Organization Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc., a Maryland corporation (the "Company"), was formed on August 28, 2008 under the Maryland General Corporation Law and qualified as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") commencing with the year ended December 31, 2010. The Company was organized primarily with the purpose of acquiring single tenant properties that are essential to the tenants business and used a substantial amount of the net proceeds from the Public Offerings (as defined below) to invest in these properties. The Companys year end is December 31. Griffin Capital Company, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the "Sponsor"), has sponsored the Companys Public Offerings. The Sponsor, which was formerly known as Griffin Capital Corporation, began operations in 1995 to engage principally in acquiring and developing office and industrial properties. Kevin A. Shields, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company's board of directors, controls the Sponsor. Griffin Capital Essential Asset Advisor, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the "Advisor"), was formed on August 27, 2008. Griffin Capital Real Estate Company, LLC ("GRECO") is the sole member of the Advisor, and Griffin Capital, LLC is the sole member of GRECO. The Company has entered into an advisory agreement with the Advisor (as amended and restated, the "Advisory Agreement"), which states that the Advisor is responsible for managing the Companys affairs on a day-to-day basis and identifying and making acquisitions and investments on behalf of the Company. The officers of the Advisor are also officers of the Sponsor. The Advisory Agreement has a one -year term, and it may be renewed for an unlimited number of successive one -year periods by the Company's board of directors. The Companys property manager is Griffin Capital Essential Asset Property Management, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the Property Manager), which was formed on August 28, 2008 to manage the Companys properties. The Property Manager derives substantially all of its income from the property management services it performs for the Company. From 2009 to 2014, the Company offered shares of common stock pursuant to a private placement offering to accredited investors (the "Private Offering") and two public offerings, consisting of an initial public offering and a follow-on offering (together, the "Public Offerings"), which included shares for sale pursuant to the distribution reinvestment plan ("DRP"). The Company issued 126,592,885 total shares of its common stock for gross proceeds of approximately $1.3 billion pursuant to the Private Offering and Public Offerings. The Company also issued approximately 41,800,000 shares of its common stock upon the consummation of the merger of Signature Office REIT, Inc. in June 2015. On May 7, 2014, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for the registration of $75.0 million in shares for sale pursuant to the DRP (the 2014 DRP Offering). On September 22, 2015, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3 with the SEC for the registration of $100.0 million in shares for sale pursuant to the DRP (the 2015 DRP Offering). On June 9, 2017, the Company filed a Registration Statement on Form S-3 with the SEC for the registration of 10 million shares for sale pursuant to the DRP (the "2017 DRP Offering," and together with the 2014 DRP Offering and 2015 DRP Offering, the "DRP Offerings"). The 2017 DRP Offering may be terminated at any time upon 10 days prior written notice to stockholders, which may be provided through the Company's filings with the SEC. As of September 30, 2018 , the Company had issued 190,116,953 shares of common stock. The Company has received aggregate gross offering proceeds of approximately $1.5 billion from the sale of shares in the Private Offering, the Public Offerings, and the DRP Offerings. There were 166,253,534 shares outstanding at September 30, 2018 , including shares issued pursuant to the DRP, less shares redeemed pursuant to the share redemption program ("SRP"). As of September 30, 2018 and December 31, 2017 , the Company had issued approximately $245.6 million and $211.9 million , respectively, in shares pursuant to the DRP, which are classified on the consolidated balance sheets as common stock subject to redemption, net of redemptions paid of approximately $234.6 million , and redemptions payable totaling approximately $6.7 million and $20.4 million , respectively. Since inception and through September 30, 2018 , the Company had redeemed 23,863,419 shares of common stock for approximately $234.6 million pursuant to the SRP. Griffin Capital Essential Asset Operating Partnership, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (the "Operating Partnership"), was formed on August 29, 2008. The Operating Partnership owns, directly or indirectly, all of the properties that the Company has acquired. The Advisor purchased an initial 99% limited partnership interest in the Operating Partnership for $0.2 million, and the Company contributed the initial one thousand dollars capital contribution, received from the Advisor, to the Operating Partnership in exchange for a 1% general partner interest. As of September 30, 2018 , the Company owned approximately 96% of the limited partnership units of the Operating Partnership, and, as a result of the contribution of five properties to the Company, the Sponsor and certain of its affiliates, including certain officers of the Company, owned approximately 2% of the limited partnership units of the Operating Partnership. Approximately 2.1 million units are owned by the Companys Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Kevin A. Shields. The remaining approximately 2% of the limited partnership units are owned by unaffiliated third parties. No limited partnership units of the Operating Partnership have been redeemed during the nine months ended September 30, 2018 and the year ended December 31, 2017 . The Operating Partnership may conduct certain activities through the Companys taxable REIT subsidiary, Griffin Capital Essential Asset TRS, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "TRS"), formed on September 2, 2008, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Operating Partnership. The TRS had no activity as of September 30, 2018 .