Favorable Lease Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Goodwill and Intangible Assets Disclosure [Abstract]

In connection with the acquisition of certain hotels, we have recognized intangible assets for favorable ground leases and tenant leases. Our favorable lease assets, net of accumulated amortization of $2.3 million and $2.6 million as of December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, consist of the following (in thousands):



	2016		2015
Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel Ground Lease	$	17,859	$	18,076
Hilton Minneapolis Ground Lease	—		5,685
Lexington Hotel New York Tenant Leases	154		186
Hilton Boston Downtown Tenant Leases	—		8
	$	18,013	$	23,955

The favorable lease assets are recorded at the acquisition date and are generally amortized using the straight-line method over the remaining non-cancelable term of the lease agreement. Amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, was $0.3 million, $0.5 million, and $0.7 million, respectively. Amortization expense is expected to total $0.2 million annually for 2017 through 2021.

We owned a favorable lease asset related to the right to acquire a leasehold interest in a parcel of land adjacent to the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel for the development of a 320 to 350 room hotel (the “lease right”). During the second quarter of 2015, we decided not to exercise the option to acquire the leasehold interest and recorded an impairment loss of $9.6 million, which includes the write-off of $0.6 million of other assets related to the lease right included within prepaid and other assets on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

During 2015, we evaluated the Lexington Hotel New York favorable tenant leases for recoverability of the carrying value. The lease with one of the retail tenants at the Lexington Hotel New York was expected to terminate prior to the end of the lease term. We concluded that the asset was not realizable and recorded an impairment loss of $0.8 million during 2015.

On June 30, 2016, we sold the Hilton Minneapolis (see Note 9). In connection with the sale, we wrote off the favorable ground lease asset, which is included in the gain of sale of hotel properties on the accompanying consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2016.