Financial Instruments and Fair Value Measurements - Carrying Amount and Fair Value of Financial Instruments (Details) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Senior Notes held by special purpose entities	$ 177,366	$ 177,341
Carrying Value \| Level 1
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Pledged treasury securities	25,512	25,670
Carrying Value \| Level 3
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Retained interest investments	9,974	9,932
Investments held by special purpose entities	209,412	209,857
Senior Notes held by special purpose entities	177,366	177,341
Fair Value \| Level 1
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Pledged treasury securities	26,002	26,501
Fair Value \| Level 3
Fair Value, Balance Sheet Grouping, Financial Statement Captions [Line Items]
Retained interest investments	13,055	13,026
Investments held by special purpose entities	209,473	209,679
Senior Notes held by special purpose entities	$ 177,966	$ 177,940

Investments Held By Special Purpose Entities, Fair Value Disclosure

No definition available.

Name:	joe_InvestmentsHeldBySpecialPurposeEntitiesFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Senior Notes Held By Special Purpose Entity

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	joe_SeniorNotesHeldBySpecialPurposeEntity
Namespace Prefix:	joe_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueBalanceSheetGroupingFinancialStatementCaptionsLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Fair value portion of interest continued to be held by a transferor after transferring financial assets to a third party.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 10

-Section 15

-Paragraph 4

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=7502516&loc=d3e94415-111705

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetainedInterestFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Fair value of financial instrument held by the entity for its own account (proprietary securities) for trading or investment purposes that are carried at fair value and pledged to counterparties as collateral for financing transactions.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 30

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1A

-Subparagraph (b)(1)(i)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=34720971&loc=SL6224234-111729

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 860

-SubTopic 30

-Section 45

-Paragraph 1

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6467456&loc=d3e113888-111728

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SecurityOwnedAndPledgedAsCollateralFairValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementBasisAxis=us-gaap_CarryingReportedAmountFairValueDisclosureMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueByMeasurementBasisAxis=us-gaap_EstimateOfFairValueFairValueDisclosureMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: