On December 31, 2018, options exercisable for 964,359 common shares were outstanding under the Parent Company’s shareholder approved equity incentive plan (referred to as the “Equity Incentive Plan”). During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, the Company did not recognize any compensation expense related to unvested options. During the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, the Company did not capitalize any compensation expense related to stock options as part of the Company’s review of employee salaries eligible for capitalization.

Option activity as of December 31, 2018 and changes during the year-ended December 31, 2018 were as follows:

	Shares			Weighted Average Exercise Price		Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Term (in years)		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2018		2,238,590		$	15.67		1.10
Exercised		-		$	-			$	-
Forfeited/Expired		(1,274,231	)	$	20.61
Outstanding at December 31, 2018		964,359		$	9.13		1.25	$	3,652,903
Vested/Exercisable at December 31, 2018		964,359		$	9.13		1.25	$	3,652,903

The Company sponsors a 401(k) defined contribution plan for its employees. Each employee may contribute up to 100% of annual compensation, subject to specific limitations under the Internal Revenue Code. At its discretion, the Company can make matching contributions equal to a percentage of the employee’s elective contribution and profit sharing contributions. The Company funds its 401(k) contributions annually and plan participants must be employed as of December 31^st in order to receive contributions, except for employees eligible for qualifying retirement, as defined under the Internal Revenue Code. Prior to 2016, employer contributions were funded in each pay period and automatically vested. The Company contributions were $0.4 million in 2018 and $0.5 million and $0.4 million in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

As of December 31, 2018, 466,439 restricted share rights were outstanding under the Equity Incentive Plan and vest over two to three years from the initial grant dates. The remaining compensation expense to be recognized with respect to these awards at December 31, 2018 was approximately $1.8 million and is expected to be recognized over a weighted average remaining vesting period of 1.3 years. For the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company recognized compensation expense related to outstanding restricted shares of $3.6 million, of which $0.6 million was capitalized as part of the Company’s review of employee salaries eligible for capitalization. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company recognized $2.8 million (of which $0.4 million was capitalized) and $2.6 million (of which $0.4 million was capitalized), respectively, of compensation expense included in general and administrative expense in the respective periods related to outstanding restricted shares.

The following table summarizes the Company’s restricted share activity during the year-ended December 31, 2018:

	Shares			Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
Non-vested at January 1, 2018		455,643		$	14.95	$	8,288,146
Granted		220,241			15.71		-
Vested		(197,344	)		15.87		5,923
Forfeited		(12,101	)		15.04		23,292
Non-vested at December 31, 2018		466,439		$	14.93	$	70,677

On February 28, 2018, the Compensation Committee of the Parent Company’s Board of Trustees awarded to officers of the Company an aggregate of 134,487 restricted common share rights (“Restricted Share Rights”), which cliff vest on April 15, 2021. Each Restricted Share Right is scheduled to vest or be settled on April 15, 2021 and, upon completion of vesting, each Restricted Share Right will be settled for one common share. The Parent Company pays dividend equivalents on the Restricted Share Rights prior to the vesting or settlement date. Vesting or settlement would accelerate if the recipient of the award were to die, become disabled or retire in a qualifying retirement prior to the vesting or settlement date. Qualifying retirement generally means the recipient’s voluntary termination of employment after reaching at least age 57 and accumulating at least 15 years of service with the Company. In addition, vesting would also accelerate if the Parent Company were to undergo a change of control and, on or before the first anniversary of the change of control, the recipient’s employment were to cease due to a termination without cause or resignation with good reason.

In addition, on February 28, 2018, the Compensation Committee awarded non-officer employees an aggregate of 44,062 Restricted Share Rights that vest in three equal annual installments on April 15 of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Vesting of these awards is subject to acceleration upon death, disability or termination without cause within one year following a change of control.

In accordance with the accounting standard for share-based compensation, the Company amortizes share-based compensation costs through the qualifying retirement dates for those executives who meet the conditions for qualifying retirement during the scheduled vesting period and whose award agreements provide for vesting upon a qualifying retirement.

The Compensation Committee of the Parent Company’s Board of Trustees has granted performance share-based awards (referred to as Restricted Performance Share Units, or RPSUs) to officers of the Parent Company. The RPSUs are settled in common shares, with the number of common shares issuable in settlement determined based on the Company’s total shareholder return over specified measurement periods compared to total shareholder returns of comparative groups over the measurement periods. The table below presents certain information as to unvested RPSU awards.

	RPSU Grant
	2/22/2016			3/1/2017			2/28/2018			Total

(Amounts below in shares, unless otherwise noted)
Non-vested at January 1, 2018		228,077			172,411			-			400,488
Units Granted		-			-			209,193			209,193
Units Cancelled		(3,354	)		(2,886	)		(3,168	)		(9,408	)
Non-vested at December 31, 2018		224,723			169,525			206,025			600,273

Measurement Period Commencement Date	1/1/2016			1/1/2017			1/1/2018
Measurement Period End Date	12/31/2018			12/31/2019			12/31/2020
Units Granted		231,388			174,854			209,193
Fair Value of Units on Grant Date (in thousands)	$	3,558		$	3,735		$	4,276

The Company values each RPSU on its grant date using a Monte Carlo simulation. The fair values of each award are being amortized over the three year cliff vesting period. The vesting of RPSUs is subject to acceleration upon a change in control or if the recipient of the award were to die, become disabled or retire in a qualifying retirement prior to the vesting date. In accordance with the accounting standard for share-based compensation, the Company amortizes stock-based compensation costs through the qualifying retirement date for those executives who meet the conditions for qualifying retirement during the scheduled vesting period.

For the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company recognized total compensation expense for the 2018, 2017 and 2016 RPSU awards of $3.9 million, of which $1.1 million was capitalized consistent with the Company’s policies for capitalizing eligible portions of employee compensation. For the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company recognized total compensation expense for the 2017, 2016 and 2015 RPSU awards of $3.4 million, of which $0.8 million was capitalized consistent with the Company’s policies for capitalizing eligible portions of employee compensation. For the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company recognized total compensation expense for the 2016, 2015 and 2014 RPSU awards of $2.8 million, of which $0.6 million was capitalized consistent with the Company’s policies for capitalizing eligible portions of employee compensation.

The remaining compensation expense to be recognized at December 31, 2018 was approximately $2.0 million and is expected to be recognized over a weighted average remaining vesting period of 1.1 years.

The Company issued 193,516 common shares on February 1, 2018 in settlement of RPSUs that had been awarded on February 23, 2015 (with a three-year measurement period ended December 31, 2017). Holders of these RPSUs also received a cash dividend of $0.18 per share for these common shares on February 9, 2018.

The Parent Company’s shareholders approved the 2007 Non-Qualified Employee Share Purchase Plan (the “ESPP”), which is intended to provide eligible employees with a convenient means to purchase common shares of the Parent Company through payroll deductions and voluntary cash purchases at an amount equal to 85% of the average closing price per share for a specified period. Under the plan document, the maximum participant contribution for the 2018 plan year is limited to the lesser of 20% of compensation or $50,000. The ESPP allows the Parent Company to make open market purchases, which reflects all purchases made under the plan to date. In addition, the number of shares separately reserved for issuance under the ESPP is 1.25 million. During the year ended December 31, 2018, employees made purchases under the ESPP of $0.5 million and the Company recognized $0.1 million of compensation expense related to the ESPP. During each of the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, employees made purchases under the ESPP of $0.4 million. For the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, the Company recognized $0.1 million and $0.2 million of compensation expense related to the ESPP, respectively. Compensation expense represents the 15% discount on the purchase price. The Board of Trustees of the Parent Company may terminate the ESPP at its sole discretion at any time.

In January 2005, the Parent Company adopted a Deferred Compensation Plan (the “Plan”) that allows trustees and certain key employees to defer compensation voluntarily. Compensation expense is recorded for the deferred compensation and a related liability is recognized. Participants may elect designated benchmark investment options for the notional investment of their deferred compensation. The deferred compensation obligation is adjusted for deemed income or loss related to the investments selected. At the time the participants defer compensation, the Company records a liability, which is included in the Company’s consolidated balance sheets. The liability is adjusted for changes in the market value of the participant-selected investments at the end of each accounting period, and the impact of adjusting the liability is recorded as an increase or decrease to compensation cost.

The Company has purchased mutual funds which can be utilized as a funding source for the Company’s obligations under the Plan. Participants in the Plan have no interest in any assets set aside by the Company to meet its obligations under the Plan. For each of the years ended December 31, 2018, December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, the Company recorded a nominal amount of deferred compensation costs, net of investments in the company-owned policies and mutual funds.

Participants in the Plan may elect to have all or a portion of their deferred compensation invested in the Company’s common shares. The Company holds these shares in a rabbi trust, which is subject to the claims of the Company’s creditors in the event of the Company’s bankruptcy or insolvency. The Plan does not permit diversification of a participant’s deferral allocated to the Company common shares and deferrals allocated to Company common shares can only be settled with a fixed number of shares. In accordance with the accounting standard for deferred compensation arrangements where amounts earned are held in a rabbi trust and invested, the deferred compensation obligation associated with the Company’s common shares is classified as a component of shareholder’s equity and the related shares are treated as shares to be issued and are included in total shares outstanding. At December 31, 2018 and 2017, 1.0 million and 0.9 million of such shares were included in total shares outstanding, respectively. Subsequent changes in the fair value of the common shares are not reflected in operations or shareholders’ equity of the Company.