Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited)

1. Organization, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies

Gladstone Commercial Corporation is a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that was incorporated under the General Corporation Law of the State of Maryland on February 14, 2003. We focus on acquiring, owning and managing primarily office and industrial properties. On a selective basis, we may make long term industrial and office mortgage loans; however, we do not have any mortgage loans currently outstanding. Subject to certain restrictions and limitations, our business is managed by Gladstone Management Corporation, a Delaware corporation (the “Adviser”), and administrative services are provided by Gladstone Administration, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Administrator”), each pursuant to a contractual arrangement with us. Our Adviser and Administrator collectively employ all of our personnel and pay their salaries, benefits, and other general expenses directly. Gladstone Commercial Corporation conducts substantially all of its operations through a subsidiary, Gladstone Commercial Limited Partnership, a Delaware limited partnership (the “Operating Partnership”).

All references herein to “we,” “our,” “us” and the “Company” mean Gladstone Commercial Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries, except where it is made clear that the term means only Gladstone Commercial Corporation.

Interim Financial Information

Our interim financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and pursuant to the requirements for reporting on Form 10-Q and in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, certain disclosures accompanying annual financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP are omitted. The year-end balance sheet data presented herein was derived from audited financial statements, but does not include all disclosures required by GAAP. In the opinion of our management, all adjustments, consisting solely of normal recurring accruals, necessary for the fair statement of financial statements for the interim period, have been included. The interim financial statements and notes thereto should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 , as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 13, 2019 . The results of operations for the three months ended March 31, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for other interim periods or for the full fiscal year.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates.

Critical Accounting Policies

The preparation of our financial statements in accordance with GAAP, requires management to make judgments that are subjective in nature to make certain estimates and assumptions. Application of these accounting policies involves the exercise of judgment regarding the use of assumptions as to future uncertainties, and as a result, actual results could materially differ from these estimates. A summary of all of our significant accounting policies is provided in Note 1, “Organization, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies,” to our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 . There were no material changes to our critical accounting policies during the three months ended March 31, 2019 .

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued guidance regarding the recognition of revenue from contracts with customers. Under this guidance, an entity will recognize revenue to depict the transfer of goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. This guidance also requires improved disclosures regarding the nature, amount, timing and uncertainty of revenue and cash flows arising from contracts with customers. We adopted this guidance for our annual and interim periods beginning January 1, 2018 and used the modified retrospective method, under which the cumulative effect of initially applying the guidance is recognized at the date of initial application. Our adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Further, as discussed below, we adopted the new guidance regarding the principles for the recognition measurement, presentation and disclosure of leases on January 1, 2019. The new revenue standard will apply to executory costs and other components of revenue due under leases that are deemed to be non-lease components (examples include common area maintenance and provision of utilities), even when the revenue for such activities is not separately stipulated in the lease. Revenue from these non-lease components, which were previously recognized on a straight-line basis under previous lease guidance, are recognized under the new revenue guidance as the related services are delivered. As a result, while our total revenue recognized over the lease term would not differ under the new guidance, the revenue recognition pattern could be different. The new leasing guidance allows for an accounting election to account for each separate lease component and its associated nonlease components as a single lease component. As a lessor, we have made an accounting election to account for each separate lease component and its associated nonlease components as a single lease component. As a result of this election, our revenue recognition pattern for our leasing arrangements will be consistent with how we recognized lease revenue prior to our adoption of the new leasing standard.

In February 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-02, “Leases: Amendments to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification” (“ASU 2016-02”). The new standard requires lessees to apply a dual approach, classifying leases as either finance or operating leases based on the principle of whether or not the lease is effectively a financed purchase of the leased asset by the lessee. This classification will determine whether lease expense is recognized based on an effective interest method or on a straight line basis over the term of the lease, respectively. A lessee is also required to record a right-of-use asset and a lease liability for all leases with a term of greater than 12 months regardless of their classification. Leases with a term of 12 months or less will be accounted for similar to existing guidance for operating leases today. The new standard requires lessors to account for leases using an approach that is substantially equivalent to existing guidance for sales-type leases, direct financing leases and operating leases. We adopted ASU 2016-02, as amended, as of January 1, 2019, which resulted in the recording of additional right-of-use assets from operating leases and operating lease liabilities of approximately $6.0 million for the four operating ground lease arrangements with terms greater than one year for which we are the lessee. We adopted the modified retrospective method, where we recorded the cumulative effect of applying the guidance as of January 1, 2019. We also adopted the full suite of practical expedients provided under this guidance, whereby we are not reassessing whether a contract is or contains a lease, the lease classification and the initial direct costs incurred upon onset of our leases. We have also elected to adopt the hindsight practical expedient whereby we can use hindsight to determine the lease term as of the date of implementation, and we adopted the land easements practical expedient where we do not have to assess whether existing or expired land easements contain a lease. We analyzed our operating ground leases on the date of implementation and identified any option periods we believed were appropriate to include in the lease term, and discounted the future lease payments using a discount rate equivalent to a treasury rate with a similar lease term plus a spread ranging from 2.50% to 2.60% . This spread was determined by reviewing market premiums over treasuries for fully securitized assets. Three of our ground leases have fixed rental charges, and one has variable charges that are driven by the consumer price index. Three of our ground leases have options to extend, and one ground lease has multiple early termination options. We will include option periods or exclude termination options in future lease payments for ground leases located in our target markets.

2. Related-Party Transactions

Gladstone Management and Gladstone Administration

We are externally managed pursuant to contractual arrangements with our Adviser and our Administrator, which collectively employ all of our personnel and pay their salaries, benefits, and other general expenses directly. Both our Adviser and Administrator are affiliates of ours, as their parent company is owned and controlled by Mr. David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Two of our executive officers, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Terry Lee Brubaker (our vice chairman and chief operating officer) serve as directors and executive officers of our Adviser and our Administrator. Our president, Mr. Robert Cutlip, is an executive managing director of our Adviser. Mr. Michael LiCalsi, our general counsel and secretary, also serves as our Administrator’s president, general counsel and secretary. We have entered into an advisory agreement with our Adviser, as amended from time to time (the “Advisory Agreement”), and an administration agreement with our Administrator (the “Administration Agreement”). The services and fees under the Advisory Agreement and Administration Agreement are described below. As of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 , $ 2.6 million and $2.5 million , respectively, were collectively due to our Adviser and Administrator.

Base Management Fee

On January 8, 2019, we entered into a Fifth Amended and Restated Investment Advisory Agreement with the Adviser, effective as of October 1, 2018 to clarify that the agreement’s definition of Total Equity includes outstanding OP Units held by the Operating Partnership’s non-controlling limited partners (“Non-controlling OP Unitholders”). Our entrance into the Advisory Agreement and each amendment thereto has been approved unanimously by our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors reviews and considers renewing the agreement with our Adviser each July. During its July 2018 meeting, our Board of Directors reviewed and renewed the Advisory Agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2019.

Under the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the annual base management fee equals 1.5% of our Total Equity, which is our total stockholders’ equity plus total mezzanine equity (before giving effect to the base management fee and incentive fee), adjusted to exclude the effect of any unrealized gains or losses that do not affect realized net income (including impairment charges), adjusted for any one-time events and certain non-cash items (the later to occur for a given quarter only upon the approval of our Compensation Committee), and adjusted to include OP Units held by Non-controlling OP Unitholders. The fee is calculated and accrued quarterly as 0.375%  per quarter of such Total Equity figure. Our Adviser does not charge acquisition or disposition fees when we acquire or dispose of properties, as is common in other externally managed REITs; however, our Adviser may earn fee income from our borrowers, tenants or other sources.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , we recorded a base management fee of $1.3 million and $1.3 million , respectively.

Incentive Fee

Pursuant to the Advisory Agreement, the calculation of the incentive fee rewards the Adviser in circumstances where our quarterly Core FFO (defined at the end of this paragraph), before giving effect to any incentive fee, or pre-incentive fee Core FFO, exceeds 2.0% quarterly, or 8.0% annualized, of adjusted total stockholders’ equity (after giving effect to the base management fee but before giving effect to the incentive fee). We refer to this as the hurdle rate. The Adviser will receive 15.0% of the amount of our pre-incentive fee Core FFO that exceeds the hurdle rate. However, in no event shall the incentive fee for a particular quarter exceed by 15.0% (the cap) the average quarterly incentive fee paid by us for the previous four quarters (excluding quarters for which no incentive fee was paid). Core FFO (as defined in the Advisory Agreement) is GAAP net income (loss) available to common stockholders, excluding the incentive fee, depreciation and amortization, any realized and unrealized gains, losses or other non-cash items recorded in net income (loss) available to common stockholders for the period, and one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , we recorded an incentive fee of $0.9 million and $0.7 million , respectively. The Adviser did not waive any portion of the incentive fee for the three months ended March 31, 2019 or 2018 , respectively.

Capital Gains Fee

Under the Advisory Agreement, we will pay to the Adviser a capital gains-based incentive fee that will be calculated and payable in arrears as of the end of each fiscal year (or upon termination of the Advisory Agreement). In determining the capital gains fee, we will calculate aggregate realized capital gains and aggregate realized capital losses for the applicable time period. For this purpose, aggregate realized capital gains and losses, if any, equals the realized gain or loss calculated by the difference between the sales price of the property, less any costs to sell the property and the current gross value of the property (equal to the property’s original acquisition price plus any subsequent non-reimbursed capital improvements) of the disposed property. At the end of the fiscal year, if this number is positive, then the capital gain fee payable for such time period shall equal 15.0% of such amount. No capital gain fee was recognized during the three months ended March 31, 2019 or 2018 .

Termination Fee

The Advisory Agreement includes a termination fee whereby, in the event of our termination of the agreement without cause (with 120 days’ prior written notice and the vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors), a termination fee would be payable to the Adviser equal to two times the sum of the average annual base management fee and incentive fee earned by the Adviser during the 24-month period prior to such termination. A termination fee is also payable if the Adviser terminates the Advisory Agreement after we have defaulted and applicable cure periods have expired. The Advisory Agreement may also be terminated for cause by us (with 30 days’ prior written notice and the vote of at least two-thirds of our independent directors), with no termination fee payable. Cause is defined in the agreement to include if the Adviser breaches any material provisions thereof, the bankruptcy or insolvency of the Adviser, dissolution of the Adviser and fraud or misappropriation of funds.

Administration Agreement

Under the terms of the Administration Agreement, we pay separately for our allocable portion of the Administrator’s overhead expenses in performing its obligations to us including, but not limited to, rent and our allocable portion of the salaries and benefits expenses of our Administrator’s employees, including, but not limited to, our chief financial officer, treasurer, chief compliance officer, general counsel and secretary (who also serves as our Administrator’s president, general counsel and secretary), and their respective staffs. Our allocable portion of the Administrator’s expenses are generally derived by multiplying our Administrator’s total expenses by the approximate percentage of time the Administrator’s employees perform services for us in relation to their time spent performing services for all companies serviced by our Administrator under contractual agreements. We believe this approach helps approximate fees paid by us to actual services performed by the Administrator for us. For the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , we recorded an administration fee of $0.4 million and $0.4 million , respectively.

Gladstone Securities

Gladstone Securities, LLC, (“Gladstone Securities”), is a privately held broker dealer registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Gladstone Securities is an affiliate of ours, as its parent company is owned and controlled by David Gladstone, our chairman and chief executive officer. Mr. Gladstone also serves on the board of managers of Gladstone Securities.

Mortgage Financing Arrangement Agreement

We entered into an agreement with Gladstone Securities, effective June 18, 2013, for it to act as our non-exclusive agent to assist us with arranging mortgage financing for properties we own (the “Financing Arrangement Agreement”). In connection with this engagement, Gladstone Securities will, from time to time, continue to solicit the interest of various commercial real estate lenders or recommend to us third party lenders offering credit products or packages that are responsive to our needs. We pay Gladstone Securities a financing fee in connection with the services it provides to us for securing mortgage financing on any of our properties. The amount of these financing fees, which are payable upon closing of the financing, are based on a percentage of the amount of the mortgage, generally ranging from 0.15% to a maximum of 1.0% of the mortgage obtained. The amount of the financing fees may be reduced or eliminated, as determined by us and Gladstone Securities, after taking into consideration various factors, including, but not limited to, the involvement of any third party brokers and market conditions. We paid financing fees to Gladstone Securities of $0.02 million and $0.02 million during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively, which are included in mortgage notes payable, net, in the condensed consolidated balance sheets, or 0.15% and 0.25% , respectively, of the mortgage principal secured and/or extended. Our Board of Directors renewed the Financing Arrangement Agreement for an additional year, through August 31, 2019 , at its July 2018 meeting.

3. Earnings Per Share of Common Stock

The following tables set forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share of common stock for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 . The OP Units held by Non-controlling OP Unitholders (which may be redeemed for shares of common stock) have been excluded from the diluted earnings per share calculations, as there would be no effect on the amounts since the Non-controlling OP Unitholders’ share of income would also be added back to net income. Net income figures are presented net of such non-controlling interests in the earnings per share calculation.

We computed basic earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 using the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the respective periods. Diluted earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 reflects additional shares of common stock related to our convertible senior common stock (the “Senior Common Stock”), if the effect would be dilutive, that would have been outstanding if dilutive potential shares of common stock had been issued, as well as an adjustment to net income available to common stockholders as applicable to common stockholders that would result from their assumed issuance (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts).

 

4. Real Estate and Intangible Assets

Real estate depreciation expense on building and tenant improvements was $ 8.0 million and $7.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively.

 

We determined the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed related to the properties acquired during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 as follows (dollars in thousands):

We account for all of our real estate leasing arrangements as operating leases. A majority of our leases are subject to fixed rental increases, but a small subset of our lease portfolio has variable lease payments that are driven by the consumer price index. Many of our tenants have renewal options in their respective leases, but we seldom include option periods in the determination of lease term as we generally will not enter into leasing arrangements with bargain renewal options. A small number of tenants have termination options.

Future minimum lease payments from tenants under non-cancelable leases, excluding tenant reimbursement of expenses and excluding real estate held for sale as of December 31, 2018 , for each of the five succeeding fiscal years and thereafter is as follows (dollars in thousands):

 

 

In accordance with the lease terms, substantially all operating expenses are required to be paid by the tenant; however, we would be required to pay operating expenses on the respective properties in the event the tenants fail to pay them.

Total amortization expense related to in-place leases, leasing costs and customer relationship lease intangible assets was $ 5.0 million and $4.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively, and is included in depreciation and amortization expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Total amortization related to above-market lease values was $ 0.3 million and $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively, and is included in lease revenue in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. Total amortization related to below-market lease values was $ 0.6 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 , respectively, and is included in lease revenue in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

The weighted average amortization periods in years for the intangible assets acquired during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 were as follows:

 

5. Real Estate Dispositions, Held for Sale and Impairment Charges

Real Estate Dispositions

During the three months ended March 31, 2019 , we continued to execute our capital recycling program, whereby we sell properties outside of our core markets and redeploy proceeds to either fund property acquisitions in our target secondary growth markets, or repay outstanding debt. We expect to continue to execute our capital recycling plan and sell non-core properties as reasonable disposition opportunities become available. During the three months ended March 31, 2019 , we sold one non-core property, located in Maitland, Florida, which is detailed in the table below (dollars in thousands):

Our disposition during the three months ended March 31, 2019 was not classified as a discontinued operation because it did not represent a strategic shift in operations, nor will it have a major effect on our operations and financial results. Accordingly, the operating results of this property is included within continuing operations for all periods reported.

The table below summarizes the components of operating income from the real estate and related assets disposed of during the three months ended March 31, 2019 , and 2018 (dollars in thousands):

Real Estate Held for Sale

At March 31, 2019 , we did not have any properties classified as held for sale. At December 31, 2018 , we had one property classified as held for sale, located in Maitland, Florida. This property was sold during the three months ended March 31, 2019 .

The table below summarizes the components of the assets and liabilities held for sale reflected on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets (dollars in thousands):

 

Impairment Charges

We evaluated our portfolio for triggering events to determine if any of our held and used assets were impaired during the three months ended March 31, 2019 and did no t identify any held and used assets which were impaired.

We continue to evaluate our properties on a quarterly basis for changes that could create the need to record impairment. Future impairment losses may result, and could be significant, should market conditions deteriorate in the markets in which we hold our assets or we are unable to secure leases at terms that are favorable to us, which could impact the estimated cash flow of our properties over the period in which we plan to hold our properties. Additionally, changes in management’s decisions to either own and lease long-term or sell a particular asset will have an impact on this analysis.

We did not recognize an impairment charge during the three months ended March 31, 2018 . The property held for sale was reviewed through our held for sale carrying value analysis, during the three months ended March 31, 2018 , and we concluded that the fair market value less selling costs was greater than the carrying value of the property. We sold this property during the year ended December 31, 2018 .

6. Mortgage Notes Payable and Credit Facility

Our mortgage notes payable and Credit Facility as of March 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018 are summarized below (dollars in thousands):