Impairment Charges

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Asset Impairment Charges [Abstract]

Impairment Charges

Impairment Charges

A Company must assess the potential for impairment of its long-lived assets, including real estate properties, whenever events occur or there is a change in circumstances, such as the sale of a property or the decision to sell a property, that indicate that the recorded value might not be fully recoverable. An asset is impaired when undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by the asset are less than the carrying value of the asset.

The Company recorded impairment charges on properties sold or classified as held for sale, which are included in discontinued operations, for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010 totaling $14.9 million, $6.7 million and $6.3 million, respectively. Both level 1 and level 3 fair value techniques were used to derive these impairment charges.

•During 2012, the Company recorded impairment charges totaling approximately $11.1 million on twelve properties that the Company sold during 2012 and $3.8 million on a property classified as held for sale.

•During 2011, the Company recorded impairment charges totaling approximately $4.7 million on four properties that the Company decided to sell during the year, approximately $1.7 million on two properties sold in 2011, and $0.3 million on a property classified as held for sale.

•During 2010, the Company recorded impairment charges totaling approximately $1.0 million related to one property sold during 2010 and $5.3 million related to four properties classified as held for sale.

An impairment charge totaling $1.3 million was also included in continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2010 related to a property that was classified as held for sale as of December 31, 2010 but was subsequently reclassified to held for use in 2011 upon execution of a lease on the property.