Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Lessor Accounting

Substantially all of the Company's leases are classified as operating leases. The Company's Lease income is comprised of both fixed and variable income. Fixed and in-substance fixed lease income includes stated amounts per lease contracts, which are primarily related to base rent, and in some cases stated amounts for Recoverable Costs. Income for these amounts is recognized on a straight-line basis.

Variable lease income includes the following two main items in the lease contracts:

(i)

Recoveries from tenants represent the tenants' contractual obligations to reimburse the Company for their portion of Recoverable Costs incurred. Generally, the Company's leases provide for the tenants to reimburse the Company based on the tenants' share of the actual costs incurred in proportion to the tenants' share of leased space in the property.

(ii)

Percentage rent represents amounts billable to tenants based on the tenants' actual sales volume in excess of levels specified in the lease contract.

The following table provides a disaggregation of lease income recognized as either fixed or variable lease income based on the criteria specified in Topic 842:


	Year ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2024			2023			2022
Operating lease income
Fixed and in-substance fixed lease income	$	1,035,225			928,364			851,409
Variable lease income		356,520			324,037			287,149
Other lease related income, net:
Above/below market rent and tenant rent inducement amortization, net		24,843			30,826			22,543
Uncollectible straight-line rent		(1,885	)		1,261			12,510
Uncollectible amounts billable in lease income		(3,324	)		(549	)		13,841
Total lease income	$	1,411,379			1,283,939			1,187,452

Future minimum rental revenue under non-cancelable operating leases, excluding variable lease payments as of December 31, 2024, are as follows:


(in thousands)
For the year ending December 31,
2025	$	1,021,232
2026		942,040
2027		825,189
2028		676,595
2029		536,477
Thereafter		2,006,865
Total	$	6,008,398

At December 31, 2024, the Company had three leases classified as sales-type leases, with lease income recorded over the lease term in the form of variable interest income representing the constant periodic rate of return on the Company’s net investment in the lease, and fixed contractual obligations.

Lessee Accounting

The Company has shopping centers that are subject to non-cancelable, long-term ground leases where a third party owns the underlying land and has leased the land to the Company to construct and/or operate a shopping center.

The Company has 20 properties within its consolidated real estate portfolio that are either partially or completely on land subject to ground leases with third parties. Accordingly, the Company owns only a long-term leasehold or similar interest in these properties. These ground leases expire through the year 2121, and in most cases, provide for renewal options.

In addition, the Company has non-cancelable operating leases for office space used to conduct its business. Office leases expire through the year 2035, and in certain cases, provide for renewal options.

The ground and office lease expenses are recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the leases, including management's estimate of expected optional renewal periods, with ground lease expense presented within Property operating expense, and office lease expense presented within General and administrative in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Operating lease expense under the Company's ground and office leases were as follows, including straight-line rent expense and variable lease expenses such as CPI increases, percentage rent and reimbursements of landlord costs:


	Year ended December 31,
(in thousands)	2024		2023		2022
Fixed operating lease expense
Ground leases	$	15,420		14,727		13,759
Office leases		3,689		4,103		4,162
Total fixed operating lease expense		19,109		18,830		17,921
Variable lease expense
Ground leases		1,953		1,586		1,591
Office leases		592		729		611
Total variable lease expense		2,545		2,315		2,202
Total lease expense	$	21,654		21,145		20,123
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities
Operating cash flows for operating leases	$	16,212		15,823		14,656

The following table summarizes the undiscounted future cash flows by year attributable to the operating lease liabilities for ground and office leases as of December 31, 2024, and provides a reconciliation to the Lease liabilities included in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets:


(in thousands)	Lease Liabilities
For the years ending December 31,	Ground Leases			Office Leases			Total
2025	$	12,871			3,904			16,775
2026		12,793			3,947			16,740
2027		12,819			2,748			15,567
2028		12,960			1,899			14,859
2029		12,993			733			13,726
Thereafter		687,963			1,269			689,232
Total undiscounted lease liabilities	$	752,399			14,500			766,899
Present value discount		(520,621	)		(1,417	)		(522,038	)
Lease liabilities	$	231,778			13,083			244,861
Weighted average discount rate		5.5	%		4.1	%
Weighted average remaining term (in years)		48.7			4.3