Related Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Related Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related Party Transactions Disclosure [Text Block]

Related Party Transactions

Lease of Executive Offices. Gary A. Shiffman, together with certain of his family members, indirectly owns an equity interest of approximately 28.1 percent in American Center LLC, the entity from which we lease office space for our principal executive offices. Each of Brian M. Hermelin, Ronald A. Klein and Arthur A. Weiss indirectly owns a less than one percent interest in American Center LLC. Mr. Shiffman is our Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Each of Mr. Hermelin, Mr. Klein and Mr. Weiss is a director of the Company. Under this agreement, we lease approximately 103,100 rentable square feet of permanent space. The initial term of the lease is until October 31, 2026, and the average gross base rent is $18.95 per square foot until October 31, 2020 with graduated rental increases thereafter. Each of Mr. Shiffman, Mr. Hermelin, Mr. Klein and Mr. Weiss may have a conflict of interest with respect to his obligations as our officer and/or director and his ownership interest in American Center LLC.

Use of Airplane. Gary A. Shiffman is the beneficial owner of an airplane that we use from time to time for business purposes. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we paid $0.4 million for the use of the airplane. Mr. Shiffman may have a conflict of interest with respect to his obligations as our officer and director and his ownership interest in the airplane.

Telephone Services. Brian M. Hermelin is a principal and a beneficial owner of an entity that installs and maintains emergency telephone systems at our Properties. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we paid $0.2 million for these services. Mr. Hermelin may have a conflict of interest with respect to his obligations as our director and his position with and ownership interest in the provider of these services.

Legal Counsel. During 2017-2019, Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss, Professional Corporation acted as our general counsel and represented us in various matters. Arthur A. Weiss is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and a shareholder of such firm. We incurred legal fees and expenses owed to Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss of approximately $11.1 million, $7.1 million and $5.0 million in the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Tax Consequences Upon Sale of Properties. Gary A. Shiffman holds limited partnership interests in the Operating Partnership which were received in connection with the contribution of properties from partnerships previously affiliated with him. Prior to any redemption of these limited partnership interests for our common stock, Mr. Shiffman will have tax consequences different from those on us and our public stockholders upon the sale of any of these partnerships. Therefore, we and Mr. Shiffman may have different objectives regarding the appropriate pricing and timing of any sale of those properties.