Item 1. Business

Background

Kimco Realty Corporation, a Maryland corporation, is one of the nation's largest owners and operators of open-air shopping centers. The terms "Kimco," the "Company," "we," "our" and "us" each refer to Kimco Realty Corporation and our subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise. The Company is a self-administered real estate investment trust ("REIT") and has owned and operated open-air shopping centers for more than 50 years. The Company has not engaged, nor does it expect to retain, any REIT advisors in connection with the operation of its properties. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had interests in 525 shopping center properties (the “Combined Shopping Center Portfolio”), aggregating 85.4 million square feet of gross leasable area (“GLA”), located in 34 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. In addition, the Company had 384 other property interests, primarily through the Company’s preferred equity investments and other real estate investments, totaling 6.3 million square feet of GLA. The Company’s ownership interests in real estate consist of its consolidated portfolio and portfolios where the Company owns an economic interest, such as properties in the Company’s investment real estate management programs, where the Company partners with institutional investors and also retains management.

The Company's executive offices are located at 3333 New Hyde Park Road, New Hyde Park, New York 11042-0020 and its telephone number is (516) 869-9000. Nearly all operating functions, including leasing, legal, construction, data processing, maintenance, finance and accounting are administered by the Company from its executive offices in New Hyde Park, New York and supported by the Company’s regional offices. As of December 31, 2016, a total of 551 persons were employed by the Company.

The Company’s Web site is located at http://www.kimcorealty.com. The information contained on our Web site does not constitute part of this Form 10-K. On the Company’s Web site you can obtain, free of charge, a copy of this Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as soon as reasonably practicable, after we file such material electronically with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

The Company began operations through its predecessor, The Kimco Corporation, which was organized in 1966 upon the contribution of several shopping center properties owned by its principal stockholders. In 1973, these principals formed the Company as a Delaware corporation, and, in 1985, the operations of The Kimco Corporation were merged into the Company. The Company completed its initial public stock offering (the "IPO") in November 1991, and, commencing with its taxable year which began January 1, 1992, elected to qualify as a REIT in accordance with Sections 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"). If, as the Company believes, it is organized and operates in such a manner so as to qualify and remain qualified as a REIT under the Code, the Company generally will not be subject to federal income tax, provided that distributions to its stockholders equal at least the amount of its REIT taxable income, as defined under the Code. In 1994, the Company reorganized as a Maryland corporation. In March 2006, the Company was added to the S & P 500 Index, an index containing the stock of 500 Large Cap companies, most of which are U.S. corporations. The Company's common stock, Class I Depositary Shares, Class J Depositary Shares and Class K Depositary Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the trading symbols “KIM”, “KIMprI”, “KIMprJ” and “KIMprK”, respectively.

The Company’s initial growth resulted primarily from real estate under development and the construction of shopping centers. Subsequently, the Company revised its growth strategy to focus on the acquisition of existing shopping centers and continued its expansion across the nation. The Company implemented its investment real estate management format through the establishment of various institutional joint venture programs, in which the Company has noncontrolling interests. The Company earns management fees, acquisition fees, disposition fees as well as promoted interests based on achieving certain performance metrics. The Company continued its geographic expansion with investments in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Peru; however, during 2013, based upon a perceived change in market conditions, the Company began its efforts to exit its investments in Mexico and South America. During 2015, the Company began its efforts to exit its investments in Canada. As of December 31, 2016, the Company had essentially sold all of its operating properties in Canada, substantially liquidated its investments in Mexico and had completely exited South America by liquidating its investments in Chile, Brazil and Peru. The Company’s revenues and equity in income (including gains on sales and impairment losses) from its foreign investments in U.S. dollar equivalents and their respective local currencies are as follows (in millions):

The Company maintains certain subsidiaries which made joint elections with the Company to be treated as taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”), which permit the Company to engage in certain business activities which the REIT may not conduct directly. These activities have included (i) ground-up real estate under development of open-air shopping centers and the subsequent sale thereof upon completion, (ii) retail real estate management and disposition services, which primarily focused on leasing and disposition strategies for real estate property interests of both healthy and distressed retailers and (iii) the Company’s investment in AB Acquisition, LLC, which consists of grocers Safeway, Albertsons, Vons and other banners (collectively “Albertsons”). A TRS is subject to federal and state income taxes on its income, and the Company includes a provision for taxes in its consolidated financial statements. Effective August 1, 2016, the Company merged Kimco Realty Services Inc. ("KRS"), a TRS, into a wholly-owned Limited Liability Company (“LLC”) of the Company (the “Merger”) and no longer operates KRS as a TRS. The Company analyzed the individual assets of KRS and determined that substantially all of KRS’s assets constitute real estate assets and investments that can be directly owned by the Company without adversely affecting the Company’s status as a REIT, including its investment in Albertsons. Any non-REIT qualifying assets or activities were transferred to a newly formed TRS.

In addition, the Company has capitalized on its established expertise in retail real estate by establishing other ventures in which the Company owns a smaller equity interest and provides management, leasing and operational support for those properties. The Company has also provided preferred equity capital in the past to real estate entrepreneurs and, from time to time, provides real estate capital and management services to both healthy and distressed retailers. The Company has also made selective investments in secondary market opportunities where a security or other investment is, in management’s judgment, priced below the value of the underlying assets, however these investments are subject to volatility within the equity and debt markets.

Operating and Investment Strategy

The Company’s strategy is to be the premier owner and operator of open-air shopping centers through investments primarily in the U.S. To achieve this strategy the Company is (i) continuing to transform the quality of its portfolio by disposing of lesser quality assets and acquiring larger higher quality properties in key markets identified by the Company, for which substantial progress has been achieved as of the end of 2016, (ii) simplifying its business by: (a) reducing the number of joint venture investments and (b) exiting Mexico, South America and Canada, for which the exit of South America has been completed, Mexico has been substantially completed and the Company essentially sold all operating properties in Canada, (iii) pursuing redevelopment opportunities within its portfolio to increase overall value and (iv) selectively acquiring land parcels in our key markets for real estate development projects for long-term investment. As part of the Company’s strategy each property is evaluated for its highest and best use, which may include residential and mixed-use components. In addition, the Company may consider other opportunistic investments related to retailer controlled real estate such as, repositioning underperforming retail locations, retail real estate financing and bankruptcy transaction support. The Company has an active capital recycling program which provides for the disposition of certain U.S. properties. If the Company accepts sales prices for any of these assets that are less than their net carrying values, the Company would be required to take impairment charges and such amounts could be material. In order to execute the Company’s strategy, the Company intends to continue to strengthen its balance sheet by pursuing deleveraging efforts over time, providing it the necessary flexibility to invest opportunistically and selectively, primarily focusing on U.S. open-air shopping centers.

The Company's investment objective is to increase cash flow, current income and, consequently, the value of its existing portfolio of properties and to seek continued growth in desirable demographic areas with successful retailers through (i) the retail re-tenanting, renovation and expansion of its existing centers and (ii) the selective acquisition of established income-producing real estate properties and properties requiring significant re-tenanting and redevelopment, primarily in open-air shopping centers in geographic regions in which the Company presently operates. The Company may consider investments in other real estate sectors and in geographic markets where it does not presently operate should suitable opportunities arise.

The Company's open-air shopping center properties are designed to attract local area customers and are typically anchored by a national or regional discount department store, grocery store or drugstore tenant offering day-to-day necessities rather than high-priced luxury items. The Company may either purchase or lease income-producing properties in the future and may also participate with other entities in property ownership through partnerships, joint ventures or similar types of co-ownership. Equity investments may be subject to existing mortgage financing and/or other indebtedness. Financing or other indebtedness may be incurred simultaneously or subsequently in connection with such investments. Any such financing or indebtedness would have priority over the Company’s equity interest in such property. The Company may make loans to joint ventures in which it may or may not participate.

The Company seeks to reduce its operating and leasing risks through diversification achieved by the geographic distribution of its properties and a large tenant base. As of December 31, 2016, no single open-air shopping center accounted for more than 1.9% of the Company's annualized base rental revenues, including the proportionate share of base rental revenues from properties in which the Company has less than a 100% economic interest, or more than 1.5% of the Company’s total shopping center GLA. At December 31, 2016, the Company’s five largest tenants were TJX Companies, The Home Depot, Ahold Delhaize, Bed Bath & Beyond and Albertsons which represented 3.4%, 2.4%, 2.1%, 2.0% and 1.8%, respectively, of the Company’s annualized base rental revenues, including the proportionate share of base rental revenues from properties in which the Company has less than a 100% economic interest.

As one of the original participants in the growth of the shopping center industry and one of the nation's largest owners and operators of open-air shopping centers, the Company has established close relationships with a large number of major national and regional retailers and maintains a broad network of industry contacts. Management is associated with and/or actively participates in many shopping center and REIT industry organizations. Notwithstanding these relationships, there are numerous regional and local commercial developers, real estate companies, financial institutions and other investors who compete with the Company for the acquisition of properties and other investment opportunities and in seeking tenants who will lease space in the Company’s properties.