Segment Information

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Segment Information [Abstract]

Segment Information

15. SEGMENT INFORMATION

Segment description

In accordance with ASC Topic 280, "Segment Reporting," the Company presents segment information based on the way that management organizes the segments within the enterprise for making operating decisions and assessing performance. The segment information is prepared on the same basis as the internally reported information used by the Company's chief operating decision makers to manage the business.

The Company's chief operating decision makers focus on the Company's primary sources of income from apartment community rental operations. Apartment community rental operations are generally broken down into segments based on the various stages in the apartment community ownership lifecycle. These segments are described below. All commercial properties and other ancillary service and support operations are combined in the line item "other property segments" in the accompanying segment information. The segment information presented below reflects the segment categories based on the lifecycle status of each community as of January 1, 2010.

• Fully stabilized communities – those apartment communities which have been stabilized (the earlier of the point at which a property reaches 95% occupancy or one year after completion of construction) for both the current and prior year.

• Communities stabilized during the prior year – those apartment communities which reached stabilized occupancy in 2010.

• Development and lease-up communities – those apartment communities that are under development, rehabilitation and lease-up but were not stabilized by the beginning of the current year, including communities that stabilized during the current year.

• Acquired communities – those communities acquired in the current or prior year.

• Condominium conversion and other communities – those portions of existing apartment communities converted into condominiums that are reflected in continuing operations under ASC Topic 360.

Segment performance measure

Management uses contribution to consolidated property net operating income ("NOI") as the performance measure for its operating segments. The Company uses NOI, including NOI of stabilized communities, as an operating measure. NOI is defined as rental and other property revenue from real estate operations less total property and maintenance expenses from real estate operations (excluding depreciation and amortization). The Company believes that NOI is an important supplemental measure of operating performance for a REIT's operating real estate because it provides a measure of the core operations, rather than factoring in depreciation and amortization, financing costs and general and administrative expenses generally incurred at the corporate level. This measure is particularly useful, in the opinion of the Company, in evaluating the performance of operating segment groupings and individual properties. Additionally, the Company believes that NOI, as defined, is a widely accepted measure of comparative operating performance in the real estate investment community. The Company believes that the line on the Company's consolidated statement of operations entitled "net income (loss)" is the most directly comparable GAAP measure to NOI.

Segment information

The following table reflects each segment's contribution to consolidated revenues and NOI together with a reconciliation of segment contribution to property NOI to consolidated net income (loss) in 2011, 2010 and 2009. Additionally, substantially all of the Company's assets relate to the Company's property rental operations. Asset cost, depreciation and amortization by segment are not presented because such information at the segment level is not reported internally.

	Year ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
Revenues
Fully stabilized communities	$	261,854		$	247,856		$	248,719
Communities stabilized during 2010		20,522			15,538			5,072
Acquired communities		117			-			-
Condominium conversion and other communities		-			-			131
Other property segments		21,905			20,749			21,329
Other		918			995			1,072
Consolidated revenues	$	305,316		$	285,138		$	276,323
Contribution to Property Net Operating Income
Fully stabilized communities	$	159,545		$	146,172		$	145,487
Communities stabilized during 2010		11,955			7,595			438
Acquired communities		70			-			-
Condominium conversion and other communities		-			-			73
Other property segments, including corporate management expenses		418			(1,002	)		(2,405	)
Consolidated property net operating income		171,988			152,765			143,593
Interest income		1,021			841			245
Other revenues		918			995			1,072
Depreciation		(75,263	)		(74,497	)		(74,442	)
Interest expense		(56,791	)		(54,613	)		(52,377	)
Amortization of deferred financing costs		(2,797	)		(2,987	)		(3,079	)
General and administrative		(16,100	)		(16,443	)		(16,296	)
Investment and development		(1,161	)		(2,415	)		(4,114	)
Other investment costs		(1,435	)		(2,417	)		(2,107	)
Impairment, severance and other costs		-			(35,091	)		(13,507	)
Gains on condominium sales activities, net		10,514			6,161			3,481
Equity in income (loss) of unconsolidated real estate entities, net		1,001			18,739			(74,447	)
Other income (expense), net		619			(874	)		(432	)
Net gain (loss) on extinguishment of indebtedness		(6,919	)		2,845			(3,317	)
Income (loss) from continuing operations		25,595			(6,991	)		(95,727	)
Income from discontinued operations		-			-			84,238
Net income (loss)	$	25,595		$	(6,991	)	$	(11,489	)