Benefit Plans

Stock Based Compensation

The Company maintains a stock incentive plan (the “Stock Incentive Plan”), which is administered by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors. Officers, certain employees and the Company's independent directors generally are eligible to participate in the Stock Incentive Plan. Awards made under the Stock Incentive Plan can be in the form of restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, performance share awards, dividend equivalent rights, non-statutory stock options and stock appreciation rights. Special provisions apply to awards granted under the Stock Incentive Plan in the event of a change in control in the Company. As of December 31, 2015, awards covering 3.0 million shares of common stock were available to be granted under the Stock Incentive Plan.

Restricted Stock/Units

For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, the Company awarded 216,975, 299,805 and 284,461 shares, respectively, of restricted stock awards to certain employees, which had a fair value of $4,708, $5,413 and $4,719 on the date of approval by either the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors or the Company's stockholders of the Stock Incentive Plan, as the case may be. These restricted stock awards were issued based upon the achievement of certain corporate performance goals and generally vest over a period of three years. Additionally, during the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, the Company awarded 17,385 and 19,250 shares, respectively, of restricted stock to non-employee members of the Board of Directors, which each had a fair value of $350 on the date of approval. These restricted stock awards vest over a one-year period. The Operating Partnership issued Units to the Company in the same amounts for these award issuances.

Compensation expense is charged to earnings over the vesting periods for the restricted stock or restricted Unit awards expected to vest except if the recipient is not required to provide future service in exchange for vesting of such restricted stock or restricted Unit awards. If vesting of a recipient's restricted stock or restricted Unit awards is not contingent upon future service, the expense is recognized immediately at the date of grant. During the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, we recognized $1,352, $1,451 and $1,008, respectively, of compensation expense related to restricted stock or restricted Unit awards granted to our Chief Executive Officer and one other employee for which future service was not required.

LTIP Unit Awards

For the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2013, the Company granted 264,432 and 718,960 Long-Term Incentive Program ("LTIP") performance units ("LTIP Unit Awards") to certain employees, which had a fair value of $2,531 and $5,411 on the grant date as determined by a lattice-binomial option-pricing model based on a Monte Carlo simulation. The LTIP Unit Awards vest based upon the relative total shareholder return ("TSR") of the Company's common stock compared to the TSRs of the MSCI US REIT Index and the NAREIT Industrial Index. The TSR for the LTIP Unit Awards granted during the year ended December 31, 2015 is calculated based on the performance period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017. The TSR for half of the granted units during the year ended December 31, 2013 was calculated based upon the performance period from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014 and the TSR for the other half was calculated based upon the performance from July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2015. Compensation expense is charged to earnings on a straight-line basis over the respective performance periods. At the end of the respective performance periods each participant will be issued shares of the Company's common stock equal to the maximum shares issuable to the participant for the performance period multiplied by a percentage, ranging from 0% to 100%, based on the Company's TSR as compared to the TSRs of the MSCI US REIT Index and the NAREIT Industrial Index. The participant is also entitled to dividend equivalents for shares issued pursuant to vested LTIP Unit Awards. The dividend equivalents represent any common dividends that would have been paid with respect to such issued shares after the grant of the LTIP Unit Awards and prior to the date of settlement. The Operating Partnership issued Units to the Company in the same amounts for vested LTIP Unit Awards.

As mentioned above, the fair values of the LTIP Unit Awards at issuance were determined by a lattice-binomial option-pricing model based on Monte Carlo simulations using the following assumptions:



	Year Ended December 31, 2015		Year Ended December 31, 2013
Expected dividend yield	1.99	%	2.22	%
Expected volatility - range used	20.43% - 21.99%		24.28% - 34.66%
Expected volatility - weighted average	21.34	%	30.61	%
Risk-free interest rate	0.10% - 1.16%		0.03% - 0.71%
Expected term	3 years		1 - 2.5 years

Outstanding Restricted Stock or Restricted Unit Awards and LTIP Unit Awards

For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, we recognized $7,177, $7,605 and $6,202, respectively, in amortization related to restricted stock or restricted Unit awards and LTIP Unit Awards, of which $42, $41 and $43 was capitalized in connection with development activities. At December 31, 2015, we had $5,432 in unrecognized compensation related to unvested restricted stock or restricted Unit awards and LTIP Unit Awards. The weighted average period that the unrecognized compensation is expected to be recognized is 0.91 years.

Restricted stock or restricted Unit award and LTIP Unit Award transactions for the year ended December 31, 2015 are summarized as follows:



	Awards		Weighted Average Grant Date Fair Value
Outstanding at December 31, 2014	816,718		$	12.68
Issued	498,792		$	15.21
Forfeited	(4,313	)	$	13.68
Vested	(661,222	)	$	11.87
Outstanding at December 31, 2015	649,975		$	15.43

401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan

In September 1994, the Company's Board of Directors approved and the Company adopted a 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan. Under the Company's 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan, all eligible employees may participate by making voluntary contributions. The Company may make, but is not required to make, matching contributions, which are funded by the Operating Partnership. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, total expense recognized for the 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan related to matching contributions was $471, $387 and $300, respectively.