Acquisitions, Dispositions, Assets Held for Sale and Impairment Acquisitions, Dispositions, Assets Held for Sale and Impairment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Acquisitions, Dispositions, Assets Held For Sale and Impairment [Text Block]

5. Acquisitions, Dispositions, Assets Held for Sale and Impairment

Acquisitions of Land. In May 2015, we acquired approximately 49.6 acres of land located in Phoenix, Arizona for approximately $36.3 million and in June 2015, we acquired approximately 2.7 acres of land located in Los Angeles, California for approximately $9.5 million. In October 2015, we acquired approximately 5.8 acres of land in Gaithersburg, Maryland for approximately $13.3 million.

In January 2014, we acquired approximately 2.9 acres of land located in Houston, Texas for approximately $15.6 million and in April 2014, we acquired approximately 7.6 acres of land in Rockville, Maryland for approximately $23.8 million.

Acquisition of Non-controlling Ownership Interest. In March 2015, we purchased the remaining 0.01% non-controlling interest in two fully consolidated joint ventures, which own an aggregate of 798 apartment homes located in College Park, Maryland and Irvine, California, for approximately $9.5 million. The acquisitions of the remaining ownership interests were recorded as equity transactions and, as a result, the carrying balances of the non-controlling interest were eliminated and the remaining difference between the purchase price and carrying balance was recorded as a reduction in additional paid-in capital. See Note 13, "Non-controlling Interests," for the effect of changes in ownership interests of these former joint ventures on the equity attributable to common shareholders.

Land Holding Dispositions and Impairment. In March 2015, we sold a land holding adjacent to an operating property in Dallas, Texas for approximately $0.4 million and recognized a gain of approximately $0.1 million.

In July 2014, we sold approximately 2.4 acres of land adjacent to an operating property in Dallas, Texas for approximately $0.8 million. We recognized a $1.2 million impairment charge related to this land parcel in June 2014, which represented the difference between the land holding's carrying value and the fair value based upon the sales contract on this land parcel. In August 2014, we sold approximately 19.2 acres of land adjacent to an operating property in Houston, Texas for approximately $8.3 million and recognized a gain of approximately $1.8 million. During the nine months ended September 30, 2014, we also sold approximately 7.7 acres of land adjacent to current development and operating communities located in Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas for approximately $14.6 million and recognized a gain of approximately $1.8 million related to these land sales.

Sales of Operating Properties. In January 2015, we sold two operating properties, which were included in properties held for sale at December 31, 2014, comprised of 1,116 apartment homes located in Tampa, Florida and Austin, Texas for approximately $114.4 million and we recognized a gain of approximately $85.1 million relating to these property sales.

Operating Property Held for Sale. In October 2015, we sold one operating property, which was included in properties held for sale at September 30, 2015, comprised of 260 apartment homes located in Brandon, Florida for approximately $33.0 million.