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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
New accounting pronouncements
The following paragraphs describe the impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements from the adoption of Accounting Standards Updates ("ASUs") on January 1, 2019.

ASU 2016-02 and ASU 2018-11—Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-02, Leases ("ASU 2016-02") required the recognition of right-of-use lease assets and lease liabilities by the Company as lessee for those leases classified as operating or finance leases, both measured at the present value of the lease payments, on its consolidated balance sheets. For operating lease arrangements as of December 31, 2018 for which the Company was the lessee, primarily under leases of office space and certain ground leases, and a finance lease the Company entered into during the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company recorded operating lease right-of-use assets of $31.6 million and a finance lease right-of-use asset of $68.1 million in "Deferred expenses and other assets, net" and operating lease liabilities of $31.6 million and a finance lease liability of $68.1 million in "Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities" on its consolidated balance sheets (refer to Significant Accounting Policies below). The accounting applied by the Company as a lessor is generally unchanged from that applied under previous GAAP.

Management elected the practical expedient package that allowed the Company: (a) to not reassess whether any expired or existing contracts entered into prior to January 1, 2019 are or contain leases; (b) to not reassess the lease classification for any expired or existing leases entered into prior to January 1, 2019; and (c) to not reassess initial direct costs for any expired or existing leases entered into prior to January 1, 2019. In addition, the Company elected to not record on its consolidated balance sheets leases whose term is less than 12 months at lease inception.

ASU 2018-11, Leases amended ASU 2016-02 so that: (i) entities could elect to not recast the comparative periods presented when transitioning to ASC 842 by allowing entities to change their initial application to the beginning of the period of adoption; and (ii) provided lessors with a practical expedient to not separate non-lease components from the associated lease component of the contractual payments if certain conditions are met. Management elected both of these provisions.

ASU 2018-16—ASU 2018-16, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Inclusion of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") Overnight Index Swap ("OIS") Rate as a Benchmark Interest Rate for Hedge Accounting Purposes was issued in October 2018 and expands the list of U.S. benchmark interest rates permitted in the application of hedge accounting by adding the OIS rate based on SOFR as an eligible benchmark interest rate. The adoption of ASU 2018-16 did not have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.
Significant Accounting Policies

Restricted cash—The following table provides a reconciliation of the cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash reported in the Company's consolidated balance sheets that total to the same amount as reported in the consolidated statements of cash flows (in thousands):
 
 
March 31, 2019
 
December 31, 2018
 
March 31, 2018
 
December 31, 2017
Cash and cash equivalents
 
$
315,407

 
$
931,751

 
$
366,723

 
$
657,688

Restricted cash included in deferred expenses and other assets, net(1)
 
48,407

 
42,793

 
20,421

 
20,045

Total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash reported in the consolidated statements of cash flows
 
$
363,814

 
$
974,544

 
$
387,144

 
$
677,733

_______________________________________________________________________________
(1)
Restricted cash represents amounts required to be maintained under certain of the Company's debt obligations, loans, leasing, land development, sale and derivative transactions.

Deferred expenses and other assets and accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities—Effective January 1, 2019 with the adoption of ASU 2016-02, the Company, as lessee, records right-of-use lease assets in "Deferred expenses and other assets" and lease liabilities in "Accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities" on its consolidated balance sheets for operating and finance leases, both measured at the present value of the lease payments. Some of the Company's lease agreements include extension options, which are not included in the lease payments unless the extensions are reasonably certain to be exercised.
For operating leases, the Company recognizes a single lease cost for office leases in "General and administrative" and a single lease cost for ground leases in "Real estate expense" in the consolidated statements of operations, calculated so that the cost of the lease is allocated generally on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease, and classifies all cash payments within operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows. For finance leases, the Company recognizes amortization of the right-of-use assets on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease in "Depreciation and amortization" and interest expense on the lease liability using the effective interest method in "Interest expense" in the consolidated statements of operations. Repayments of the principal portion of the finance lease liability are classified within financing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows and payments of interest on a finance lease liability are classified within operating activities in the consolidated statement of cash flows.

For the remainder of the Company's significant accounting policies, refer to the Company's 2018 Annual Report.

New Accounting PronouncementsIn June 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments ("ASU 2016-13"), which was issued to provide financial statement users with more decision-useful information about the expected credit losses on financial instruments held by a reporting entity. This amendment replaces the incurred loss impairment methodology in current GAAP with a methodology that reflects expected credit losses and requires consideration of a broader range of reasonable and supportable information to inform credit loss estimates. The Company currently records a general reserve that covers performing loans and reserves for loan losses are recorded when: (i) available information as of each balance sheet date indicates that it is probable a loss has occurred in the portfolio; and (ii) the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. The formula-based general reserve is derived from estimated principal default probabilities and loss severities applied to groups of loans based upon risk ratings assigned to loans with similar risk characteristics during our quarterly loan portfolio assessment. The Company estimates loss rates based on historical realized losses experienced within its portfolio and take into account current economic conditions affecting the commercial real estate market when establishing appropriate time frames to evaluate loss experience. ASU 2016-13 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019. Early adoption is permitted for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Management is currently evaluating the impact from ASU 2016-13 on the Company's consolidated financial statements.