Commercial

  • November 15, 2024

    NY Panel Denies Early Wins In Brooklyn Property Sale Dispute

    A New York appellate court has refused to grant early wins to a tenant of a Brooklyn property and New York City in the tenant's suit against the city, which is accused of wrongfully refusing to allow the tenant to buy the city's fee interest in the property for millions of dollars less than what the city wanted.

  • November 15, 2024

    Texas Industrial Spaces Seeing Rise In Vacancies, CBRE Says

    The vacancy rate of Texas industrial space rose from 4.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 8.7% in this year's third quarter amid "positive demand and a slowing of new supply," according to a CBRE report.

  • November 15, 2024

    Property Plays: Franchise Group, Kushner, Astrodome

    Property Plays is a weekly roundup of the latest loans, leases, sales and projects around the country. Send your tips — all confidential — to realestate@law360.com.

  • November 15, 2024

    Detroit 'Rain Tax' Stormwater Fees Upheld By Appellate Court

    Fees that Detroit charges property owners to maintain its stormwater drainage system are not illegal taxes, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel held, finding that although the charges are effectively compulsory, they are not subject to constitutional restrictions on tax increases.

  • November 15, 2024

    Kriss & Feuerstein Advises Witkoff's $173M Hotel Refi

    The Witkoff Group has landed a $173 million refinancing for Public Hotel, a four-star hospitality establishment in Lower Manhattan, with help from Kriss & Feuerstein LLP, according to filings made public in New York City records Friday.

  • November 15, 2024

    NASA Shopping For New DC-Area Headquarters

    NASA said it is assessing options for a new headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area, in anticipation of the 2028 expiration of its current lease.

  • November 15, 2024

    Walker & Dunlop Gives Interim GC Permanent Role

    Commercial real estate finance and advisory services firm Walker & Dunlop Inc. has promoted its interim general counsel since May to the role permanently.

  • November 15, 2024

    KKR Leader Says The Real Estate Downturn Is Ending

    The two-year real estate slump appears to be passing and the investment environment now looks like one of the most attractive that KKR & Co. Inc. has ever seen, a managing director for the private equity shop's real estate group said.

  • November 14, 2024

    NY Nursing Homes Ink $45M Deal To End AG's Fraud Suit

    Four New York nursing homes have agreed to a $45 million deal that will end a civil lawsuit brought by the state accusing them of neglecting residents and defrauding Medicare and Medicaid, according to a Friday announcement by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

  • November 14, 2024

    McDonald's Vendor Says Partner Owes Him $6M Over Ice-Out

    A longtime property management vendor for McDonald's Corp. is accusing a business partner of pushing him out of their company just as it was poised to triple the number of sites it would maintain for the fast-food chain, in a $6 million lawsuit filed Thursday in Massachusetts state court.

  • November 14, 2024

    Atlanta Developer Says City Dodging Discovery In Property Fight

    An Atlanta landowner suing the city over its allegedly illegal condemnation of a disused fast food joint has asked a Georgia federal judge to keep the suit alive, telling the court the city can't win a recent summary judgment bid while discovery remains open.

  • November 14, 2024

    Automated Warehouse Co. To Build $144M Ga. Facility

    An automated warehouse company will build a $144 million distribution facility in Jackson, Georgia, which will take up about 1 million square feet and is expected to create over 300 jobs in the state's Butts County, according to an announcement from Gov. Brian P. Kemp.

  • November 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Zimbabwe Must Pay $440M In Land Dispute

    The D.C. Circuit has affirmed the enforcement of approximately $440 million of arbitral awards against Zimbabwe that were issued to a Swiss-German family and two forestry and sawmill companies, agreeing with a lower court that the country waived its sovereign immunity in the land dispute.

  • November 14, 2024

    New Clean Electricity Credits At Risk In 2025 Tax Talks

    Clean electricity tax credits in the Democrats' signature climate law could be scaled back amid next year's effort by President-elect Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to quickly renew expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act once they're in office.

  • November 14, 2024

    JLL Forecasts End To 'Peak Waiting' For Construction Work

    Commercial broker JLL expects moderating interest rates and building costs that have held mostly flat in 2024 to help lay the foundation for growth in the industry next year after a recent downturn in new project starts.

  • November 14, 2024

    Latest Plan For Empty Astrodome Envisions $1B Overhaul

    The Astrodome Conservancy has unveiled a $1 billion proposal to save the Houston landmark, which would see the property transformed into a mixed-use development with the aid of public and private investment.

  • November 14, 2024

    NY Contractor Cops To Aiding Theft In Commercial Bribe Case

    A New York contractor pled guilty on Thursday in the Manhattan district attorney's commercial bribery case alleging dozens of construction industry defendants conspired to steal from developers in a sprawling kickback scheme involving $100 million in contracts.

  • November 13, 2024

    Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now

    A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.

  • November 13, 2024

    Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice

    A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.

  • November 13, 2024

    NY Judge Questions Offices Ringing Penn Station

    In a Tuesday hearing before a New York state appeals court panel, attorneys for New York's economic development agency and the real estate developer who would remake the area ringing Penn Station argued against an appeal by building owners who say the plan is not economically viable and will benefit a private developer, not the public.

  • November 13, 2024

    Meet The Atty, Developer Who'll Be Middle East Special Envoy

    President-elect Donald Trump has named Witkoff Group CEO and former real estate lawyer Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East, a move that could portend an infrastructure-focused, pro-Israel policy stance as the war in Gaza persists.

  • November 13, 2024

    Goulston & Storrs Real Estate Attys Talk Distress Playbook

    As commercial real estate distress continues to play out, attorneys are seeing lenders adopt new strategies to save or reduce their exposure to troubled assets, sometimes working in tandem with investors looking to purchase such loans.

  • November 13, 2024

    MVP: Fried Frank's Matthew D. Parrott

    Matthew Parrott of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP secured a major victory for a big hotel property lender in Manhattan and Los Angeles in a foreclosure suit and clinched a win in a notable case over an eminent domain petition in Texas, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Real Estate MVPs.

  • November 13, 2024

    Locke Lord Adds Real Estate Ace From Frost Brown In Dallas

    A former Frost Brown Todd LLP attorney with diverse commercial real estate experience has joined Locke Lord LLP as a partner in Dallas, a reflection of the firm's focus on building out its real estate team "with top-tier talent."

  • November 13, 2024

    Jones Day Real Estate Ace Jumps To Greenberg Traurig In LA

    Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast real estate team, bringing in a Jones Day real estate transactions pro as a shareholder in its Los Angeles office.

Expert Analysis

  • Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords

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    Large retail tenants often require co-tenancy provisions in their leases, entitling them to remedies if a shopping center's occupancy drops in certain ways, but landlords must draft these provisions carefully to avoid giving tenants too much control, says Gary Glick at Cox Castle.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.

  • Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

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    Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Keys To Successful Commercial Property Insurance Claims

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    While insurance needs for commercial leasing arrangements are driven by the characteristics of the premises and the nature of the tenants' intended operations, there are several universal best practices landlords and their counsel can follow when making claims after loss or damage.

  • Tips For Handling Single Asset Real Estate Bankruptcy Cases

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Bankruptcy counsel should consider several strategies when representing either a debtor or lender in single asset real estate debtor Chapter 11 cases, which generally arise when a debtor is forced to file for relief to stop an impending foreclosure sale.

  • Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks

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    Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

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    Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.

  • Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

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    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • Proposed Law Would Harm NYC Hospitality Industry

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    A recently proposed New York City Law that would update hotel licensing and staff coverage requirements could give the city commissioner and unions undue control over the city's hospitality industry, and harm smaller hotels that cannot afford full-time employees, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.

  • Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

  • Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus

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    Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.