Property and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Property Plant And Equipment [Abstract]

Note 7. Property and Equipment

Property and equipment consisted of the following:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2019			2018
Land and land interests⁽¹⁾	$	34,532		$	32,887
Buildings and leasehold improvements		377,754			238,995
Equipment and other		417,239			383,284
Gross property and equipment		829,525			655,166
Accumulated depreciation		(353,974	)		(321,319	)
Property and equipment, net (excluding finance leases)		475,551			333,847
Finance lease right-of-use assets, net		25,350			—
Property and equipment, net	$	500,901		$	333,847

⁽¹⁾

^{Land and land interests include certain leasehold interests in land within Pursuit for which we are considered to have perpetual use rights. The carrying amount of these leasehold interests was $8.2 million as of December 31, 2019 and $7.8 million as of December 31, 2018. The increase was due to additional purchased land in 2019. These land interests are not subject to amortization.}

Depreciation expense was $45.6 million during 2019, $45.8 million during 2018, and $42.7 million during 2017.

Property and equipment purchased through accounts payable and accrued liabilities increased $4.2 million during 2019, decreased $1.9 million during 2018, and increased $2.3 million during 2017.

We recorded asset impairment charges to equipment of $3.8 million during the fourth quarter of 2019 primarily related to our audio-visual production business in the United Kingdom.

On December 29, 2016, the Mount Royal Hotel in Banff, Canada was damaged by a fire and closed from December 2016 through June 2018 for reconstruction. During 2017, we resolved our property and business interruption insurance claims related to the fire for a total of $36.3 million of which $29.3 million was recorded as an impairment recovery (partially offset by impairment charges of $0.2 million) related to construction costs to re-open the hotel.