1. GENERAL INFORMATION | 3 Months Ended |
Mar. 31, 2015 |
Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
General Information | The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information, and with the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) regarding interim financial reporting. Accordingly, these interim financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of the Company, as defined below, these unaudited consolidated financial statements include all adjustments necessary to present fairly the information set forth herein. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. Results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for a full year. |
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These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and notes included in our latest Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 31, 2015. |
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Power REIT (the “Registrant” or the “Trust”, and together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “we”, “us”, the “Company” or “Power REIT”, unless the context requires otherwise) is a Maryland-domiciled real estate investment trust (a “REIT”) that holds, develops, acquires and manages real estate assets related to transportation and energy infrastructure in the United States. Within the transportation and energy infrastructure sectors, Power REIT is focused on making new acquisitions of real estate that are or will be leased to renewable energy generation projects, such as utility-scale solar farms and wind farms, that have low or minimal technology risk. |
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The Trust is structured as a holding company and owns its assets through five wholly-owned, special purpose subsidiaries, with one subsidiary owning another subsidiary, that have been formed in order to hold real estate assets, obtain financing and generate lease revenue. As of March 31, 2015, the Trust’s assets consisted of approximately 112 miles of railroad infrastructure and related real estate which is owned by its subsidiary Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad (“P&WV”) and approximately 601 acres of fee simple land leased to a number of solar power generating projects with an aggregate generating capacity of approximately 108 Megawatts (“MW”). Power REIT is actively seeking to expand its portfolio of real estate related to renewable energy generation projects and is pursuing investment opportunities that qualify for REIT ownership within solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, transmission and other infrastructure projects. |
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P&WV is a business trust organized under the laws of Pennsylvania for the purpose of owning railroad assets that are currently leased to Norfolk Southern Railway (“NSC”) pursuant to a 99-year lease that became effective in 1964 and is subject to an unlimited number of 99-year renewal periods under the same terms and conditions, including annual rent payments, at the option of NSC (the “Railroad Lease”). P&WV’s assets consist of a railroad line of approximately 112 miles in length, extending through Connellsville, Washington and Allegheny Counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through Brooke County in the State of West Virginia and through Jefferson and Harrison Counties in the State of Ohio, to Pittsburgh Junction in Harrison County, Ohio. There are also branch lines that total approximately 20 miles in length located in Washington and Allegheny Counties in Pennsylvania and Brooke County in West Virginia. NSC pays P&WV base cash rent of $915,000 per year, payable in quarterly installments. In addition, Power REIT believes NSC is responsible for additional rent and other amounts, which is currently the subject of litigation. (See Note 5). |
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PW Salisbury Solar, LLC (“PWSS”) is a Massachusetts limited liability company that owns approximately 54 acres of land located in Salisbury, Massachusetts that is leased to a 5.7 MW operational solar farm. Pursuant to the lease agreement, PWSS’ tenant is required to pay PWSS rent of $80,800 cash for the year December 1, 2012 to November 30, 2013, with a 1.0% escalation in each corresponding year thereafter. Rent is payable quarterly in advance and is recorded by Power REIT for accounting purposes on a straight-line basis. Rent for the year ended December 31, 2014 was $89,494. For each of the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 rent has been recorded in the amount of $22,374. At the end of the 22-year lease period, which commenced on December 1, 2011 (prior to being assumed by PWSS), the tenant has certain renewal options, with terms to be mutually agreed upon. |
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PW Tulare Solar, LLC (“PWTS”) is a California limited liability company that owns approximately 100 acres of land leased to five solar farms, with an aggregate generating capacity of approximately 20MW, located near Fresno, California. The solar farm tenants pay PWTS an aggregate annual rent of $157,500 cash, payable in advance and without escalation during the 25-year term of the leases. At the end of the 25-year term, which commenced in March 2013 (prior to being assumed by PWTS), the tenants have certain renewal options, with terms to be mutually agreed upon. For the year ended December 31, 2014, PPWTS recorded rental income of $167,603. For the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, PWTS recorded rental income of $38,836 and $46,030, respectively. |
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PW Regulus Solar, LLC (“PWRS”) is a California limited liability company that owns approximately 447 acres of land leased to a solar project with an aggregate generating capacity of approximately 82 Megawatts that is under construction and is in Kern County, California near Bakersfield. PWRS’s lease was structured to provide it with initial quarterly rental payments until the solar farm achieves commercial operations which occurred on November 11, 2014. During the primary term of the lease which extends for 20 years from achieving commercial operations, PWRS will receive an initial annual rent of approximately $735,000 per annum which grows at 1% per annum. The lease is a “triple net” lease with all expenses to be paid by the tenant. At the end of the primary term of the lease, the tenants have certain renewal options with rent calculated as the greater of a minimum stated rental amount or a percentage of the total project-level gross revenue. The acquisition price, not including transaction and closing costs, was approximately $9.2 million. For the year ended December 31, 2014, PWRS recorded rental income of approximately $571,000. For the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014, PWRS recorded rental income of $200,779 and $0 respectively. |
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Power REIT Financo, LLC (“Financo”), a wholly-owned, direct subsidiary of Power REIT, entered into a credit facility in April 2014 with a major institutional lender (the “Credit Facility”). Financo is the owner of PWRS. |
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During the quarter ended March 31, 2015, the Trust paid a quarterly dividend of approximately $70,000 ($0.48375 per share) on Power REIT’s 7.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock. |
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The Trust was formed as part of a reorganization and reverse triangular merger of P&WV that closed on December 2, 2011. P&WV survived the reorganization as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trust. |
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The Trust has elected to be treated for tax purposes as a REIT, which means that it is exempt from U.S. federal income tax if a sufficient portion of its annual income is distributed to its shareholders, and if certain other requirements are met. In order for the Trust to maintain its REIT qualification, at least 90% of its ordinary taxable annual income must be distributed to shareholders. |