Commercial
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June 05, 2024
OKC Lawmakers Clear Height Limit For Planned Skyscraper
Oklahoma City lawmakers approved the rezoning of a local downtown area in order to get rid of a height limit for a mixed-use development project that's expected to include a 1,907-foot tall skyscraper, which would be the tallest skyscraper in the country.
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June 05, 2024
Miami Developer Maintains Pioneering Touch In Latest Moves
Miami-area developer Masoud Shojaee spoke with Law360 Real Estate Authority about his project strategy and how it has led to longevity for his firm Shoma Group and given him confidence in helping to address a housing crisis and various challenges in the market.
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June 05, 2024
Sterling Org Raises $600M For Retail RE Investments
Sterling Organization, a private-equity real estate investment firm, closed its Sterling Value Add Partners IV LP fund after it surpassed its $500 million goal and obtained more than $600 million worth of capital commitments, according to a Wednesday announcement.
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June 05, 2024
Fire Co. Shuts Down Insurer's $3.7M Subrogation Bid
A hotel's insurer cannot seek reimbursement from a fire protection company for its roughly $3.7 million coverage payment following a pipe rupture in the hotel's fire sprinkler system, an Ohio federal court ruled, finding the hotel and fire protection company waived their respective insurers' subrogation rights.
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June 05, 2024
Disney To Spend $8B In Fla. After Deal With Oversight Board
As part of a settlement to end a state lawsuit, members of a local oversight district picked by Gov. Ron DeSantis advanced a development agreement on Wednesday permitting a major new theme park at Disney World as the entertainment giant plans $8 billion in spending over the next decade in Florida.
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June 05, 2024
1st Circ. May Undo Tribal Casino Bribery Convictions
First Circuit judges hinted Wednesday that jurisdictional flaws and other issues could reverse the bribery convictions of an architect and tribal chairman in connection with a proposed $1 billion casino in southeastern Massachusetts.
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June 05, 2024
$1.5B Funding Surge Highlights EPA's Brownfields Evolution
Building on what's already a much-touted bipartisan success story, the EPA has ironed out many of the wrinkles in its brownfields program and is now equipped with a surge of funding. In the first of a four-part series, Law360 Real Estate Authority analyzes the trends and outlooks from the agency's brownfield grant data.
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June 04, 2024
S. Korea Claims Victory In Chinese Investor's $1.47B Dispute
South Korea's Ministry of Justice has announced that an international tribunal threw out all claims asserted by a Chinese real estate investor in a treaty case over a South Korean bank's forced sale of his shares in a local real estate company he founded.
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June 04, 2024
LA Landfill Owner Faces Suits Over Foul Fumes, Runoff
Some 800 people near a waste dump in Los Angeles County sued its operator for damages, alleging the company is liable for a smoldering underground fire at the site — the county's second-largest landfill — that has spewed toxic gas into the air for the last year, as well as geyser-like eruptions of polluted water from the ground.
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June 04, 2024
6th Circ. Says 1,000-Yard Gun Range Not Constitutional Right
A split Sixth Circuit panel said a Michigan town had the authority to ban long-distance gun ranges despite the Second Amendment's protections, ruling it was "difficult to imagine" that training to shoot from 1,000 yards away was needed to defend oneself.
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June 04, 2024
Data Center Firm Nets $1.3B In Financing For Development
STACK Infrastructure has secured $1.3 billion in fundraising for data center projects in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, the company announced Tuesday.
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June 04, 2024
SEC Shutters Salt Lake City Office, Shifts Cases To Denver
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that it will close its Salt Lake City office for budgetary and organizational purposes, saying that the caseload of the office, which among other things handled the troubled Debt Box case, will now be handled by staff in Denver.
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June 04, 2024
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Nossaman, Miles & Stockbridge and Holman Fenwick Willan are among the firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.
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June 04, 2024
Troutman Real Estate Ace Rejoins Morris Manning In Atlanta
Morris Manning & Martin LLP announced Tuesday that an attorney who left the firm as an associate for Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP a little over a year ago has rejoined the firm in Atlanta as a partner in its real estate practice.
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June 04, 2024
V&E Advises $700M Offer To Take Whitestone REIT Private
MCB Real Estate, guided by Vinson & Elkins LLP, approached Whitestone REIT with an offer to buy the real estate investment trust and take it private in a $700 million deal, less than a day after the shopping center operator announced changes to its board in the wake of a proxy fight.
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June 04, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Nix Of IRS Easement Disclosure Guidance
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Tuesday that an Internal Revenue Service notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements was invalid because the agency failed to solicit the public feedback required by administrative law.
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June 04, 2024
Colo. Orders Disclosure Of Info On Local Property Tax Levies
Local jurisdictions in Colorado will be required to provide certain information about their property tax levies under legislation signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 03, 2024
SF Office Market Standout Notches New Leases
Even as San Francisco's office market remains in a four-year downturn, the city's 140 New Montgomery Street tower has kept signing tenants seeking prime space, with three newcomers taking a combined 55,913 square feet, CBRE and building owner Pembroke announced Monday.
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June 03, 2024
Some Racketeering Claims In $92M Award Suit Can Proceed
A Monaco bank and a Luxembourg lawyer and trust administrator must face racketeering claims accusing them of helping to hide the fortune of a Russian businessman who's on the hook for a $92 million arbitral award, a California federal judge ruled on Friday.
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June 03, 2024
Treasury Aims To Salvage Corp. Transparency Act At 11th Circ.
The Corporate Transparency Act is a valid exercise of congressional authority to curb money laundering under the commerce clause and the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution, the U.S. Treasury Department told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday in a bid to restore the law's reporting requirements.
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June 03, 2024
Judge Says It's Time For DIP Deal For Steward Healthcare
A Texas bankruptcy judge on Monday gave Steward Health Care permission to offer a commitment fee to induce a lender to provide it with the financing to see the hospital chain through its Chapter 11 case, while saying the company needs that final commitment soon.
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June 03, 2024
REIT To Replace Trustees Targeted In Proxy Contest
Shopping center operator Whitestone REIT plans to replace two board members following an activist shareholder's unsuccessful attempt to oust the pair in a recent proxy contest, the real estate investment trust said Monday.
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June 03, 2024
Herrick Feinstein Guides Hotel From Lease Suit To $177M Sale
What began as a simple commercial lease action tied to a swanky hotel in New York City morphed into a complex adversary proceeding, which a Herrick Feinstein LLP team recently brought to a close, paving the way for the property's $177 million sale to EOS Hospitality.
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June 03, 2024
RI Panel OKs Providence Unrestricted Property Tax Rates
Rhode Island would allow the city of Providence to adopt a classification system that allows for unrestricted tax rates for the city's property classes under a bill moved to the Senate floor for consideration.
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June 03, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Dylan Chan Law Firm and Kevin Kerveng Tung were among the law firms that guided the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw six transactions above the $15 million mark become public.
Expert Analysis
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Preparing For Legal Scrutiny Of Data Retention Policies
Two recent cases involving Google and Meta should serve as a call to action for companies to ensure their data retention policies are updated and properly implemented to the degree of being able to withstand judicial scrutiny, especially as more data is generated by emerging technologies, say Jack Kallus and Labeed Choudhry at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Attorneys Should Have An Ethical Duty To Advance DEI
National and state bar associations are encouraging attorneys to apply diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the legal profession and beyond, and these associations should take it one step further by formally recognizing ethical duties for attorneys to promote DEI, which could better the legal profession and society, says Elena Mitchell at Moore & Van Allen.
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Data-Driven Insights Are Key To Attracting Today's Clients
As law firm growth slows and competition for clients increases, modern firms must rely on robust data analytics to develop the sector-based expertise and industry insights that clients increasingly prioritize in relationships with counsel, says Lavinia Calvert at Intapp.
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EV Chargers Can Bring Benefits For Calif. Property Owners
California property developers and owners face growing pressure to provide electric vehicle charging infrastructure — but this can be a unique opportunity to add value to real estate assets, and can be accomplished in multiple ways, say Riley Cutner-Orrantia and Eurie Hwang at Crosbie Gliner.
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Brownfield Renewables Guidance Leaves Site Eligibility Murky
Recent IRS guidance sheds some light on the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives for renewable energy development on contaminated sites — but the eligibility of certain sites for brownfield status remains uncertain, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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Pending Legislation Holds Promise For SF Buildings
Recently introduced state and local legislation could make it easier for office-to-residential conversion projects in San Francisco to secure approval and funding sources, although financial incentives similar to those implemented by other states may be necessary to ensure the feasibility of such projects, say Caroline Chase and Nick DuBroff at Allen Matkins.
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Ghosting In BigLaw: Why Better Feedback Habits Are Needed
Not giving assignments or constructive criticism to junior associates can significantly affect their performance and hours, potentially leading them to leave the firm, but partners can prevent this by asking the right questions and creating a culture of feedback, says Rachel Patterson at Orrick.
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SVB Collapse Underscores Policy And Regulatory Pitfalls
The recent failures of three American banks reveal hidden vulnerabilities, raise concerns about moral hazard, and highlight the need for tighter regulation and closer monitoring of unrealized investment-portfolio losses in the U.S. banking system, says attorney Patrick Meson.
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Law Needs A Balance Between Humanism And Formalism
A recent Law360 guest article rightly questions the pretextual pseudo-originalism that permits ideology to masquerade as judicial philosophy, but the cure would kill the patient because directness, simplicity and humanness are achievable without renouncing form or sacrificing stare decisis, says Vanessa Kubota at the Arizona Court of Appeals.
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NY Bankruptcy Court Pivots On Commercial Rent Damage Cap
A New York bankruptcy court departed from its prior precedent in the recent Cortlandt Liquidating case, effectively lowering the commercial rent damages cap, and making the court a little less friendly for landlords but potentially an attractive venue for debtors planning to reject significant commercial leases, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Short Message Data Challenges In E-Discovery
As short message platforms increasingly dominate work environments, lawyers face multiple programs, different communication styles and emoji in e-discovery, so they must consider new strategies to adapt their processes, says Cristin Traylor at Relativity.
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Bankruptcy Sales Uncertain After Justices' Section 363 Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court's holding in MOAC v. Transform that Section 363(m) of the Bankruptcy Code is not a jurisdictional provision means parties to 363 sales are now at the mercy of courts that may have differing perspectives on the issue, creating uncertainty for trustees, third parties and purchasers, say Thomas Loeb and Carrie Brosius at Vorys.
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Thomas Report Is Final Straw — High Court Needs Ethics Code
As a recent report on Justice Clarence Thomas' ongoing conflicts of interest makes evident, Supreme Court justices should be subject to an enforceable and binding code of ethics — like all other federal judges — to maintain the credibility of the institution, says Erica Salmon Byrne at Ethisphere.