Organization and Principles of Consolidation (Policies)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

New Accounting Pronouncements and Changes in Accounting Principles [Text Block]

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

The following table provides a brief description of recent accounting pronouncements and expected impact on our financial statements:

Standard	Description	Date of adoption	Effect on the financial statements or other significant matters
Recently adopted:
ASU 2015-02,February 2015, Consolidation (Topic 810): Amendments to the Consolidation Analysis	ASU 2015-02 affects reporting entities that are required to evaluate whether they should consolidate certain legal entities. ASU 2015-02 modifies the evaluation of whether limited partnerships and similar legal entities are VIEs or voting interest entities, eliminates the presumption that a general partner should consolidate a limited partnership, and affects the consolidation analysis of reporting entities that are involved with VIEs.	January 2016	The adoption of this standard resulted in five additional investment partnerships being considered variable interest entities due to the limited partners' lack of substantive participation in the partnerships. This did not result in any impact to the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheets, Statements of Operations, or Cash Flows, but did result in additional disclosures about its relationships with and exposure to variable interest entities.
ASU 2015-03, April 2015, Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs	ASU 2015-03 simplifies the presentation of debt issuance costs by requiring that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts.	January 2016	The adoption and implementation of this standard has resulted in the retrospective presentation of debt issuance costs associated with the Company's notes payable and term loans as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of the related debt instruments (previously, included in deferred costs in the consolidated balance sheets). Unamortized debt issuance costs of $7.8 million and $8.2 million have been reclassified to offset the related debt as of March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively.
ASU 2015-15, August 2015, Interest—Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Presentation and Subsequent Measurement of Debt Issuance Costs Associated with Line-of-Credit Arrangements	ASU 2015-15 clarifies that debt issuance costs related to line-of-credit arrangements may be deferred and presented as an asset, amortized over the term of the line-of-credit arrangement, regardless of whether there are any outstanding borrowings.	January 2016	The adoption of this standard resulted in debt issuance costs related to the Line of credit ("Line") to continue being presented as an asset in the Consolidated Balance Sheets, previously within deferred costs, and now presented within other assets.

Standard	Description	Date of adoption	Effect on the financial statements or other significant matters
Not yet adopted:
ASU 2014-15, August 2014, Presentation of Financial Statements—Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40): Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern	The standard requires management to evaluate whether there are conditions or events that raise substantial doubt about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern, and to provide certain disclosures when it is probable that the entity will be unable to meet its obligations as they become due within one year after the date that the financial statements are issued.	December 2016	The Company does not expect the adoption of this standard to have an impact on its Consolidated Balance Sheets, Statements of Operations, or Cash Flows but will result in more disclosure surrounding the Company's plans around significant debt maturities.
ASU 2016-09, March 2016, Compensation-Stock Compensation (Topic 718):Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting	This ASU affects entities that issue share-based payment awards to their employees. The ASU is designed to simplify several aspects of accounting for share-based payment award transactions including income tax consequences, classification of awards as either equity or liabilities, an option to recognize stock compensation forfeitures as they occur, and changes to classification on the statement of cash flows.	January 2017	We are currently evaluating the alternative methods of adoption and the impact it may have on the Company's financial statements and related disclosures.
ASU 2014-09, May 2014, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)	The standard will replace existing revenue recognition standards and significantly expand the disclosure requirements for revenue arrangements. It may be adopted either retrospectively or on a modified retrospective basis to new contracts and existing contracts with remaining performance obligations as of the effective date.	January 2018	The Company is currently evaluating the alternative methods of adoption and the impact it may have on its financial statements and related disclosures.
ASU 2016-01, January 2016, Financial Instruments—Overall (Subtopic 825-10): Recognition and Measurement of Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities	The standard amends the guidance to classify equity securities with readily-determinable fair values into different categories and requires equity securities to be measured at fair value with changes in the fair value recognized through net income. Equity investments accounted for under the equity method are not included in the scope of this amendment. Early adoption of this amendment is not permitted.	January 2018	The Company does not expect the adoption and implementation of this standard to have a material impact on its results of operations, financialcondition or cash flows.
ASU 2016-08, March 2016, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606): Principal versus Agent Considerations	The standard will replace existing revenue recognition standards and significantly expand the disclosure requirements for revenue arrangements. It may be adopted either retrospectively or on a modified retrospective basis to new contracts and existing contracts with remaining performance obligations as of the effective date.	January 2018	The Company is currently evaluating the alternative methods of adoption and the impact it may have on its financial statements and related disclosures.
ASU 2016-02, February 2016, Leases (Topic 842)	The standard amends the existing accounting standards for lease accounting, including requiring lessees to recognize most leases on their balance sheets. It also makes targeted changes to lessor accounting, including a change to the treatment of initial direct leasing costs, which no longer considers fixed internal leasing salaries as capitalizable costs. Early adoption of this standard is permitted to coincide with adoption of ASU 2014-09. The standard requires a modified retrospective transition approach for all leases existing at, or entered into after, the date of initial application, with an option to use certain transition relief.	January 2019	The Company is currently evaluating the alternative methods of adoption and the impact it will have on its financial statements and related disclosures.

Consolidation, Variable Interest Entity, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Real Estate Partnerships

Regency owns 115 properties through partnerships with institutional investors, other real estate developers and/or operators, and individual parties who help Regency source transactions for development and investment ("the Partners", "limited partners"). Regency has a variable interest in these entities through its equity interest. As managing member, Regency maintains the books and records and typically provides leasing and property management to the partnerships. The partners’ level of involvement varies from protective decisions (debt, bankruptcy, selling primary asset(s) of business) to involvement in approving leases, operating budgets, and capital budgets.

• Those partnerships for which the partners only have protective rights are considered VIEs under ASC 810, Consolidation. Regency is the primary beneficiary of these VIEs as Regency has power over these partnerships and they operate primarily for the benefit of Regency. As such, Regency consolidates these entities and reports the limited partners’ interest as noncontrolling interests.

The majority of the operations of the VIEs are funded with cash flows generated by the properties, or in the case of developments, with capital contributions or third party construction loans. Regency does not provide financial support to the VIEs.

The major classes of assets and liabilities held by these VIEs are as follows:

(in thousands)	March 31, 2016		December 31, 2015
Assets
Real estate assets, net	$	90,139	81,424
Cash and cash equivalents	9,670		790
Liabilities
Notes payable	17,635		17,948
Equity
Limited partners’ interests in consolidated partnerships	19,208		11,058

• Those partnerships for which the partners are involved in the day to day decisions and do not have any other aspects that would cause them to be considered VIEs, are evaluated for consolidation using the voting interest model.

◦ Those partnerships which Regency has a controlling financial interest are consolidated and the limited partners’ ownership interest and share of net income is recorded as noncontrolling interest.

◦ Those partnerships which Regency does not have a controlling financial interest are accounted for using the equity method and its ownership interest is recognized through single-line presentation as Investments in Real Estate Partnerships, in the Consolidated Balance Sheet, and Equity in Income of Investments in Real Estate Partnerships, in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

The assets of these partnerships are restricted to the use of the partnerships and cannot be used by general creditors of the Company. And similarly, the obligations of these partnerships can only be settled by the assets of these partnerships.

Consolidation, Policy [Policy Text Block]

Consolidation

The Company consolidates properties that are wholly owned or properties where it owns less than 100%, but which it controls. Control is determined using an evaluation based on accounting standards related to the consolidation of voting interest entities and variable interest entities ("VIEs"). For joint ventures that are determined to be a VIE, it consolidates the entity where it is deemed to be the primary beneficiary. Determination of the primary beneficiary is based on whether an entity has (1) the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the entity's economic performance, and (2) the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could potentially be significant to the VIE or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the VIE. The Company's determination of the primary beneficiary considers all relationships between it and the VIE, including management agreements and other contractual arrangements.

Ownership of the Operating Partnership

The Operating Partnership’s capital includes general and limited common Partnership Units. As of December 31, 2015, the Parent Company owned approximately 99.8% of the outstanding common Partnership Units of the Operating Partnership with the remaining limited Partnership Units held by third parties (“Exchangeable operating partnership units” or “EOP units”). The Parent Company serves as general partner of the Operating Partnership. The EOP unit holders have limited rights over the Operating Partnership such that they do not have characteristics of a controlling financial interest. As such, the Operating Partnership is considered a variable interest entity, and the Parent Company is the primary beneficiary which consolidates it. The Parent Company’s only investment is the Operating Partnership.