NOTE 18. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company may be a party to certain legal proceedings, incidental to the normal course of its business. While the outcome of the legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty, the Company does not expect that these proceedings will have a material effect upon our financial condition or results of operations.

On November 21, 2011, the Company, Indigo Mallard Creek LLC and Indigo Development LLC, as owners of the property leased to Harris Teeter, Inc. (“Harris Teeter”) in Charlotte, North Carolina, were served with pleadings filed in the General Court of Justice, Superior Court Division for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, for a highway condemnation action involving this property. The proposed road modifications would impact access to the property. The Company does not believe the road modifications provided a basis for Harris Teeter to terminate the Lease. Regardless, in January 2013, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (“NCDOT”) proposed to redesign the road modifications to keep the all access intersection open for ingress with no change to the planned limitation on egress to the right-in/right-out only. Additionally, NCDOT and the City of Charlotte proposed to build and maintain a new access road/point into the property. Construction has begun and is not expected to be completed before the second quarter of 2017. Harris Teeter has expressed satisfaction with the redesigned project and indicated that it will not attempt to terminate its lease if this project is built as currently redesigned. Because the redesigned project will not be completed until late 2017 to mid-2018, the condemnation case has been placed in administrative closure. As a result, the trial and mediation will not likely be scheduled until requested by the parties, most likely in late 2018.

On February 15, 2017, Wintergreen Advisers, LLC (“Wintergreen”) filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit in Volusia County, Florida (the “Wintergreen Complaint”) against the Company and each of its directors. The Wintergreen Complaint sought an order compelling the Company to either include Wintergreen’s four director nominees, all of whom are employees or hired consultants of Wintergreen, in the Company’s proxy statement as nominees to be voted on at the Company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the “2017 Annual Meeting”) or permit Wintergreen to bring their proposed nominees before the Company’s shareholders at the 2017 Annual Meeting. Although the Company’s Board of Directors believed that the Wintergreen Complaint had no legal merit, on March 6, 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the Company’s entering into a Settlement Agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the Settlement Agreement, Wintergreen’s nominees may stand for election at the 2017 Annual Meeting and the Company agreed not to amend its Bylaws prior to the 2017 Annual Meeting. The Wintergreen Complaint was voluntarily dismissed on April 4, 2017.

Contractual Commitments – Expenditures

In conjunction with the Company’s sale of approximately 3.4 acres of land to RaceTrac in December 2013, the Company agreed to reimburse RaceTrac for a portion of the costs for road improvements and the other costs associated with bringing multiple ingress/egress points to the entire 23-acre Williamson Crossing site, including the Company’s remaining 19.6 acres. The estimated cost for the improvements equals approximately $1.26 million and the Company’s commitment is to reimburse RaceTrac in an amount equal to the lesser of 77.5% of the actual costs or $976,500. The Company’s commitment to fund the improvement costs benefiting the remaining acres of Company land can be paid over five years from sales of the remaining land or at the end of the fifth year. In 2013 the Company deposited $283,500 of cash in escrow related to the improvements, which is classified as restricted cash in the consolidated balance sheets. The total amount in escrow as of March 31, 2017 was approximately $287,000, including accrued interest. Accordingly, as of March 31, 2017, the remaining maximum commitment is approximately $690,000.

In conjunction with the Company’s sale of approximately 18.1 acres of land to an affiliate of Sam’s Club (“Sam’s”) in December 2015, the Company agreed to reimburse Sam’s for a portion of their construction costs applicable to adjacent outparcels retained by the Company. As a result, in December 2015, the Company deposited $125,000 of cash in escrow related to construction work which is classified as restricted cash in the consolidated balance sheets. The total amount in escrow as of March 31, 2017 was approximately $125,000, including accrued interest. Accordingly, the Company’s maximum commitment related to the construction work benefitting the outparcels adjacent to Sam’s land parcel is approximately $125,000, to be paid from escrow upon completion.

In conjunction with the Company’s sale of approximately 15.0 acres of land to an affiliate of Integra Land Company (“Integra”) in December 2015, the Company agreed to reimburse Integra approximately $276,000 for a portion of the costs for road access and related utility improvements that will benefit the 15.0 acre land parcel sold to Integra as well as the surrounding acreage still owned by the Company. The Company also agreed to reimburse Integra approximately $94,000 for site relocation costs. Accordingly, in December 2015, the Company deposited a combined $370,000 of cash in escrow related to these reimbursements, which was classified as restricted cash in the consolidated balance sheets. As of March 31, 2017, the entire $370,000 had been disbursed from the escrow account. Accordingly, as of March 31, 2017, there is no remaining commitment.

In conjunction with the Company’s January 2017 Golf Course Land Purchase, the Company agreed to renovate the greens on the Jones course within one year of the agreement. The Company expects to incur the cost of this renovation, which is estimated between approximately $200,000 and $300,000, prior to the fourth quarter of 2017.

Contractual Commitments – Land Pipeline

As of May 8, 2017, the Company’s pipeline of potential land sales transactions included the following eight definitive purchase and sale agreements with eight different buyers, representing approximately 26% of our land holdings:


			Contract
		No. of	Amount		Price		Estimated
	Contract (or Buyer) / Parcel	Acres	($000's)		per Acre		Timing
1	Commercial/Retail - Buc'ees (1)	35	$	14,000	$	400,000	'18 - '19
2	Commercial/Retail	9		2,700		300,000	'18 - '19
3	Commercial/Retail	22		5,574		253,000	'17 - '18
4	Mixed-Use Retail (NADG)	82		20,187		246,000	'17 - '18
5	Commercial/Retail - Option Parcel	13		2,032		156,000	'17
6	Minto II (AR Residential)	1,686		31,360		19,000	'18 - '19
7	Residential (SF)	129		2,750		21,000	'18 - '19
8	ICI (SF) - Option Parcel	146		1,400		10,000	'18 - '19
	Total (Average)	2,122	$	80,003	$	38,000

⁽¹⁾

Contract amount and price per acre may be reduced by potential costs incurred for wetlands mitigation, if any.

As noted above, these agreements contemplate closing dates ranging from the second quarter of 2017 through fiscal year 2019. The Company expects some of the transactions to close in 2017, although some of the buyers are not contractually obligated to close until after 2017. Each of the transactions are in varying stages of due diligence by the various buyers including, in some instances, having made submissions to the planning and development departments of the City of Daytona Beach, and other permitting activities with other applicable governmental authorities. In addition to other customary closing conditions, the majority of these transactions are conditioned upon the receipt of approvals or permits from those various governmental authorities, as well as other matters that are beyond our control. If such approvals are not obtained, the prospective buyers may have the ability to terminate their respective agreements prior to closing. As a result, there can be no assurances regarding the likelihood or timing of any one of these potential land transactions being completed or the final terms thereof, including the sales price.

Other Matters

In connection with a certain land sale contract to which the Company is a party, the purchaser’s pursuit of customary development entitlements gave rise to an inquiry by federal regulatory agencies regarding prior agricultural activities by the Company on such land. During the second quarter of 2015, we received a written information request regarding such activities. We submitted a written response to the information request along with supporting documentation. During the fourth quarter of 2015, based on discussions with the agency, a penalty related to this matter was deemed probable, and accordingly the estimated penalty of $187,500 was accrued as of December 31, 2015, for which payment was made during the quarter ended September 30, 2016. Also during the fourth quarter of 2015, the agency advised the Company that the resolution to the inquiry would likely require the Company to incur costs associated with wetlands restoration relating to approximately 148.4 acres of the Company’s land. At December 31, 2015, the Company’s third-party environmental engineers estimated the cost for such restoration activities to range from approximately $1.7 million to approximately $1.9 million. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2015, the Company accrued an obligation of approximately $1.7 million, representing the low end of the estimated range of possible restoration costs, and included such estimated costs on the consolidated balance sheets as an increase in the basis of our land and development costs associated with those and benefitting surrounding acres. As of June 30, 2016, the final proposal from the Company’s third-party environmental engineer was received reflecting a total cost of approximately $2.0 million. Accordingly, an increase in the accrual of approximately $300,000 was made during the second quarter of 2016. The Company has funded approximately $1.0 million of the total $2.0 million of estimated costs through March 31, 2017. The Company believes there is at least a reasonable possibility that the estimated remaining liability of approximately $1.0 million could change within one year of the date of the consolidated financial statements, which in turn could have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated balance sheets and future cash flows. The Company evaluates its estimates on an ongoing basis; however, actual results may differ from those estimates. During the first quarter of 2017, the Company completed the sale of approximately 1,581 acres of land to Minto Communities LLC which acreage represents a portion of the Company’s remaining $1.0 million obligation. Accordingly, the Company deposited $423,000 of cash in escrow to secure performance on the obligation. The funds in escrow can be drawn upon completion of certain milestones including completion of restoration and annual required monitoring. Additionally, resolution of the regulatory matter required the Company to apply for an additional permit pertaining to an additional approximately 54.66 acres, which permit may require mitigation activities which the Company anticipates could be satisfied through the utilization of existing mitigation credits owned by the Company or the acquisition of mitigation credits. Resolution of this matter allowed the Company to obtain certain permits from the applicable federal or state regulatory agencies needed in connection with the closing of the land sale contract that gave rise to this matter. The number of mitigation credits that may be required is not currently estimable and as the utilization or purchase of such credits would be incorporated into the basis of the land under contract, no amounts related to mitigation credits have been accrued as of March 31, 2017. In addition, in connection with other land sale contracts to which the Company is or may become a party, the pursuit of customary development entitlements by the potential purchasers may require the Company to utilize or acquire mitigation credits for the purpose of obtaining certain permits from the applicable federal or state regulatory agencies. Any costs incurred in connection with utilizing or acquiring such credits would be incorporated into the basis of the land under contract and, accordingly, no amounts related to such potential future costs have been accrued as of March 31, 2017.

During the period from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the first quarter of 2017, the Company received communications from a single institutional shareholder, some of which have been filed publicly. In investigating the shareholder’s allegations contained in certain communications, pursuing the strategic alternatives process suggested by the shareholder, and engaging in a proxy contest, the Company has incurred costs of approximately $2.4 million, to date, through March 31, 2017. Approximately $936,000 of the approximately $2.4 million was incurred during the three months ended March 31, 2017, of which approximately $563,000 is specifically for legal representation and third party costs related to the proxy contest. To date, none of the shareholder’s allegations regarding inadequate disclosure or other wrong-doings by the Company or its directors or officers have been found to have any basis or merit; however, such costs could continue to be incurred and, while not reasonably estimable, may represent significant costs for the Company which would have an adverse impact on the Company’s results of operations and cash flows.