Real Estate Investments (Narrative) (Details) $ in Thousands	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($) land_parcel property	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($) land_parcel property
2015 Acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of properties acquired | property	14
Development projects in progress	9
Cash paid for acquired real estate investments | $	$ 10,207
2014 Acquisitions, Excluding Cole Merger, ARCT IV Merger And CCPT Merger [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Number of properties acquired | property		1,092
Development projects in progress		28
Cash paid for acquired real estate investments | $		$ 3,818,822