Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Schedule of Assets and Liabilities Measured at Fair Value on a Recurring Basis

The table below presents the Company’s assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2016, aggregated by the level in the fair value hierarchy within which those measurements fall.



				Fair Value Measurements at Reporting Date Using
Description	December 31, 2016			Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)			Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
Other assets - Cash Flow Hedge Swap Agreements	$	23,844		$	—	$	23,844		$	—
Other liabilities - Cash Flow Hedge Swap Agreements	$	(2,447	)	$	—	$	(2,447	)	$	—

Schedule of Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The fair values of the Company’s fixed-rate assets and liabilities were as follows for the periods indicated:



	December 31, 2016				December 31, 2015
	Fair Value		Carrying Value		Fair Value		Carrying Value
Notes receivable from Preferred Operating Partnership unit holders	$	125,642	$	120,230	$	128,216	$	120,230
Fixed rate notes receivable	$	53,450	$	52,201	$	86,814	$	84,331
Fixed rate notes payable and notes payable to trusts	$	2,404,996	$	2,417,558	$	1,828,486	$	1,806,904
Exchangeable senior notes	$	706,827	$	638,170	$	770,523	$	660,364

Schedule of Antidilutive Shares Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share

The following table presents the number of weighted OP Units and Preferred Operating Partnership units, and the potential common shares, that were excluded from the computation of earnings per share as their effect would have been anti-dilutive:



	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2016		2015		2014
	Number of Units	Equivalent Shares (if converted)	Number of Units	Equivalent Shares (if converted)	Number of Units	Equivalent Shares (if converted)
Common OP Units	5,564,631	5,564,631	—	—	—	—
Series A Units (Variable Only)	875,480	875,480	—	—	—	—
Series B Units	1,676,087	499,966	1,676,087	579,640	1,592,062	764,385
Series C Units	704,016	353,646	704,016	410,002	605,256	489,366
Series D Units	1,853,193	552,796	548,390	189,649	13,522	6,492
	10,673,407	7,846,519	2,928,493	1,179,291	2,210,840	1,260,243

Schedule of Computation of Earnings Per Common Share

The computation of earnings per share is as follows for the periods presented:



	For the Year Ended December 31,
	2016			2015			2014
Net income attributable to common stockholders	$	366,127		$	189,474		$	178,355
Earnings and dividends allocated to participating securities	(792		)	(601		)	(490		)
Earnings for basic computations	365,335			188,873			177,865
Earnings and dividends allocated to participating securities	792			—			—
Income allocated to noncontrolling interest - Preferred Operating Partnership (Series A Units) and Operating Partnership	—			14,790			13,575
Fixed component of income allocated to noncontrolling interest - Preferred Operating Partnership (Series A Units)	—			(5,088		)	(5,586		)
Net income for diluted computations	$	366,127		$	198,575		$	185,854
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
Average number of common shares outstanding - basic	125,087,554			119,816,743			115,713,807
OP Units	—			5,451,357			4,335,837
Series A Units	—			875,480			961,747
Unvested restricted stock awards included for treasury stock method	299,585			—			—
Shares related to exchangeable senior notes and dilutive stock options	560,937			775,289			423,876
Average number of common shares outstanding - diluted	125,948,076			126,918,869			121,435,267
Earnings per common share
Basic	$	2.92		$	1.58		$	1.54
Diluted	$	2.91		$	1.56		$	1.53