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Commitments And Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]  
Commitments And Contingencies

Note 13. Commitments and Contingencies

     The Company is a party to certain legal actions arising in the normal course of business. Management does not expect there to be adverse consequences from these actions that would be material to the Company's consolidated financial statements.

     Under various federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and regulations, an owner or operator of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up hazardous or toxic substances, or petroleum product releases, at its properties. The owner may be liable to governmental entities or to third parties for property damage, and for investigation and cleanup costs incurred by such parties in connection with any contamination. Management is unaware of any environmental matters that would have a material impact on the Company's consolidated financial statements.

     The Company's executive offices are located at 44 South Bayles Avenue, Port Washington, New York, which it leased from a partnership owned 44.9% by the Company's former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The terms of the lease, as amended, will expire in February 2020. Future minimum rents payable under the terms of the lease, as amended, amount to $495,000, $509,000, $523,000, $537,000, $552,000 and $1.8 million during the years 2012 through 2016, and thereafter, respectively. In addition, several of the Company's properties and portions of several others are owned subject to operating leases which provide for annual payments subject, in certain cases, to cost-of-living or fair market value adjustments, as follows: 2012 - $1.0 million, 2013 - $1.0 million, 2014 - $1.0 million, 2015 - $1.0 million, 2016 - $1.0 million and thereafter - $9.9 million.

     Rent expense was $1.3 million, $1.0 million and $0.8 million for 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively.

     The Company has entered into joint venture arrangements with respect to a number of its properties. The applicable joint venture agreements generally include buy/sell provisions pursuant to which, after a specified period of years, either party may initiate a buy/sell arrangement pursuant to which the initiating party can designate a value for the relevant property or properties, and the other party may then elect either to sell its proportionate ownership interest in the joint venture based on that value for the entire property or to purchase the initiating party's ownership interest based on such valuation for the entire property.