Employee Benefit and Incentive Plans (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)				6 Months Ended									3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012 2011 Plan	Jun. 30, 2012 Restricted Class A Common Stock Plans		Jun. 30, 2011 Restricted Class A Common Stock Plans	Dec. 31, 2011 Restricted Class A Common Stock Plans	Dec. 31, 2010 Restricted Class A Common Stock Plans	Jun. 30, 2012 2007 Plan	Jun. 30, 2012 Chief Executive Officer	Jun. 30, 2012 Chief Financial Officer	Jun. 30, 2012 Chief Credit Officer	Mar. 31, 2011 Named Executive Officers March 2011 Restructuring 2007 Plan	Mar. 31, 2011 Other Officers and Employees March 2011 Restructuring 2007 Plan	Jun. 30, 2012 CT Opportunity Partners I, LP	Jan. 31, 2011 CT Opportunity Partners I, LP	Jun. 30, 2012 CT Legacy REIT, Excluding Securitization Vehicles	Jun. 30, 2012 CT Legacy REIT, Excluding Securitization Vehicles March 2011 Restructuring
Maximum number of shares may be issued			1,000,000
Retsricted stock granted													300,000	100,000
2011 Long-Term Incentive Plan, shares available			633,000
Unamortized value of unvested share-based compensations shares				$ 1,200,000
Unvested share-based compensation, shares	1,194,655		91,315	536,536	[1]	244,424	244,424	32,785	1,034,796
Vesting rights				Subject to vesting conditions and the continued employment of certain employees, $934,000 of these costs will be recognized as compensation expense during the second half of 2012 and the remainder will be recognized over the next two years.
Compensation expense during the second half of 2012				934,000
Grant date fair value of restricted shares that vested				184,000		231,000
Percentage of incentive management fee pool for employees																45.00%
Percentage of granted incentive compensation to employees															92.50%		83.50%
Percentage of grants vesting schedule																	90.00%
Percentage of grants vesting upon receipt of dividends																	10.00%
Description of incentive management fee grants to employees vesting schedule															(i) one-third vests on the date of grant, (ii) one-third vests upon the expiration of the investment period of CTOPI, currently September 2012, and (iii) the remainder vests upon our receipt of incentive management fees from CTOPI		(i) 25% vests on the date of grant, (ii) 25% vests in March 2013, (iii) 25% vests in March 2014, and (iv) the remainder vests upon our receipt of dividends from CT Legacy REIT. The remaining 10% of these grants vest upon our receipt of dividends from CT Legacy REIT
Percentage of the dividends paid to common equity holders created employee pool																		6.75%
Contigent awards, restricted stock										125,000	100,000	50,000
Contigent awards, cash bonuses										$ 500,000	$ 400,000	$ 100,000

[1] Includes (i) 275,000 performance based awards that contingently vest upon the attainment of certain specified performance measures, and (ii) 250,000 time based awards that vest based upon an employee's continued employment on pre-established vesting dates.