Segment Reporting - Narratives (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($) segment	Mar. 31, 2016 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of reportable segments \| segment	2
Straight line rent adjustment	$ 3,500	$ 4,700
Impairment charges	4,519	$ 0
Written off \| KBR
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Impairment of intangible liabilities written off	$ 15,700

Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Intangible Liability

No definition available.

Name:	cpa17_DisposalGroupIncludingDiscontinuedOperationIntangibleLiability
Namespace Prefix:	cpa17_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The charge against earnings resulting from the write down of long lived assets other than goodwill due to the difference between the carrying value and lower fair value.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 360
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=64862545&loc=d3e2921-110230

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66902209&loc=d3e3602-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherAssetImpairmentCharges
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingInformationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of the adjustment to rental revenues to measure escalating leasing revenues on a straight line basis.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_StraightLineRentAdjustments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DisposalGroupClassificationAxis=us-gaap_DiscontinuedOperationsDisposedOfByMeansOtherThanSaleMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis=cpa17_KelloggBrownRootIncMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: