Mergers with Real Estate Businesses - Cole Real Estate Investments, Inc. Merger Narrative (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands			3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Aug. 10, 2016	Feb. 07, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2014		Dec. 31, 2015
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill			$ 1,894,794	$ 1,462,203	$ 1,894,794		$ 1,656,374
REI Segment [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill		$ 1,700,000	1,509,396	1,337,391	1,509,396		1,410,631
Cole Capital Segment [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill			385,398	$ 124,812	385,398		$ 245,743
Cole Real Estate Investments, Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash paid for acquired real estate investments		181,775
Consideration transferred		7,467,643
Decreased fair value of contracts			(80,400)
Decreased deferred tax liability			(30,700)
Increase in goodwill			$ 49,600
Estimated fair value of assets		8,963,883
Estimated fair value of liabilities		212,433
Goodwill		2,262,547
Revenue related to merger					814,800
Net income related to merger					$ 47,300
Cole Real Estate Investments, Inc. [Member] | Cole Capital Segment [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Goodwill		$ 608,500
Common Stock [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Shares issued (shares)	69,000,000			69,000,000	662,305,318	[1]
Common Stock [Member] | Cole Real Estate Investments, Inc. [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Conversion rate (shares)		1.0929
Consideration transferred, amount per share (in dollars per share)		$ 13.82
Percentage of outstanding shares elected to receive stock consideration		98.00%
Percentage of outstanding shares elected to receive cash consideration		2.00%
Equity interest issued or issuable (shares)		520,800,000
Cash paid for acquired real estate investments		$ 181,800
Common Stock [Member] | Cole Real Estate Investments, Inc. [Member] | Executive Officer [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Equity interest issued or issuable (shares)		400,000
Shares issued (shares)		2,800,000

[1] Includes $2.2 million issued to affiliates of the Former Manager (as defined in Note 1 – Organization) for the year ended December 31, 2014. No such amounts were issued to affiliates of the Former Manager during the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015.