SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

2017 Outperformance Plan

On February 24, 2017, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Company approved the Company’s 2017 Outperformance Plan (“2017 OPP”), a multi-year performance-based equity compensation program. Under the 2017 OPP, participants, including our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, have the opportunity to earn awards in the form of LTIP units if, and only if, we outperform a predetermined total shareholder return (“TSR”) and/or outperform the market with respect to a relative TSR in any year during the requisite performance periods as described below. The aggregate notional amount of the 2017 OPP grant is $12.0 million.

Awards under the 2017 OPP may be earned if we (i) achieve a TSR level greater than 7% per annum, or 21% over the three-year performance measurement period, and/or (ii) achieve a TSR equal to or above, that of the 50^th percentile of a retail REIT peer group comprised of 14 of our peer companies, over a three-year performance measurement period. Distributions on awards accrue during the measurement period, except that 10% of such distributions are paid in cash. If the designated performance objectives are achieved, LTIP units are also subject to time-based vesting requirements. Awards earned under the 2017 OPP vest 50% in year three, 25% in year four and 25% in year five.

The fair value of the 2017 OPP on the date of grant was $4.1 million using a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the fair value based on the probability of satisfying the market conditions and the projected share price at the time of payment, discounted to the valuation date over a three-year performance period. Assumptions include historic volatility (19.7%), risk-free interest rates (1.5%), and historic daily return as compared to our Peer Group. Such amount is being amortized into expense over a five-year period from the date of grant, using a graded vesting attribution model.

Share-Based Compensation Expense

Share-based compensation expense, which is included in general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of income, is summarized as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Amounts in thousands)	2017		2016		2017		2016
Share-based compensation expense components:
Restricted share expense	$	527	$	352	$	1,435	$	968
Stock option expense	650		604		1,919		1,833
LTIP expense	147		95		410		378
Outperformance Plan (“OPP”) expense	565		308		1,484		901
Total Share-based compensation expense	$	1,889	$	1,359	$	5,248	$	4,080