Description Of Business And Basis Of Presentation

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2011

Description Of Business And Basis Of Presentation [Abstract]

Description Of Business And Basis Of Presentation

1. Description of Business and Basis of Presentation

Description of Business

     The St. Joe Company (the "Company") is a Florida-based real estate developer and manager. The Company owns approximately 573,000 acres of land concentrated primarily in Northwest Florida and has significant residential and commercial land-use entitlements in hand or in process. The majority of land not under development is used for the growing and selling of timber or is available for sale. The Company also owns various commercial, resort and club properties.

Basis of Presentation

     The accompanying unaudited interim financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") for reporting on Form 10-Q. Accordingly, certain information and footnotes required by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements are not included herein. The consolidated interim financial statements include the accounts of the Company and all of its majority-owned and controlled subsidiaries. All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. The December 31, 2010 balance sheet amounts have been derived from the Company's December 31, 2010 audited financial statements.

     The statements reflect all normal recurring adjustments that, in the opinion of management, are necessary for fair presentation of the information contained herein. The consolidated interim statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and notes thereto included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. The Company adheres to the same accounting policies in preparation of its interim financial statements. As permitted under generally accepted accounting principles, interim accounting for certain expenses, including income taxes, are based on full year assumptions. For interim financial reporting purposes, income taxes are recorded based upon estimated annual income tax rates.

     Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period's presentation.

Long-Lived Assets and Discontinued Operations

     The Company reviews its long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. Long-lived assets include the Company's investments in operating, development and investment property. Some of the events or changes in circumstances that are considered by the Company as indicators of potential impairment include:

• a prolonged decrease in the market price or demand for the Company's properties;

• a change in the expected use or development plans for the Company's properties;

• a current period operating or cash flow loss for an operating property; and,

• an accumulation of costs in a development property that significantly exceeds its historically low basis in property held long-term.

     Homes and homesites substantially completed and ready for sale are measured at the lower of carrying value or fair value less costs to sell. Homes and homesites ready for sale include properties that are actively marketed with an intent to sell such properties in the near term. Management identifies properties as being ready for sale when the intent is to sell such assets in the near term under current market conditions. Other properties for which management does not intend to sell in the near term under current market conditions are evaluated for impairment based on management's best estimate of the long-term use and eventual disposition of such property.

     For projects under development, an estimate of future cash flows on an undiscounted basis is performed using estimated future expenditures necessary to develop and maintain the existing project and using management's best estimates about future sales prices and holding periods. The projection of undiscounted cash flows requires that management develop various assumptions including:

• the projected pace of sales of homesites based on estimated market conditions and the Company's development plans;

• projected price appreciation over time, which can range from 0% to 7% annually;

• the amount and trajectory of price appreciation over the estimated selling period;

• the length of the estimated development and selling periods, which can range from 5 years to 17 years depending on the size of the development and the number of phases to be developed;

• the amount of remaining development costs and holding costs to be incurred over the selling period;

• in situations where development plans are subject to change, the amount of entitled land subject to bulk land sales or alternative use and the estimated selling prices of such property;

• for commercial development property, future pricing is based on sales of comparable property in similar markets; and

• assumptions regarding the intent and ability to hold individual investments in real estate over projected periods and related assumptions regarding available liquidity to fund continued development.

     For operating properties, an estimate of undiscounted cash flows requires management to make similar assumptions about the use and eventual disposition of such properties. Some of the significant assumptions that are used to develop the undiscounted cash flows include:

• for investments in hotel and rental condominium units, average occupancy and room rates, revenues from food and beverage and other amenity operations, operating expenses and capital expenditures, and the amount of proceeds to be realized upon eventual disposition of such properties as condo-hotels or condominiums, based on current prices for similar units appreciated to the expected sale date;

• for investments in commercial or retail property, future occupancy and rental rates and the amount of proceeds to be realized upon eventual disposition of such property at a terminal capitalization rate; and,

• for investments in golf courses, future rounds and greens fees, operating expenses and capital expenditures, and the amount of proceeds to be realized upon eventual disposition of such properties at a multiple of terminal year cash flows.

     The results of impairment analyses for development and operating properties are particularly dependent on the estimated holding and selling period for each asset group, which can be up to 35 years for certain properties with long range development plans. The estimated holding period is based on management's current intent for the use and disposition of each property, which could be subject to change in future periods if the strategic direction of the Company were to change. The Company's new management is in the process of evaluating the strategic direction of certain of its existing properties. If the excess of undiscounted cash flows over the carrying value of a property is small, there is a greater risk of future impairment in the event of such changes and any resulting impairment charges could be material.

     Excluding any properties that have been written down to fair value, at December 31, 2010 the Company had one development property with a carrying value of approximately $23 million whose current undiscounted cash flow is approximately 110% of its carrying value.

     In the event that projected future undiscounted cash flows are not adequate to recover the carrying value of a property, impairment is indicated and the Company would be required under generally accepted accounting principles to write down the asset to its fair value. Fair value of a property may be derived either from discounting projected cash flows at an appropriate discount rate, through appraisals of the underlying property, or a combination thereof.

     The Company classifies the assets and liabilities of a long-lived asset as held-for-sale when management approves and commits to a formal plan of sale and it is probable that a sale will be completed. The carrying value of the assets held-for-sale are then recorded at the lower of their carrying value or fair market value less costs to sell. The operations and gains on sales reported in discontinued operations include operating properties sold during the year and assets classified as held-for-sale for which operations and cash flows can be clearly distinguished and for which the Company will not have continuing involvement or significant cash flows after disposition. The operations from these assets have been eliminated from ongoing operations. Prior periods have been reclassified to reflect the operations of these assets as discontinued operations. The operations and gains on sales of operating assets for which the Company has continuing involvement or significant cash flows are reported as income from continuing operations.

Timber Deed

     Timber deed sales are agreements in which the buyer agrees to purchase and harvest specified timber (i.e. mature pulpwood and/or sawlogs) on a tract of land over the term of the contract. Unlike a pay-as-cut sales contract, risk of loss and title to the trees transfer to the buyer when the contract is signed. The buyer pays the full purchase price when the contract is signed and the Company does not have any additional performance obligations. Under a timber deed, the buyer or some other third party is responsible for all logging and hauling costs, if any, and the timing of such activity. Revenue from a timber deed sale is recognized when the contract is signed because the earnings process is complete.

     On March 31, 2011, the Company entered into a $55.9 million agreement with an investment fund for the sale of a timber deed which gives the investment fund the right to harvest timber on specific tracts of land (encompassing 40,975 acres) over a maximum term of 20 years. As part of the agreement, the Company also entered into a Thinnings Supply Agreement, pursuant to which we agreed, to the extent that the buyer decided to conduct "First Thinnings", to purchase 85% of such first thinnings at fair market value. During the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2011, we purchased approximately $0.1 million and $0.7 million, respectively, of first thinnings. During the first nine months of 2011, the Company recognized revenue of $54.5 million related to the timber deed and an additional $1.4 million was recorded as an imputed land lease to be recognized over the life of the timber deed.

New Accounting Standards

     In January 2010, the FASB issued ASU No. 2010-06, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures (Topic 820): Improving Disclosures about Fair Value Measurements ("ASU 2010-06"). ASU 2010-06 requires some new disclosures and clarifies some existing disclosure requirements about fair value measurement as set forth in Codification Subtopic 820-10. ASU 2010-06 amends Codification Subtopic 820-10 to now require (1) a reporting entity to disclose separately the amounts of significant transfers in and out of Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements and describe the reasons for the transfers; (2) in the reconciliation for fair value measurements using significant unobservable inputs, a reporting entity should present separately information about purchases, sales, issuances, and settlements; and (3) a reporting entity should provide disclosures about the valuation techniques and inputs used to measure fair value for both recurring and nonrecurring fair value measurements. ASU 2010-06 is effective for interim and annual reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2009, except for the disclosures about purchases, sales, issuances, and settlements in the roll forward of activity in Level 3 fair value measurements.

     Those disclosures are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2010, and for interim periods within those fiscal years. The adoption of ASU No. 2010-06 did not have a material impact on the Company's financial position or results of operations.

     In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-05, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income ("ASU 2011-05"). ASU 2011-05 requires comprehensive income to be reported in either a single statement that presents the components of net income, the components of other comprehensive income, and total comprehensive income or in two consecutive statements. The first statement should present total net income and its components followed consecutively by a second statement that should present total other comprehensive income, the components of other comprehensive income, and the total of comprehensive income. ASU 2011-05 eliminates the option to present components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholders' equity. ASU 2011-05 is effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2011.