Commitments and Contingencies
Legal Proceedings
From time to time, the Company is a party to legal proceedings, lawsuits and other claims that arise in the ordinary course of the Company’s business. The Company is not aware of any legal proceedings or claims that it believes may have, individually or taken together, a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. The Company’s policy is to expense legal costs as they are incurred.
DownREITs and Other Partnerships
In connection with the formation of DownREITs, members may contribute appreciated real estate to a DownREIT in exchange for DownREIT units. These contributions are generally tax-deferred, so that the pre-contribution gain related to the property is not taxed to the member. However, if a contributed property is later sold by the DownREIT, the unamortized pre-contribution gain that exists at the date of sale is specifically allocated and taxed to the contributing members. In many of the DownREITs, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with those members who contributed appreciated property into the DownREIT. Under these indemnification agreements, if any of the appreciated real estate contributed by the members is sold by the DownREIT in a taxable transaction within a specified number of years, the Company will reimburse the affected members for the federal and state income taxes associated with the pre-contribution gain that is specially allocated to the affected member under the Internal Revenue Code (“make-whole payments”). These make-whole payments include a tax gross-up provision. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had indemnification agreements on a total of 28 properties within its DownREITs.
Additionally, the Company owns a 49% interest in the Lab JV (see Note 9). If the property in the joint venture is sold in a taxable transaction, the Company is generally obligated to indemnify its joint venture partner for its federal and state income taxes associated with the gain that existed at the time of the contribution to the joint venture.
Commitments
The following table summarizes the Company’s material commitments, excluding obligations as the lessee under operating leases (see Note 7), commitments to fund additional loans for development and redevelopment projects (see Note 8), debt service obligations (see Note 11), and potential future obligations related to redeemable noncontrolling interests (see Note 13) at December 31, 2025 (in thousands):
| | | | | |
| | Amount |
Development and redevelopment commitments(1) | $ | 167,811 | |
Lease and other contractual commitments(2) | 53,911 | |
Letters of credit(3) | 16,425 | |
| $ | 238,147 | |
_______________________________________(1)Represents construction and other commitments as of December 31, 2025 for developments and redevelopments in progress and includes allowances for Company-owned tenant improvements that the Company has provided as a lessor.
(2)Represents the Company’s commitments, as lessor, under signed leases and contracts for operating properties as of December 31, 2025 and includes allowances for Company-owned tenant improvements and leasing commissions. Excludes allowances for Company-owned tenant improvements related to developments and redevelopments in progress for which the Company has executed an agreement with a general contractor to complete the tenant improvements (recognized in the “Development and redevelopment commitments” line).
(3)Represents 16 outstanding letter of credit obligations totaling $16 million.
Minimum Liquid Reserve
For the Company’s life plan communities, state licensing authorities require the Company to maintain MLR balances in escrow accounts based upon certain financial calculations. This requirement mitigates the risk of a community failure, whereby the Company would be obligated to repay the balance of entrance fees to its residents. The reserve balances required by state licensing authorities at December 31, 2025 was $95 million, which was met through $43 million of restricted cash held in escrow and $52 million of promissory notes. These promissory notes are issued between the Company and certain of its operating subsidiaries, which represents intercompany activity that is eliminated in the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Environmental Costs
Various environmental laws govern certain aspects of the ongoing management and operation of our facilities, including those related to presence of asbestos-containing materials. The presence of, or the failure to manage and/or remediate, such materials may adversely affect the occupancy and performance of the Company’s facilities. The Company monitors its properties for the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances and is not aware of any environmental liability with respect to the properties that would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s business, financial condition, or results of operations. The Company carries environmental insurance and believes that the policy terms, conditions, limitations, and deductibles are adequate and appropriate under the circumstances, given the relative risk of loss, the cost of such coverage, and current industry practice.
General Uninsured Losses
The Company obtains various types of insurance to mitigate the impact of property, business interruption, liability, workers’ compensation, flood, windstorm, earthquake, environmental, cyber, and terrorism related losses. The Company attempts to obtain appropriate policy terms, conditions, limits, and deductibles considering the relative risk of loss, the cost of such coverage, and current industry practice. There are, however, certain types of extraordinary losses, such as those due to acts of war or other events that may be either uninsurable or not economically insurable. In addition, the Company has a large number of properties that are exposed to earthquake, flood, and windstorm occurrences for which the related insurances carry high deductibles and have limits.