Equity Investment in Real Estate and the Managed REITs (Details 5) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Sep. 30, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Investments in REITs
Equity investments in real estate	$ 218,103	$ 530,020
Third Party \| Beach House JV, LLC
Investments in REITs
Equity investments in real estate	15,105	0
CPA: 16 - Global
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%	18.533%
Equity investments in real estate	0	282,520
CPA: 17 - Global
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	2.482%	1.91%
Equity investments in real estate	74,768	57,753
Real Estate Investments
Investments in REITs
Equity investments in real estate	131,589	185,036
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| Schuler A.G.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	65,798
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| Advanced Micro Devices
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	22,392
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| The Upper Deck Company
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	7,518
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| Del Monte Corporation
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	7,145
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| Builders FirstSource, Inc.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	4,968
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| PetSmart, Inc.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	3,877
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| Consolidated Systems, Inc.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	3,176
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global \| SaarOTEC
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	100.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	(639)
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 17 - Global \| C1000 Logestiek Vastgoed B.V.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	15.00%
Equity investments in real estate	12,278	13,673
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 17 - Global \| Waldaschaff Automotive GmbH and Wagon Automotive Nagold GmbH
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	33.00%
Equity investments in real estate	7,090	7,267
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 17 - Global \| Wanbishi Archives Co. Ltd.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	3.00%
Equity investments in real estate	367	395
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 17 - Global \| Frontier Spinning Mills, Inc.
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	40.00%
Equity investments in real estate	15,578	0
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 17 - Global \| Actebis Peacock GmbH
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	30.00%
Equity investments in real estate	6,467	0
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global/CPA: 17 - Global \| Hellweg Die Profi-Baumarkte GmbH & Co. K.G
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	63.00%
Equity investments in real estate	0	27,923
Real Estate Investments \| CPA: 16 - Global/CPA: 17 - Global \| The New York Times Company
Investments in REITs
Equity method investment, ownership percentage	45.00%
Equity investments in real estate	$ 74,704	$ 21,543