Commercial
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February 26, 2025
Taft Pulls In 3 New Attys For Chicago Real Estate Group
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has added two partners and an associate to the real estate team in its 160-attorney Chicago office, the law firm announced.
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February 26, 2025
'Congress Favors Arbitration' In EB-5 Suit, 11th Circ. Told
A Canadian citizen who is accused in a Florida lawsuit of defrauding foreign investors told the Eleventh Circuit in a hearing Wednesday that a lower court wrongfully sent the case back to state court and denied a request to halt proceedings, telling the panel that "Congress favors arbitration."
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February 26, 2025
How One Atty Approached AI Price Gouging Amid LA Wildfires
In a recent Q&A, an LA-area lawyer who helped a hotel handle inadvertent price spikes following the January fires discussed that matter, as well as the larger question of price gouging at hotel and rental properties.
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February 26, 2025
Ariz. Sen. OKs Extending Property Tax Oversight Commission
Arizona would extend the life of its Property Tax Oversight Commission by eight years under legislation approved Wednesday by the state Senate.
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February 26, 2025
Simpson Thacher Guides $1B Real Estate Secondaries Fund
Neuberger Berman, an investment management firm advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, has capped its second real estate private equity secondary fund at $1.05 billion, surpassing its target by $200 million, according to a Wednesday announcement.
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February 26, 2025
PierFerd Adds Ex-Alston & Bird Real Estate Finance Attorney
Pierson Ferdinand LLP said Wednesday it has added a real estate finance securitization partner who was previously an attorney at Alston & Bird LLP to its corporate department.
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February 26, 2025
Real Estate Group Of The Year: Weil
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP served as lead real estate adviser in Home Depot's $18.3 billion acquisition of SRS Distribution Inc. and helped shepherd an $8 billion merger between two rival amusement park companies, earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Real Estate Groups of the Year.
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February 26, 2025
Adams Says SDNY Memo Leaks Doom His Bribery Case
New York City Mayor Eric Adams opened up a new line of attack against his federal corruption case Wednesday, arguing that the judge must dismiss the charges due to the "extreme prejudice" caused by leaked Justice Department memos alleging a quid pro quo between the mayor and the Trump administration.
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February 26, 2025
NJ RICO Case Toss Leaves AG Irate, Defense Attys Elated
The erasure of a massive racketeering indictment against New Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III, politically connected attorneys and others on Wednesday drew a sharp rebuke from Attorney General Matt Platkin while defense attorneys gloated.
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February 26, 2025
Justices Vacate TM Award That Put Co.'s Affiliates On Hook
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday vacated an award that reached nearly $47 million in a trademark dispute that questioned whether affiliates of a real estate development company should be liable for the payment even though they were not defendants in the case.
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February 25, 2025
Realty Income REIT Echoes Data Center Caution In Q4 Results
Real estate investment trust Realty Income Corp. plans to proceed carefully with data center investments following news Monday that Microsoft views the market as oversupplied, executives said during a fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday.
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February 25, 2025
Report: 2025 Seen As A Year Of Opportunity For Real Estate
Commercial real estate executives see 2025 as a period of opportunity for investment, according to a Seyfarth Shaw LLP report released Tuesday.
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February 25, 2025
Atlanta Says 'Cop City' Completion Moots Public Vote
The city of Atlanta has told the Eleventh Circuit that the recent completion of its controversial "Cop City" police training center should render moot a lawsuit by noncity residents who had hoped to force a long-stalled public vote to roll back the city's approval of the project.
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February 25, 2025
Nelson Mullins Brings On Corporate Ace From Fla. Boutique
Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP announced Tuesday that it has deepened its real estate and corporate capabilities with a new partner in its Boca Raton, Florida, office from Kapp Morrison LLP.
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February 25, 2025
Law Firm Leasing Reaches Highest Level Since Before COVID
Law firms in the United States have broken through years of pandemic-related uncertainty about market conditions and the need for office space to record the highest volume of lease activity in more than five years, according to newly released data.
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February 25, 2025
FERC Told $1B Power Plant Buy Lacks Data Center Disclosure
Consumer advocate Public Citizen has challenged Blackstone's $1 billion purchase of a natural gas power plant in Loudoun County, Virginia — home to a quarter of the entire U.S. data center capacity — arguing the private equity giant failed to reveal its stake in data center companies operating in the area.
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February 24, 2025
Seyfarth Hires Veteran Bankruptcy Atty For Chicago Office
Seyfarth Shaw LLP hired a veteran bankruptcy and commercial litigation attorney as a partner for the restructuring and insolvency team in its Chicago office, the firm has announced.
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February 24, 2025
Microsoft Has Scrapped Data Center Leases, Analysts Say
Microsoft has canceled leases with at least two private data center operators in the U.S., pointing to a "potential oversupply position" for the company's use of digital infrastructure facilities geared to meet workloads for artificial intelligence computing, according to an analyst note.
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February 24, 2025
Insurer Sues Valve Co. To Recoup Payout To Ohio School
The "catastrophic" flooding of a Cincinnati school was due to a faulty water stop valve, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday by an insurance provider that seeks to hold building products manufacturer Masco Corp. and its plumbing subsidiary liable for the nearly $225,000 in damages.
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February 24, 2025
CIM Group Lends $57.5M To Refi Houston Industrial Portfolio
Real estate firm CIM Group on Monday said it has closed on a $57.5 million loan to Creation Equity and PGIM Real Estate to refinance a four-building portfolio complex in northwest Houston completed in May 2024.
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February 24, 2025
Holland & Hart Bolsters Real Estate Practice In Denver
Holland & Hart LLP said it has added real estate attorney Heather Park Meek as a partner in its Denver office.
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February 24, 2025
Apple To Invest $500B In US Over 4 Years As Tariffs Mount
Apple said Monday that it would invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, weeks after President Donald Trump placed a 10% tariff on goods from China, where the company sources components for its products, and threatened tariffs on semiconductors.
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February 24, 2025
Blackstone Paying $5.65B For US Marina Servicing Giant
Blackstone has agreed to acquire Dallas-based Safe Harbor Marinas, the largest marina and superyacht servicing business in the U.S., from Sun Communities Inc. for $5.65 billion, the companies said Monday.
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February 24, 2025
Penn National Settles NC Hurricanes Coverage Suit
Penn National Mutual Casualty Insurance Co. settled a property owner's insurance payout suit filed in North Carolina federal court just before the suit headed to trial.
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February 24, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
DLA Piper and Lippes Mathias are among the law firms that scored work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a group of transactions that included a nine-figure Manhattan commercial deal and multiple hotel trades.
Expert Analysis
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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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The Often Overlooked NY Foreclosure Notice Requirements
As multifamily real estate defaults mount, New York foreclosing parties should be aware of pitfalls and perils that can await the litigant who is not prepared to ensure adherence with tenant notice requirements under the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Rosenberg & Estis.
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A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers
With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Lower Courts May Finally Be Getting The Memo After Ciminelli
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court again limited prosecutors' overbroad theories of fraud in Ciminelli v. U.S., early returns suggest that the message has at least partially landed with the lower courts, spotlighting lessons for defense counsel moving forward, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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A Framework For Investigating Commercial Loan Fraud
As commercial loan transactions are increasingly subject to sophisticated fraud schemes, lenders must adopt dynamic strategies to detect, investigate and mitigate these schemes, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Yellow Corp. Lease Assumption Shows Landlord Protections
Yellow Corp.’s recent filing of a motion to assume unexpired leases is a helpful reminder to practitioners to maintain a long-term approach about what is most beneficial for an estate and to not let a debtor's short-term cash position dictate business decisions, says Kyle Arendsen at Squire Patton.
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How A Bumblebee Got Under Calif. Wildlife Regulator's Bonnet
A California bumblebee's listing as an endangered species could lead to a regulatory quagmire as California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits now routinely include survey requirements for the bee, but the regulator has yet to determine what the species needs for conservation, says David Smith at Manatt.
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The Clock Is Ticking For Fla. Construction Defect Claims
Ahead of the fast-approaching July 1 deadline for filing construction defect claims in Florida, Sean Ravenel at Foran Glennon discusses how the state's new statute of repose has changed the timeline, and highlights several related issues that property owners should be aware of.
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It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills
After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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Tips For Advising CRE Owners Affected By Houston Storms
As Houston residents begin the arduous process of recovery after this month's devastating storms, attorneys should guide commercial real estate owners and managers toward immediate action under their insurance coverage to facilitate restoration and a return to normalcy, says Justin Ratley at Munsch Hardt.
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How Real Estate Cos. Can Protect Their IP In The Metaverse
The rise of virtual and augmented reality creates new intellectual property challenges and opportunities for real estate owners, but certain steps, including conducting a diligence investigation to develop an understanding of current obligations, can help companies mitigate IP issues in the metaverse, says George Pavlik at Levenfeld Pearlstein.
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Ga. Law Creates Challenges For Foreign Ownership Of Land
Under Georgia's new law limiting certain foreign possessory interests in agricultural land and land near military properties, affected foreign persons and entities will need to do significantly more work in order to ensure that their ownership remains legal, say Nellie Sullivan and Lindsey Grubbs at Holland & Knight.