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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 12 Months Ended
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Apr. 30, 2016
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | NOTE 15 • COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Ground Leases. As of April 30, 2016, we are a tenant under operating ground or air rights leases on nine of our properties. We pay a total of approximately $329,000 per year in rent under these ground leases, which have remaining terms ranging from 15 to 85 years, and expiration dates ranging from February 2031 to October 2100. We have renewal options for four of the nine ground leases, and rights of first offer or first refusal for the remainder. The expected timing of ground and air rights lease payments as of April 30, 2016 is as follows:
|  | (in thousands) |
Fiscal Year Ended April 30, |  | Lease Payments |
2017 |  | $ | 330 |
2018 |  |  | 331 |
2019 |  |  | 332 |
2020 |  |  | 333 |
2021 |  |  | 335 |
Thereafter |  |  | 8,503 |
Total |  | $ | 10,164 |
Legal Proceedings. We are involved in various lawsuits arising in the normal course of business. Management believes that such matters will not have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements. Environmental Matters. It is generally our policy to obtain a Phase I environmental assessment of each property that we seek to acquire. Such assessments have not revealed, nor are we aware of, any environmental liabilities that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations. We own properties that contain or potentially contain (based on the age of the property) asbestos or lead, or have underground fuel storage tanks. For certain of these properties, we estimated the fair value of the conditional asset retirement obligation and chose not to book a liability because the amounts involved were immaterial. With respect to certain other properties, we have not recorded any related asset retirement obligation as the fair value of the liability cannot be reasonably estimated due to insufficient information. We believe we do not have sufficient information to estimate the fair value of the asset retirement obligations for these properties because a settlement date or range of potential settlement dates has not been specified by others and, additionally, there are currently no plans or expectation of plans to demolish these properties or to undertake major renovations that would require removal of the asbestos, lead and/or underground storage tanks. These properties are expected to be maintained by repairs and maintenance activities that would not involve the removal of the asbestos, lead and/or underground storage tanks. Also, a need for renovations caused by tenant changes, technology changes or other factors has not been identified. Tenant Improvements. In entering into leases with tenants, we may commit ourself to fund improvements or build-outs of the rented space to suit tenant requirements. These tenant improvements are typically funded at the beginning of the lease term, and we are accordingly exposed to some risk of loss if a tenant defaults prior to the expiration of the lease term, and the rental income that was expected to cover the cost of the tenant improvements is not received. As of April 30, 2016, we are committed to fund $6.1 million in tenant improvements, within approximately the next 12 months. Of this total, approximately $101,000 is related to properties classified as held for sale. Purchase Options. Under certain lease agreements, we have granted options to the tenants of properties to purchase such properties. In general, these options grant the tenant the right to purchase the property at the greater of such property’s appraised value or an annual compounded increase of a specified percentage of the initial cost to us. As of April 30, 2016, 14 of our properties were subject to purchase options, and the total investment cost, plus improvements, of all such properties was $97.2 million with total gross rental revenues in fiscal year 2016 of $7.6 million. Subsequent to fiscal year end, the tenant in our Spring Creek senior housing portfolio exercised its option to purchase the properties for a sale price of $43.5 million. The Spring Creek properties were classified as held for sale and discontinued operations with the rest of our senior housing portfolio at April 30, 2016. Insurance. We carry insurance coverage on our properties in amounts and types that we believe are customarily obtained by owners of similar properties and are sufficient to achieve our risk management objectives. Restrictions on Taxable Dispositions. Approximately 76 of our properties, consisting of approximately 2.6 million square feet of our combined commercial properties and 5,396 apartment units, are subject to restrictions on taxable dispositions under agreements entered into with some of the sellers or contributors of the properties. The real estate investment amount of these properties (net of accumulated depreciation) was approximately $692.4 million at April 30, 2016. The restrictions on taxable dispositions are effective for varying periods. The terms of these agreements generally prevent us from selling the properties in taxable transactions. We do not believe that the agreements materially affect the conduct of our business or our decisions whether to dispose of restricted properties during the restriction period because we generally hold these and our other properties for investment purposes rather than for sale. Historically, however, where we have deemed it to be in our shareholders’ best interests to dispose of restricted properties, we have done so through transactions structured as tax-deferred transactions under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Redemption Value of Units. Pursuant to a Unitholders exercise of its Exchange Rights, after a minimum one-year holding period, we have the right, in our sole discretion, to acquire such Units by either making a cash payment or exchanging the Units for our common shares, on a one-for-one basis. All Units receive the same cash distributions as those paid on common shares. Units are redeemable for an amount of cash per Unit equal to the average of the daily market price of our common share for the ten consecutive trading days immediately preceding the date of valuation of the Unit. As of April 30, 2016 and 2015, the aggregate redemption value of the then-outstanding Units owned by limited partners was approximately $109.3 million and $102.4 million, respectively. Joint Venture Buy/Sell Options. Several of our joint venture agreements contain buy/sell options in which each party under certain circumstances has the option to acquire the interest of the other party, but do not generally require that we buy our partners’ interests. However, from time to time, we have entered into joint venture agreements which contain options compelling us to acquire the interest of the other parties. We currently have one such joint venture, the Southgate apartment project in Minot, North Dakota, in which our joint venture partner can, for the four-year period from February 6, 2016 through February 5, 2020, compel us to acquire the partner’s interest for a price to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the joint venture agreement. The joint venture partner’s interest is reflected as a redeemable noncontrolling interest on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. Development, Expansion and Renovation Projects. We have various contracts outstanding with third parties in connection with development, expansion and renovation projects that are underway or placed in service during the quarter, the costs for which have been capitalized. As of April 30, 2016, contractual commitments for these projects are as follows:
|  |  |  |  |  | (in thousands) |  | (in fiscal years) |
|  |  |  | Rentable |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | Anticipated |
|  |  |  | Square Feet |  | Anticipated |  | Costs as of |  | Construction |
Project Name and Location |  | Planned Segment |  | or Number of Units |  | Total Cost(1) |  | April 30, 2016(1) |  | Completion |
Deer Ridge - Jamestown, ND |  | Multifamily |  | 163 units |  |  | 24,837 |  |  | 24,837 |  | In Service |
Cardinal Point - Grand Forks, ND(2) |  | Multifamily |  | 251 units |  |  | 52,344 |  |  | 49,732 |  | In Service |
71 France - Edina, MN(3) |  | Multifamily |  | 241 units |  |  | 73,290 |  |  | 71,727 |  | 1Q 2017 |
Monticello Crossings - Monticello, MN |  | Multifamily |  | 202 units |  |  | 31,784 |  |  | 17,507 |  | 2Q 2017 |
Other |  | n/a |  | n/a |  |  | n/a |  |  | 3,729 |  | n/a |
|  |  |  |  |  | $ | 182,255 |  | $ | 167,532 |  |  |
| (1) |  | Includes costs related to development projects that are placed in service in phases (71 France - $41.3 million).
| (2) |  | Anticipated total cost as of April 30, 2016 includes incremental cost increase due to the replacement of the project’s original general contractor.
| (3) |  | The project is being constructed in three phases by a joint venture entity in which we currently have an approximately 52.6% interest. The anticipated total cost amount given in the table above is the total cost to the joint venture entity. The anticipated total cost includes approximately 20,956 square feet of rentable retail space.
These development projects are subject to various contingencies, and no assurances can be given that they will be completed within the time frames or on the terms currently expected.

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