. 2021 Equity Incentive Plan, incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.7 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.8   Term Loan and Security Agreement dated March 18, 2022, by and among Strawberry Fields Realty LP and certain subsidiaries thereof named as Borrowers, and Popular Bank, as Agent and Lender., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.8 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.9   Indemnification Agreement effective January 13, 2020 between the Company and Essel Bailey incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 8, 2022.
     
10.10   Indemnification Agreement effective January 13, 2020 between the Company and Jack Levine incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 8, 2022.

 

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10.11   Indemnification Agreement effective January 13, 2020 between the Company and Michael Blisko incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 8, 2022.
     
10.12   Indemnification Agreement effective January 13, 2020 between the Company and Moishe Gubin incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 8, 2022.
     
10.13   Indemnification Agreement effective January 13, 2020 between the Company and Reid Shapiro incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 8, 2022.
     
10.14   Deed of Trust dated June 19, 2023, between Strawberry Fields REIT, LTD and Mishmeret Trust Services Company Ltd. .incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.9 to the Registration Statement on Form 10 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of July 12, 2022.
     
10.15   Deed of Trust dated August 4, 2024, between the Company and Mishmeret Trust Services Company Ltd., incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as of August 6, 2024.
     
10.16   At Market Issuance Sales Agreement by and among Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc., B. Riley Securities, Inc. and A.G.P. Alliance Global Partners, dated July 11, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 12, 2024.
     
10.17   Amendment No. 1 to At Market Issuance Sales Agreement with B. Riley Securities, Inc., A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, and Wedbush Securities Inc., dated June 4, 2025 (Exhibit 2 has been redacted)
     
10.18   Amendment No. 2 to At Market Issuance Sales Agreement with B. Riley Securities, Inc., A.G.P./Alliance Global Partners, and Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., dated April 14, 2026 (individual names and contact information have been redacted)
     
21.1   List of Subsidiaries of the Registrant, incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 21.1 to the 2025 Form 10-K.
     
23.1   Consent of Hacker Johnson and Smith P.A.
     
23.3   Consent of Shapiro Sher Guinot & Sandler, P.A. (included in Exhibits 5.1).
     
23.4   Consent of Igler and Pearlman, P.A. (included in Exhibit 5.2)
     
23.5   Consent of Greenberg Traurig, LLP (included in Exhibit 8.1)
     
24.1   Power of Attorney
     
99.1   Risk Factors, incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 15, 2026.
     
107   Filing Fee Table.

 

* To be filed, if necessary, after effectiveness of this Registration Statement by an amendment to the Registration Statement or incorporated by reference from documents filed or to be filed with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

 

ITEM 17. UNDERTAKINGS.

 

(A) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

 

  (1) To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement:

 

  (i) To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933;
     
  (ii) To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of the registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high end of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement;
     
  (iii) To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in the registration statement or any material change to such information in the registration statement;

 

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provided, however, that paragraphs (A)(1)(i), (A)(1)(ii) and (A)(1)(iii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement, or is contained in a form of prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) (§ 230.424(b) of this chapter) that is part of the registration statement.

 

  (2) That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
     
  (3) To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
     
  (4) That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser:

 

  (i) Each prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) (§ 230.424(b)(3) of this chapter) shall be deemed to be part of the registration statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the registration statement; and
     
  (ii) Each prospectus required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) (§ 230.424(b)(2), (b)(5), or (b)(7) of this chapter) as part of a registration statement in reliance on Rule 430B relating to an offering made pursuant to Rule 415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) (§ 230.415(a)(1)(i), (vii), or (x) of this chapter) for the purpose of providing the information required by section 10(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the earlier of the date such form of prospectus is first used after effectiveness or the date of the first contract of sale of securities in the offering described in the prospectus. As provided in Rule 430B, for liability purposes of the issuer and any person that is at that date an underwriter, such date shall be deemed to be a new effective date.

 

  (5) That, for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act of 1933 to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, the undersigned registrant undertakes that in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser:

 

  (i) Any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424 (§ 230.424 of this chapter);
     
  (ii) Any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant;
     
  (iii) The portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and
     
  (iv) Any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser.

 

(B) The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.
   
(C) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

 

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SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-3 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, on April 14, 2026.

 

  STRAWBERRY FIELDS REIT, INC.
     
  By: /s/ Moishe Gubin
    Moishe Gubin
    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
    Principal Executive Officer

 

POWER OF ATTORNEY

 

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Moishe Gubin and Greg Flamion and each of them, his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Registration Statement, including post-effective amendments to this Registration Statement, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and any other documents in connection therewith, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this amendment to the Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons April 14, 2026 in the capacities indicated.

 

Signature   Title
     
/s/ Moishe Gubin   Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Moishe Gubin   (Principal Executive Officer)
     
/s/ Greg Flamion   Chief Financial Officer
Greg Flamion   (Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer)
     
/s/ Michael Blisko    
Michael Blisko   Director
     
/s/ Stanford Gertz    
Stanford Gertz   Director
     
/s/ Ted Lerman    
Ted Lerman   Director
     
/s/ Jack Levine    
Jack Levine   Director
     
/s/ Mark Meyers    
Mark Meyers   Director

 

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