Related Party Transactions | 9. Related Party Transactions Advisor Our external advisor and certain of its affiliates may receive fees and compensation in connection with the management and sale of our assets based on an advisory management agreement, as amended and restated. From January 4, 2008 through February 10, 2017, we were party to various advisory management agreements, each with a term of one year or less, with the Behringer Advisor. On February 10, 2017, we and the Behringer Advisor terminated the then existing advisory management agreement effective as of the close of business. Concurrently, we engaged the Advisor to provide us with advisory services pursuant to various advisory management agreements, each with an initial term of one year. The fees earned by and expenses reimbursed to the Advisor are substantially the same as the fees earned by and expenses reimbursed to the Behringer Advisor. The following discussion describes the fees and expenses payable to our external advisor and its respective affiliates under the various advisory management agreements. We pay our external advisor acquisition and advisory fees of 1.5% of the amount paid in respect of the purchase, development, construction, or improvement of each asset we acquire, including any debt attributable to those assets. In addition, we pay acquisition and advisory fees of 1.5% of the funds advanced in respect of a loan investment. We incurred no acquisition and advisory fees payable to either of our external advisors for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017 because we had no acquisitions during these periods. We also pay our external advisor an acquisition expense reimbursement in the amount of (i) 0.25% of the funds paid for purchasing an asset, including any debt attributable to the asset, plus 0.25% of the funds budgeted for development, construction, or improvement in the case of assets that we acquire and intend to develop, construct, or improve or (ii) 0.25% of the funds advanced in respect of a loan investment. We also pay third parties, or reimburse our external advisor or its affiliates, for any investment-related expenses due to third parties in the case of a completed investment, including, but not limited to, legal fees and expenses, travel and communication expenses, costs of appraisals, accounting fees and expenses, third-party brokerage or finder’s fees, title insurance, premium expenses, and other closing costs. Our external advisor and its affiliates are also responsible for paying all of the investment-related expenses that we or the external advisor or its affiliates incur that are due to third parties or related to the additional services provided by our external advisor as described above with respect to investments we do not make, other than certain non-refundable payments made in connection with any acquisition. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, we incurred no acquisition expense reimbursements. Prior to June 10, 2018 we paid our external advisor a debt financing fee of 0.5% of the amount available under any loan or line of credit made available to us on June 10, 2018 we amended the advisory management agreement with our advisor and increased the debt financing fee to 1.0% of the amount available under any loan or line of credit made available to us. For the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017, we incurred $0.3 million and $0.2 million, respectively, of debt financing fees. No debt financing fees were incurred for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017. We pay our external advisor a development fee in an amount that is usual and customary for comparable services rendered to similar projects in the geographic market of the project if such affiliate provides the development services and if a majority of our independent directors determines that such development fee is fair and reasonable to us. We incurred no development fees for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017. We pay our external advisor a monthly asset management fee of one-twelfth of 0.7% of the value of each asset. The value of our assets will be the value as determined in connection with the establishment and publication of an estimated net asset value (“NAV”) per share unless the asset was acquired after our publication of a NAV per share (in which case the value of the asset will be the contractual purchase price of the asset). For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 we expensed $0.4 million and $1.2 million of asset management fees payable to our external advisor and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017 we expensed $0.4 million and $1.4 million of asset management fees payable to each of our external advisors. Our external advisor is responsible for paying all of the expenses it incurs associated with persons employed by the external advisor to the extent that they provide services to us for which our external advisor receives an acquisition, asset management, or debt financing fee, including wages and benefits of the applicable personnel. Instead of reimbursing our external advisor for specific expenses paid or incurred in connection with providing services to us, we pay our external advisor an administrative services fee, also referred to as an administrative services reimbursement (the “Administrative Services Fee”). The Administrative Services Fee is intended to reimburse the external advisor for all its costs associated with providing services to us. For the calendar year ending December 31, 2017, the Administrative Services Fee was up to $1.325 million annually, pro-rated for the first six months of the year and up to $1.30 million annually, pro-rated for the second six months of the year. On February 10, 2018, the advisory management agreements were extended an additional four months through June 10, 2018. For the period January 1, 2018 through June 10, 2018, the Administrative Services Fee is up to $1.3 million annually, pro-rated for the period. On June 10, 2018, the advisory management agreements were extended an additional year through June 10, 2019. For the period June 10, 2018 through June 10, 2019, the Administrative Services Fee is up to $1.29 million. The Administrative Service Fee is payable in four equal quarterly installments within 45 days of the end of each calendar quarter. In addition, under the various advisory management agreements, we are to reimburse the external advisor for certain due diligence services provided in connection with asset acquisitions and dispositions and debt financings separately from the Administrative Services Fee. We incurred and expensed $0.3 million and $1.0 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, respectively, and $0.5 million and $1.2 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2017, respectively, of such costs for administrative services and due diligence services. Notwithstanding the fees and cost reimbursements payable to our external advisor pursuant to our advisory management agreement, under our charter we may not reimburse the external advisor for any amount by which our operating expenses (including the asset management fee) at the end of the four preceding fiscal quarters exceeds the greater of: (i) 2% of our average invested assets, or (ii) 25% of our net income determined without reduction for any additions to reserves for depreciation, bad debts, or other similar non-cash reserves and excluding any gain from the sale of our assets for that period unless a majority of our independent directors determines that such excess expenses are justified based on unusual and non-recurring factors. For the four fiscal quarters ended September 30, 2018, our total operating expenses (including the asset management fee) exceeded the limit on total operating expenses; however, our independent directors determined the excess expenses were justified primarily as a result of the timing of the redeployment of our cash proceeds from asset sales and financings. Property Manager From January 4, 2008 through February 10, 2017, we were party to various property management and leasing agreements between us, our operating partnership, and certain affiliates of Behringer (collectively, the “Behringer Manager”). On February 10, 2017, we and the Behringer Manager terminated the then existing property management and leasing agreements effective as of the close of business. Concurrently, we engaged an affiliate of Lightstone (the “Lightstone Manager”) pursuant to a property management and leasing agreement. The fees earned by and expenses reimbursed to the Lightstone Manager are substantially the same as the fees earned by and expenses reimbursed to the Behringer Manager. The following discussion describes the fees and expenses payable to our affiliated property manager and its respective affiliates under both the various property management and leasing agreements. We pay our property manager and affiliate of our external advisor, fees for the management, leasing, and construction supervision of our properties which is 4.0% of gross revenues of the properties managed by our property manager. We pay our property manager an oversight fee equal to 0.5% of the gross revenues of the property managed for any property for which we contract directly with a third-party property manager. In no event will our property manager or its affiliates receive both a property management fee and an oversight fee with respect to any particular property. In the event we own a property through a joint venture that does not pay our property manager directly for its services, we will pay our property manager a management fee or oversight fee, as applicable, based only on our economic interest in the property. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018, we incurred and expensed property management fees or oversight fees to the related-party property manager of less than $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively, compared to $0.1 million and $0.1 million in the same periods in 2017, respectively. We pay our property manager a construction management fee in an amount not to exceed 5% of all hard construction costs incurred in connection with, but not limited to capital repairs and improvements, major building reconstruction and tenant improvements, if such affiliate supervises construction performed by or on behalf of us or our affiliates. We incurred no construction management fees for the three months ended September 30, 2018 and 2017. As of both September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017, we had a payable to our external advisor and its affiliates of less than $0.1 million. These balances consist of accrued fees, including asset management fees, administrative service expenses, property management fees, and other miscellaneous costs payable to our external advisor and property manager. We are dependent on our external advisor and our property manager for certain services that are essential to us, including asset disposition decisions, property management and leasing services, and other general administrative responsibilities. In the event that these companies were unable to provide us with their respective services, we would be required to obtain such services from other sources. |