Investment in Unconsolidated Real Estate Joint Ventures (Narrative) (Details) (Details) (USD $)			9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park Combined [Member] SquareFeet		Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park [Member] Mezzanine Loan [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park [Member] Senior Loans [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park Warehouse [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Deer Park Warehouse [Member] Warehouse Mortgage [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 Houston [Member] SquareFeet	Sep. 30, 2011 Houston [Member] SquareFeet	Sep. 30, 2011 National Harbor [Member] SquareFeet	Sep. 30, 2011 RioCan Canda [Member] SquareFeet
Schedule of Equity Method Investments [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Debt Default, Amount						$ 15,000	$ 252,000,000		$ 2,300,000
Weighted Average Default Interest Rate on Debt					9.20%
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate Terms						LIBOR plus 5.0%	LIBOR plus 3.50%		LIBOR plus 1.85%
Payment on Senior Loan to be Paid Upon Closing of Debt Agreement							20,000,000
Tanger's Portion of Senior Loan Payment							6,670,000
Debt Instrument, Debt Default, Description of Notice of Default					May 17, 2011
Equity Method Investments	(9,400,000)	(6,400,000)	100,000	[1]	82,000					(4,000)	(4,000)		(1,300,000)
Joint Venture Formation Date										June 30, 2011		May 23, 2011
Number of Outlet Stores										90	90	80
Phase One Square Footage										350,000
Square Footage of Real Estate Property			683,033	[1]				29,253		470,000	0	350,000	0
Purchase Price of Land Acquired										5,600,000
Company Portion of Contributed Capital to the Joint Venture											$ 4,000,000		$ 1,360,000

[1] Includes a 29,253 square foot warehouse adjacent to the shopping center with a mortgage note of approximately $2.3 million.