13.  COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

 

TAX ABATEMENT AGREEMENTS

Pursuant to agreements with certain municipalities, the Company is required to make payments in lieu of property taxes (“PILOT”) on certain of its properties and has tax abatement agreements on other properties, as follows: 

 

The Harborside Plaza 4-A agreement with the City of Jersey City, as amended, which commenced in 2002, is for a term of 20 years.  The annual PILOT is equal to two percent of Total Project Costs, as defined.  Total Project Costs are $49.5 million.  The PILOT totaled $990,000 for each of the years ended December 31, 2015,  2014 and 2013. 

 

The Harborside Plaza 5 agreement, also with the City of Jersey City, as amended, which commenced in 2002, is for a term of 20 years.  The annual PILOT is equal to two percent of Total Project Costs, as defined.  Total Project Costs are $170.9 million.  The PILOT totaled $3.4 million for each of the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

 

The agreement with the City of Weehawken for its Port Imperial 4/5 garage development project has a term of five years beginning when the project is substantially complete, which occurred in the third quarter 2013.  The agreement provides that real estate taxes be paid initially on the land value of the project only and allows for a phase in of real estate taxes on the value of the improvements over a five year period.

 

The agreement with the City of Rahway for its Park Square multi-family rental property provided that real estate taxes would be partially abated, on a declining scale, for four years through 2015.

 

At the conclusion of the above-referenced agreements, it is expected that the properties will be assessed by the municipality and be subject to real estate taxes at the then prevailing rates.

 

LITIGATION

The Company is a defendant in litigation arising in the normal course of its business activities.  Management does not believe that the ultimate resolution of these matters will have a materially adverse effect upon the Company’s financial condition taken as whole.

 

GROUND LEASE AGREEMENTS

Future minimum rental payments under the terms of all non-cancelable ground leases under which the Company is the lessee, as of December 31, 2015, are as follows: (dollars in thousands)

 

Ground lease expense incurred by the Company during each of the years ended December 31, 2015,  2014 and 2013 amounted to $406,000.

 

ROSELAND CONTINGENT CONSIDERATION

The purchase price for the Roseland transaction in 2012 included the fair value of contingent consideration pursuant to an earn-out (“Earn Out”) agreement of approximately $10 million.  Since the acquisition, the Company recognized charges and benefits related to changes in fair value in the Earn Out liability and, as a result of the achievement of certain of the defined criteria, paid certain amounts such that there was no remaining amount in the Earn Out as of December 31, 2015.   Related to changes in the fair value of the Earn Out liability, the Company recognized a net charge of $219,000 during the year ended December 31, 2015, and recognized benefits of $1.5 million and $2.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively.  The Earn Out liability was remeasured at fair value until the contingency was resolved, with any changes in fair value representing a charge or benefit directly to earnings (with no adjustment to purchase accounting).  The measures of the Earn Out were based on significant inputs that are not observable in the market, which ASC 820 refers to as level 3 inputs.  In addition to an appropriate discount rate, the key assumption affecting the valuation for the Roseland assets component was the probability of occurrence of the payment events under the relevant provisions (management assumed between 92 and 99 percent for completion/start criteria and 50 percent for the tax credit/grant criteria in its initial valuation).  The valuation of the TRS component included assumptions for the risk-free rate and various other factors (i.e., stock price, dividend levels and volatility) for the Company and the relevant peer group, as defined in the Earn Out agreement. 

 

DEPARTURE OF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

The Company’s total estimated costs for the departure of the Company’s former president and chief executive officer and of the departure of certain of the Company’s executive officers of approximately $23.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2014 was included in general and administrative expense (approximately $11.7 million and $11.6 million was included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively).    On January 4, 2016, the Company satisfied $11.4 million of the accrued expense balance from December 31, 2015. 

 

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

The Company owns a 76.25 percent interest in a consolidated joint venture which is constructing a 108-unit multi-family development rental property located in Eastchester, New York (the “Eastchester Project”).  The project is expected to be ready for occupancy by the second quarter of 2016.  The Eastchester Project is estimated to cost a total of $50 million (of which development costs of $29.6 million have been incurred through December 31, 2015).  The venture has a $28.8 million construction loan (with $10.9 million outstanding as of December 31, 2015).  The Company expects to fund costs of approximately $20.9 million for the development of the project (of which, as of December 31, 2015, the Company has incurred $14.7 million of the development costs and estimates it will need to fund an additional $6.2 million for the completion of the project). 

 

On April 1, 2015, the Company acquired vacant land to accommodate a two-phase development of the CitySquare Project for a purchase price of $3.1 million with an additional $1.25 million to be paid (which is accrued as of December 31, 2015), subject to certain conditions, in accordance with the terms of the purchase and sale agreement.  The purchase price for the acquisition was funded primarily through borrowing under the Company’s unsecured revolving credit facility.  The first phase with 237 units started construction in the third quarter 2015 with anticipated initial deliveries in the second quarter 2017.  The second phase, with 128 units, is projected to begin construction in 2017.  On December 10, 2015, the Company obtained a construction loan with a maximum borrowing amount of $41.5 million (with no outstanding balance as of December 31, 2015).  Total development costs are estimated to be approximately $92.5 million (of which $9.1 million was incurred by the Company through December 31, 2015 and estimates it will need to fund an additional $41.9 million for the completion of the project).

 

On October 6, 2015, the Company entered into a joint venture partnership with XS Port Imperial Hotel, LLC (“XS”) to form XS Hotel Urban Renewal Associates LLC (“XS Hotel URA”) for the development and ownership of a 364-key dual branded hotel property located in Weehawken, New Jersey (“Port Imperial Hotel”).  Concurrently, the Company and XS entered into a separate joint venture partnership to form XS Hotel Associates, L.L.C. (“XS Hotel”) for the management and operations of the completed hotel development.  The Company holds a 90 percent interest and XS holds the remaining 10 percent interest in the consolidated joint ventures, XS Hotel URA and XS Hotel, with the Company having full and complete authority, power, and discretion to manage and control the ventures’ business, affairs, and property.  The construction of the Port Imperial Hotel is estimated to cost a total of $105.9 million, which will be funded by a $94 million construction loan with the balance to be funded with members’ capital.  Upon closing, Mack-Cali’s initial contribution was $27.3 million, which included a capital credit of $23.7 million for its contributed Hotel Condominium Land unit, and XS Hotel’s initial contribution was $3 million.  As of December 31, 2015, the Company incurred development costs of $1.5 million and estimates it will need to fund an additional $3.3 million for the completion of the project.

 

The Company owns developable land to accommodate a multi-phase development project of approximately 1,034-unit multi-family rental property located in Malden, Massachusetts.  The initial phase commenced construction of 292 units in the third quarter of 2015 (the “Chase II Project”).  The Chase II Project is estimated to cost a total of $74.9 million (of which the Company has incurred $22.1 million through December 31, 2015) and is expected to be ready for occupancy by second quarter 2017.  On December 16, 2015, the Company obtained a construction loan with a maximum borrowing amount of $48 million (with no outstanding balance as of December 21, 2015).  The Company estimates it will need to fund additional costs of $4.8 million for the completion of the Chase II Project.   

 

OTHER

The Company may not dispose of or distribute certain of its properties, currently comprised of seven properties with an aggregate net carrying value of approximately $57.1 million, which were originally contributed by certain unrelated common unitholders, without the express written consent of such common unitholders, as applicable, except in a manner which does not result in recognition of any built-in-gain (which may result in an income tax liability) or which reimburses the appropriate specific common unitholders for the tax consequences of the recognition of such built-in-gains (collectively, the “Property Lock-Ups”).  The aforementioned restrictions do not apply in the event that the Company sells all of its properties or in connection with a sale transaction which the Company’s Board of Directors determines is reasonably necessary to satisfy a material monetary default on any unsecured debt, judgment or liability of the Company or to cure any material monetary default on any mortgage secured by a property.  The Property Lock-Ups expire in 2016.  Upon the expiration of the Property Lock-Ups, the Company is generally required to use commercially reasonable efforts to prevent any sale, transfer or other disposition of the subject properties from resulting in the recognition of built-in gain to the specific common unitholders, which include members of the Mack Group (which includes William L. Mack, Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors; David S. Mack, director; and Earle I. Mack, a former director), the Robert Martin Group (which includes Robert F. Weinberg, a former director and current member of its Advisory Board), and the Cali Group (which includes John R. Cali, a former director and current member of its Advisory Board).  110 of the Company’s properties, with an aggregate net book value of approximately $1.3 billion, have lapsed restrictions and are subject to these conditions.