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Related Party Transactions
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions
RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the President and Chief Operating Officer, the Executive Vice President-Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and the Senior Vice President-Chief Accounting Officer of the Company are also officers of various members of the Saul Organization and their management time is shared with the Saul Organization. Their annual compensation is fixed by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors, with the exception of the Senior Vice President-Chief Accounting Officer whose share of annual compensation allocated to the Company is determined by the shared services agreement (described below).
The Company participates in a multiemployer 401K plan with entities in the Saul Organization which covers those full-time employees who meet the requirements as specified in the plan. Company contributions, which are included in general and administrative expense or property operating expenses in the consolidated statements of operations, at the discretionary amount of up to six percent of the employee’s cash compensation, subject to certain limits, were $400,000, $379,000, and $369,000, for 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. All amounts deferred by employees and contributed by the Company are fully vested.
The Company also participates in a multiemployer nonqualified deferred compensation plan with entities in the Saul Organization which covers those full-time employees who meet the requirements as specified in the plan. According to the plan, which can be modified or discontinued at any time, participating employees defer 2% of their compensation in excess of a specified amount. For the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, the Company contributed three times the amount deferred by employees. The Company’s expense, included in general and administrative expense, totaled $224,900, $192,800, and $191,300, for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. All amounts deferred by employees and the Company are fully vested. The cumulative unfunded liability under this plan was $1.8 million and $1.8 million, at December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, and is included in accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets.
The Company has entered into a shared services agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Saul Organization that provides for the sharing of certain personnel and ancillary functions such as computer hardware, software, and support services and certain direct and indirect administrative personnel. The method for determining the cost of the shared services is provided for in the Agreement and is based upon head count, estimates of usage or estimates of time incurred, as applicable. Senior management has determined that the final allocations of shared costs are reasonable. The terms of the Agreement and the payments made thereunder are reviewed annually by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, which consists entirely of independent directors. Billings by the Saul Organization for the Company’s share of these ancillary costs and expenses for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, which included rental expense for the Company’s headquarters lease (see Note 7. Long Term Lease Obligations), totaled $8.2 million, $7.4 million, and $6.3 million, respectively. The amounts are expensed when incurred and are primarily reported as general and administrative expenses or capitalized to specific development projects in these consolidated financial statements. As of December 31, 2015 and 2014, accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities included $655,000 and $543,000, respectively, representing billings due to the Saul Organization for the Company’s share of these ancillary costs and expenses.
The Company has entered into a shared third-party predevelopment cost agreement with the B. F. Saul Real Estate Investment Trust, a member of the Saul Organization (the “Predevelopment Agreement”). The Predevelopment Agreement, which expired on December 31, 2015 and was extended to December 31, 2016, relates to the sharing of third-party predevelopment costs incurred in connection with the planning of the future redevelopment of certain adjacent real estate assets in the Twinbrook area of Rockville, Maryland. The costs will be billed by the third-parties on a pro rata basis based on the acreage owned by each entity and neither party is obligated to advance funds to the other.
The B. F. Saul Insurance Agency of Maryland, Inc., a subsidiary of the B. F. Saul Company and a member of the Saul Organization, is a general insurance agency that receives commissions and counter-signature fees in connection with the Company’s insurance program. Such commissions and fees amounted to approximately $443,500, $427,300, and $447,300, for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively.
Effective as of September 4, 2012, the Company entered into a consulting agreement with B. F. Saul III, one of the Company’s former presidents, whereby Mr. Saul III provided certain consulting services to the Company as an independent contractor and was paid at a rate of $60,000 per month. The consulting agreement included certain noncompete, nonsolicitation and nondisclosure covenants, and expired in September 2014. During 2014 and 2013 such consulting fees totaled $495,000 and $720,000, respectively.