Note 2 - Impairments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

2. Impairments:

Management assesses on a continuous basis whether there are any indicators, including property operating performance and general market conditions, that the value of the Company’s assets (including any related amortizable intangible assets or liabilities) may be impaired. To the extent impairment has occurred, the carrying value of the asset would be adjusted to an amount to reflect the estimated fair value of the asset.

Real estate market conditions, including capitalization rates, discount rates and vacancies continued to improve throughout 2011 and 2012; however, declines in certain real estate markets continued to have a negative effect on transactional activity as it related to dispositions of select real estate assets. This factor, in addition to the Company’s efforts to market certain assets and management’s assessment as to the likelihood and timing of such potential transactions caused the Company to recognize impairment charges for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010 as follows (in millions):

	2012			2011			2010
Impairment of property carrying values (including amounts within discontinued operations)	$	56.9		$	22.8		$	8.7
Real estate under development		-			-			11.7
Investments in other real estate investments		2.7			3.3			13.4
Marketable securities and other investments		-			1.6			5.3
Investments in real estate joint ventures		-			5.1			-
Total gross impairment charges		59.6			32.8			39.1
Noncontrolling interests		(0.4	)		0.7			(0.1	)
Income tax benefit		(10.6	)		(4.5	)		(7.6	)
Total net impairment charges	$	48.6		$	29.0		$	31.4

In addition to the impairment charges above, the Company recognized pretax impairment charges during 2012, 2011 and 2010 of $11.1 million, $14.1 million, and $28.3 million, respectively, relating to certain properties held by various unconsolidated joint ventures in which the Company holds noncontrolling interests. These impairment charges are included in Equity in income of joint ventures, net in the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income.

The Company will continue to assess the value of its assets on an on-going basis. Based on these assessments, the Company may determine that one or more of its assets may be impaired due to a decline in value and would therefore write-down its cost basis accordingly (see Footnotes 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12).