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Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies

Note 6. Commitments and Contingencies

The Company is a party to certain legal actions arising in the normal course of business. Management does not expect there to be adverse consequences from these actions that would be material to the Company’s consolidated financial statements.

The Company is the lessee under several ground lease and its executive office lease agreement. As of June 30, 2022, the Company’s weighted average remaining lease term is approximately 49.3 years and the weighted average discount rate used to calculate the Company’s lease liability is approximately 8.6%. Rent expense under the Company’s ground lease and executive office lease agreements was approximately $0.1 million and $0.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Rent expense under the Company’s ground lease and executive office lease agreements was approximately $0.2 million and $0.7 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.  

 

As a result of COVID-19, the Company has received numerous rent relief requests, most often in the form of rent deferrals. The Company has evaluated, and continues to evaluate, each tenant rent relief request on an individual basis, considering a number of factors. Through June 30, 2022, the Company deferred approximately $3.5 million and waived approximately $2.4 million of rental income, respectively. To date, the weighted average payback period for the remaining deferred rent receivable is approximately 10 months, beginning at various times from July 2020 through June 2021.

As described in Note 1, on March 2, 2022, the Company entered into definitive agreements for the Transactions, which contemplate sale of the Company and all of its assets in a series of related all-cash transactions.  On April 5, 2022, a purported stockholder of the Company filed a complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, entitled Stein v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. et. al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-1944. On April 6, 2022, another purported stockholder of the Company filed a complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, entitled Wang v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. et. al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-1975. On April 18, 2022, another purported stockholder of the Company filed a complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, entitled Whitfield v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. et. al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-02204. Also on April 18, 2022, a purported stockholder filed a complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, entitled Waterman v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. et. al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-01489. On April 22, 2022, a purported stockholder filed a complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, entitled Thornburgh v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. et. al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-02304. In each action, the complaint alleges violations of Sections 14(a) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) in connection with the proposed Transactions. The complaints generally allege that the preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed by the Company with the SEC on April 5, 2022 omits material information regarding financial projections, the financial analysis conducted by JLL Securities in connection with its fairness opinion, conflicts of interest on behalf of JLL Securities and BofA Securities, and the terms of BofA Securities’ engagement. The complaints seek, among other things, an injunction preventing the consummation of the Transactions, or, in the event the Transactions are consummated, to recover damages resulting from defendants’ alleged violations of the Exchange Act.

 

On April 8, 2022, several purported holders of the Company’s outstanding preferred stock filed a putative class action complaint against the Company, the Board, and Wheeler in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Maryland entitled Sydney, et al. v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc., et al., (Case No. C-15-CV-22-00152). The complaint alleges on behalf of a putative class of holders of the Company’s preferred stock, among other things, against the Company and the Board, claims for breach of contract with respect to the articles supplementary governing the terms of the Company’s preferred stock, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty against Wheeler. The complaint seeks, among other things, a declaration that holders of the Company’s preferred stock are entitled to a liquidation preference as set forth in the articles supplementary governing the terms of the Company’s preferred stock, compensatory damages, and an injunction enjoining the merger with Wheeler, and an injunction enjoining the distribution to the Company’s common shareholders of the proceeds of any of the Transactions pending a determination of the merits of plaintiffs’ claims.

 

On May 6, 2022, plaintiffs in the Sydney action filed an amended complaint. The amended complaint alleges on behalf of a putative class of holders of the Company’s preferred stock, among other things, against the Company and the Board, claims for breach

of contract with respect to the articles supplementary governing the terms of the Company’s preferred stock and breach of fiduciary duty, and, against Wheeler, tortious interference and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty. The Sydney amended complaint seeks, among other things, (i) a declaration that holders of the Company’s preferred stock are entitled to exercise either their liquidation rights or conversion rights as set forth in the articles supplementary, (ii) compensatory damages, (iii) an injunction enjoining the distribution to the Company’s common shareholders of the proceeds of the Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Sale, and (iv) an injunction enjoining the Merger. On May 6, 2022, the plaintiffs in Sydney filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to temporarily enjoin, until the final resolution of the litigation (i) the distribution of the gross proceeds from the Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Sale to the common stockholders, (ii) the closing of the Merger, and (iii) the imposition of a constructive trust over the gross proceeds from both the Grocery Anchored Portfolio Sale and the Merger. Also on May, 6, 2022, a purported holder of the Company’s outstanding preferred stock filed a putative class action complaint against the Company and the Board in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, entitled Kim v. Cedar Realty Trust, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 22-cv-01103. The complaint alleges on behalf of a putative class of holders of the Company’s preferred stock, among other things, claims for declaratory and injunctive relief with respect to the articles supplementary governing the terms of the Company’s preferred stock and breach of fiduciary duty. On May 11, 2022, the Company, the Board of Directors of the Company and Wheeler removed the Sydney action to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Case No. 8:22-cv-01142-GLR. On May 16, 2022, the court ordered that a hearing on the Sydney plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction will be held on June 22, 2022. On June 2, 2022, the plaintiffs in Kim filed a motion for a preliminary injunction (i) to require that the Company provide preferred shareholders with a vote to approve the Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Sale and the Merger, and (ii) requiring Cedar disclose to preferred shareholders that the Grocery-Anchored Portfolio Sale and Merger entitled the preferred stockholders to exercise their change of control conversion right. The court agreed to consolidate the Kim plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction with the Sydney plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, and to hear arguments on both motions at the hearing on June 22, 2022.

 

On June 23, 2022, following a hearing on both the Sydney and Kim motions for preliminary injunction, the court issued an order denying both motions for preliminary injunction, holding that the plaintiffs in both cases were unlikely to succeed on the merits of any of their contractual or fiduciary duty claims, and that plaintiffs had not established that they would suffer irreparable harm if the injunction was denied. By order dated July 11, 2022, the Court consolidated this case with another class action brought by a preferred stockholder and set August 24, 2022 for the plaintiffs in both cases to file a consolidated amended complaint.