Owners' Equity - Operating Partnership

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Liberty Property Limited Partnership [Member]

Class of Stock [Line Items]

Partners' Capital Notes Disclosure [Text Block]

OWNERS' EQUITY - OPERATING PARTNERSHIP

Common Units

General and limited partners' equity - common units relates to limited partnership interests of the Operating Partnership issued in connection with the formation of the Operating Partnership and certain subsequent acquisitions. The common units outstanding as of December 31, 2015 have the same economic characteristics as common shares of the Trust. The 3,539,075 outstanding common units are the limited partners' equity - common units held by persons and entities other than the Trust, the general partner of the Operating Partnership, which holds a number of common units equal to the number of outstanding common shares of beneficial interest. Both the common units held by the Trust and the common units held by persons and entities other than the Trust are counted in the weighted average number of common units outstanding during any given period. The 3,539,075 outstanding common units share proportionately in the net income or loss and in any distributions of the Operating Partnership and are exchangeable into the same number of common shares of the Trust. The market value of the 3,539,075 outstanding common units at December 31, 2015 based on the closing price of the common shares of the Company at December 31, 2015 was $109.9 million.

No common units were issued in connection with acquisitions during 2015, 2014 or 2013.

Preferred Units

The Operating Partnership had no outstanding cumulative redeemable preferred units of the Operating Partnership as of December 31, 2015 or December 31, 2014. During the year ended December 31, 2013, the Company redeemed or repurchased $20.0 million of outstanding 7.00% Series E Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units, $17.5 million of outstanding 6.65% Series F Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units and $27.0 million of outstanding 6.70% Series G Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Units, all at par. In connection with these redemptions and repurchases, the Company wrote off $1.2 million in origination costs.

The Operating Partnership paid the following Equity Preferred Unit distributions for the year ended December 31, 2013:

Distributions (in millions)	$1.6
Distribution per unit:
Series E	$1.21
Series F	$1.32
Series G	$1.33

Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan

The Company has a Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan under which holders of common shares may elect to automatically reinvest their distributions in additional common shares and may make optional cash payments for additional common shares. The Company may issue additional common shares or repurchase common shares in the open market for purposes of satisfying its obligations under the Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan. During the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, 1,036,437, 1,643,536, and 1,248,842 common shares, respectively, were issued through the Dividend Reinvestment and Share Purchase Plan. A corresponding number of common units were issued by the Operating Partnership. The Company used the proceeds to pay down outstanding borrowings under the Company's Credit Facility and for general corporate purposes.

Continuous Equity Offering

The Company has a continuous equity offering program in place for up to $200 million of equity. During year ended December 31, 2013, the Company sold 1.9 million common shares through this program. A corresponding number of common units were issued by the Operating Partnership. The aggregate proceeds from the offering of $75.0 million were used to pay down outstanding borrowings under the Company's unsecured credit facility and for general corporate purposes. The Company did not sell any common shares pursuant to its continuous offering program during 2014 or 2015.

Noncontrolling Interest - Consolidated Joint Ventures

Noncontrolling interest - consolidated joint ventures includes third-party ownership interests in consolidated joint venture investments.

Share Repurchase

In August 2015, the Company’s Board of Trustees authorized a share repurchase plan under which the Company may purchase up to $250 million of the Company’s outstanding common shares. Purchases made pursuant to the program will be made in either the open market or in privately negotiated transactions from time to time as permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company purchased an aggregate of 2.3 million common shares for $71.8 million as part of the share repurchase plan. In connection with these repurchases, an equal number of common units were repurchased by the Operating Partnership from the Trust.