Land held for divestiture (Details Textuals) (USD $)	11 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		11 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Jan. 31, 2013	Jan. 31, 2012 project	Dec. 31, 2013 North Carolina land parcel [Member] acre	Jan. 31, 2013 Central Station [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Central Station [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Mesa del Sol [Member] acre
Land held for divestiture [Line Items]
Number of land developments projects			2
Impairment of land held for divestiture	$ 0	$ 15,796,000	$ 115,654,000
Carrying value of land held for divestiture	1,934,000	2,706,000
Area of land parcel sold (in acres)				1,000
Estimated fair value of the underlying collateral				4,100,000
Bad debt expense	9,000,000	0	0	9,000,000
Bad debt expense, net of noncontrolling interest				8,300,000
Bad debt expense, after tax				4,980,000
Maximum estimated holding period for land held for divestiture		12 months
Impairment of investments in unconsolidated entities	0	40,406,000	41,902,000			17,000,000	15,000,000
Sale price of land					$ 29,525,000
Acres of land held for divestiture (in acres)							3,000