Derivative Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Derivative Financial Instruments [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

Derivative Financial Instruments

Risk Management Objective of Using Derivatives

The Company is exposed to certain risks arising from both its business operations and economic conditions. The Company principally manages its exposures to a wide variety of business and operational risks through management of its core business activities. The Company manages economic risks, including interest rate, liquidity, and credit risk primarily by managing the amount, sources, and duration of its debt funding and the use of derivative financial instruments. Specifically, the Company enters into derivative financial instruments to manage exposures that arise from business activities that result in the receipt or future payment of known and uncertain cash amounts, the amount of which are determined by interest rates. The Company's derivative financial instruments are used to manage differences in the amount, timing, and duration of the Company's known or expected cash payments principally related to the Company's borrowings.

Cash Flow Hedges of Interest Rate Risk

The Company's objectives in using interest rate derivatives are to add stability to interest expense and to manage its exposure to interest rate movements. To accomplish this objective, the Company primarily uses interest rate swaps as part of its interest rate risk management strategy. Interest rate swaps designated as cash flow hedges involve the receipt of variable-rate amounts from a counterparty in exchange for the Company making fixed-rate payments over the life of the agreements without exchange of the underlying notional amount.

The effective portion of changes in the fair value of derivatives designated and qualifying as cash flow hedges is recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss and subsequently reclassified into earnings in the period that the hedged forecasted transaction affects earnings. Such derivatives are used to hedge the variable cash flows associated with forecasted issuances of debt (see “Objectives and Strategies” below for further discussion). The ineffective portion of the change in fair value of the derivatives is recognized directly in earnings as a gain or loss on derivative instruments. During the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009, the Company recognized a loss of approximately $54,000, a gain of $1.4 million, and a loss of $3.3 million, respectively, for changes in hedge ineffectiveness attributable to revised inputs used in the valuation models to estimate effectiveness.

On September 29, 2011, the Company entered into the following interest rate swap transaction (in thousands):

Effective Date		Notional Amount	Bank Pays Variable Rate of	Regency Pays Fixed Rate of
October 1, 2011	$	9,000	1 Month LIBOR	0.76	%

This interest rate swap is designated as a cash flow hedge and thus, qualifies for the accounting treatment discussed above.

On October 7, 2010, the Company paid $36.7 million to settle the remaining $140.7 million of interest rate swaps then outstanding. On October 7, 2010, the Company closed on $250.0 million of 4.80% ten-year senior unsecured notes. The Company began amortizing the $36.7 million loss realized from the swap settlement in October 2010 over a ten year period; therefore, the effective interest rate on these notes was 6.26%.

On June 1, 2010, the Company paid $26.8 million to settle and partially settle $150.0 million of its interest rate swaps then outstanding of $290.7 million. On June 2, 2010 the Company also closed on $150.0 million of ten-year senior unsecured notes with an interest rate of 6.00%. The Company began amortizing the $26.8 million loss realized from the swap settlement in June 2010 over a ten year period; therefore, the effective interest rate on these notes was 7.67%.

Realized gains and losses associated with the settled interest rate swaps have been included in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Equity and Comprehensive Income (Loss) of the Parent Company and the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Capital and Comprehensive Income (Loss) of the Operating Partnership and are amortized as the corresponding hedged interest payments are made in future periods.

The following table represents the effect of the derivative financial instruments on the accompanying consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009 (in thousands):

Derivatives in FASB ASC Topic 815 Cash Flow Hedging Relationships:	Amount of Gain (Loss) Recognized in OCI on Derivative (Effective Portion)					Location of Gain (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion)	Amount of Gain (Loss) Reclassified from Accumulated OCI into Income (Effective Portion)							Location of Gain or (Loss) Recognized in Income on  Derivative (Ineffective Portion and Amount Excluded from Effectiveness Testing)	Amount of Gain or (Loss) Recognized in Income on Derivative (Ineffective Portion and Amount Excluded from Effectiveness Testing)
	December 31,						December 31,								December 31,
	2011		2010		2009		2011			2010		2009			2011			2010	2009
Interest rate products	$	18	(36,556	)	38,645	Interest expense	$	(9,467	)	(5,575	)	(2,305	)	Gain (loss) on derivative instruments	$	(54	)	1,419	(3,294	)

The unamortized balance of the settled interest rate swaps at December 31, 2011 and 2010 was $72.0 million and $81.5 million, respectively, of which the Company expects to amortize $9.5 million during 2012.

The following table represents the fair value of the Company’s derivative financial instruments as well as their classification on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2011 and 2010 (in thousands):

Liability Derivatives
As of December 31, 2011			As of December 31, 2010
Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value		Balance Sheet Location	Fair Value
Derivative instruments	$	37	Derivative instruments	$	—

Non-designated Hedges

The Company does not use derivatives for trading or speculative purposes and currently does not have any derivatives that are not designated as hedges.

Objectives and Strategies

The Company continuously monitors the capital markets and evaluates its ability to issue new debt to repay maturing debt or fund its commitments. Based upon the current capital markets, the Company's current credit ratings, and the number of high quality, unencumbered properties that it owns which could collateralize borrowings, the Company expects that it will successfully issue new secured or unsecured debt to fund its obligations.