| **Other Income (Expense)**               | 6 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
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| **Other Income and Expenses [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| Other Income (Expense)                   | Other Income (Expense)  Other income (expense) consists of the following:  Three Months Ended  June 30, Six Months Ended  June 30,  2016 2015 2016 2015Investment income, net        Net investment income from available-for-sale securities        Interest and dividend income $252 $2,130 $442 $4,389Accretion income 579 640 1,041 1,262Total net investment income from available-for-sale securities 831 2,770 1,483 5,651Interest income from investments in special purpose entities 2,050 2,003 4,101 4,005Interest accrued on notes receivable and other interest 78 665 105 995Total investment income, net 2,959 5,438 5,689 10,651Interest expense        Interest expense and amortization of discount and issuance costs for Senior Notes issued by special purpose entity (2,191) (2,189) (4,382) (4,377)Interest expense (954) (456) (1,798) (1,145)Total interest expense (3,145) (2,645) (6,180) (5,522)Claim settlement — — 12,548 —Other, net        Fees and expenses for the SEC investigation — (7,430) — (7,430)Accretion income from retained interest investments 243 227 484 438Hunting lease income 169 169 370 378Other income, net 189 21 196 178Other, net 601 (7,013) 1,050 (6,436)         Total other income (expense) $415 $(4,220)$13,107$(1,307)Investment income, net Interest and dividend income includes interest income accrued or received on the Company’s corporate debt securities and dividend income received from the Company’s preferred stock and other investments.  Accretion income includes the amortization of the premium or discount related to the Company’s available-for-sale securities, which is amortized based on an effective interest rate method over the term of the available-for-sale securities.      Interest income from investments in special purpose entities primarily includes interest accrued or received on the Timber Note, which is used to pay the interest expense for the Senior Notes issued by NFTF. Interest expenseInterest expense includes interest expense related to the Company’s CDD debt and the construction loan and Refinanced Loan in the Pier Park North joint venture.  Borrowing costs, including the discount and issuance costs for the Senior Notes issued by the special purpose entity, are amortized based on the effective interest method at an effective rate of 4.9%.  Claim settlementClaim settlement during the six months ended June 30, 2016 includes $12.5 million for a settlement related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  See Note 7, Claim Settlement Receivable for further discussion.Other, netDuring the three and six months ended June 30, 2015, the Company expensed a total of $7.4 million related to the SEC investigation, which was resolved in October 2015.  This amount was included in Other, net in the condensed consolidated statements of operations. The Company records the accretion of investment income from its retained interest investment over the life of the retained interest using the effective yield method with rates ranging from 3.7% to 11.3%.  Hunting lease income is recognized as income over the term of the lease. |

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| - References
No definition available.
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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for other income or other expense items (both operating and nonoperating). Sources of nonoperating income or nonoperating expense that may be disclosed, include amounts earned from dividends, interest on securities, profits (losses) on securities, net and miscellaneous other income or income deductions.
+ References
Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 225 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.3,6,7,9) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=63488584&loc=d3e20235-122688
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