Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011
Non Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan [Abstract]
Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans [Text Block]	Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan The Company maintains a non-qualified deferred compensation plan (“NQDCP”). This plan allows select employees and directors to defer part or all of their salary, cash bonus, and restricted stock awards. Restricted stock awards that are designated to be deferred into the NQDCP upon vesting are classified as liabilities from the grant date through the vesting date. All contributions into the participants' accounts are fully vested upon contribution to the NQDCP and are deposited in a Rabbi trust. Effective June 20, 2011, the Company amended its NQDCP such that participant account balances held in the Regency common stock fund, including future deferrals of Regency common stock, must remain allocated to the Regency common stock fund and may only be distributed to the participant in the form of Regency common stock upon termination from the plan. Additionally, participant account balances allocated to various diversified mutual funds are prohibited from being allocated into the Regency common stock fund. The Company accounts for the NQDCP in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 710 and the restricted stock awards under Topic 718. The assets in the Rabbi trust remain subject to the claims of creditors of the Company and are not the property of the participant. The NQDCP allows participants to allocate their account balance among various investments, including several mutual funds and the Company's common stock. The assets of the Rabbi trust, exclusive of the shares of the Company's common stock, are classified as trading securities on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, and accordingly, realized and unrealized gains and losses are recognized within income from deferred compensation plan in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations. Investments in shares of the Company's common stock are included, at cost, as treasury stock in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets of the Parent Company and as a reduction of general partner capital in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets of the Operating Partnership. The participants' deferred compensation liability, exclusive of the shares of the Company's common stock after the June 20, 2011 amendment, is included within accounts payable and other liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets and was $20.2 million and $35.0 million at September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively. Increases or decreases in the deferred compensation liability, exclusive of amounts attributable to participant investments in the shares of the Company's common stock, are recorded as general and administrative expense within the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations. Changes in participant account balances related to the Regency common stock fund are recorded directly within stockholders' equity rather than general and administrative expense.

Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plan

The Company maintains a non-qualified deferred compensation plan (“NQDCP”). This plan allows select employees and directors to defer part or all of their salary, cash bonus, and restricted stock awards. Restricted stock awards that are designated to be deferred into the NQDCP upon vesting are classified as liabilities from the grant date through the vesting date. All contributions into the participants' accounts are fully vested upon contribution to the NQDCP and are deposited in a Rabbi trust. Effective June 20, 2011, the Company amended its NQDCP such that participant account balances held in the Regency common stock fund, including future deferrals of Regency common stock, must remain allocated to the Regency common stock fund and may only be distributed to the participant in the form of Regency common stock upon termination from the plan. Additionally, participant account balances allocated to various diversified mutual funds are prohibited from being allocated into the Regency common stock fund.

The Company accounts for the NQDCP in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 710 and the restricted stock awards under Topic 718. The assets in the Rabbi trust remain subject to the claims of creditors of the Company and are not the property of the participant. The NQDCP allows participants to allocate their account balance among various investments, including several mutual funds and the Company's common stock. The assets of the Rabbi trust, exclusive of the shares of the Company's common stock, are classified as trading securities on the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, and accordingly, realized and unrealized gains and losses are recognized within income from deferred compensation plan in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations. Investments in shares of the Company's common stock are included, at cost, as treasury stock in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets of the Parent Company and as a reduction of general partner capital in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets of the Operating Partnership. The participants' deferred compensation liability, exclusive of the shares of the Company's common stock after the June 20, 2011 amendment, is included within accounts payable and other liabilities in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets and was $20.2 million and $35.0 million at September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, respectively. Increases or decreases in the deferred compensation liability, exclusive of amounts attributable to participant investments in the shares of the Company's common stock, are recorded as general and administrative expense within the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations. Changes in participant account balances related to the Regency common stock fund are recorded directly within stockholders' equity rather than general and administrative expense.