Subsequent Events (Details) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2012 Shopping_centers	Mar. 31, 2011 Store	Sep. 30, 2011 Store	Dec. 31, 2011 Shopping_centers
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Debt instrument description of variable rate basis				LIBOR plus
Debt instrument basis spread on variable rate				1.65%
Maturity date		Apr. 01, 2018
Unsecured term loan	$ 250,000,000
Subsequent Events (Textual) [Abstract]
Number of shopping centers	46	2	3	6
Value of shopping centers	1,400,000,000
Debt to be assumed	640,000,000
Anticipated new financings	305,000,000
DDR ownership interest	5.00%			50.00%
Amount invested in preferred equity	150,000,000
Ownership interest of joint venture partner	95.00%
Preferred stock dividend rate	10.00%
Number of shares to be sold under forward sale agreements	18,975,000
Forward sale agreements to sell common stock price per share	$ 12.95
Period for settling forward sale agreements	on or about June 29, 2012
Interest rate swaps [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Notional Amount of Interest Rate Derivatives	200,000,000			284,100,000
Fix interest rate, swaps	3.64%
Maturity Date 2019 [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Debt instrument description of variable rate basis	LIBOR
Debt instrument basis spread on variable rate	2.10%
Maturity date	Jan. 31, 2019
Unsecured term loan	200,000,000
Maturity Date 2017 [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Debt instrument description of variable rate basis	LIBOR
Debt instrument basis spread on variable rate	1.70%
Maturity date	Jan. 31, 2017
Unsecured term loan	$ 50,000,000