Commercial

  • February 14, 2025

    Simpson Guides KKR On $850M-Plus Real Estate Credit Fund

    Global investment giant KKR, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, announced on Friday it had clinched its second opportunistic real estate credit fund, raising over $850 million for a dedicated strategy of investments in senior loans and real estate securities in the U.S. and Western Europe.

  • February 14, 2025

    What REITs Should Know About ESG Under Trump

    Public companies in the real estate space should heed President Donald Trump's orders dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and think about what those directives mean for their environmental, social and corporate governance practices, a Sidley Austin LLP practice leader said.

  • February 13, 2025

    Calif. Fire Debris Ruling Raises LA Blaze Recovery Concerns

    A California appellate court's ruling that two homeowners didn't have a covered claim for wildfire debris in their home has raised policyholder concerns that the decision could restrict coverage for Los Angeles fire victims, but some carrier lawyers say the ruling's impact could be limited to claims for lighter damage.

  • February 13, 2025

    Eric Adams Donor Accused Of Stealing COVID Housing Funds

    A New York City hotel owner with ties to Mayor Eric Adams was among three individuals accused of scheming to steal tens of millions of dollars from a program intended to get certain incarcerated individuals out of detention centers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

  • February 13, 2025

    Exec Cops To Conspiring To Overbill Gov't In Station Project

    A former executive for a masonry contractor involved in the multimillion-dollar restoration of Philadelphia's historic 30th Street Station has admitted to a scheme that involved bribing an Amtrak employee to overcharge the federal government $2 million for the project, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia said Thursday.

  • February 13, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Defaulted Notes, EB-5 Investor Fraud

    The North Carolina Business Court has been handed in the first half of February a receivership case involving a defaulted $17.5 million promissory note, a fraud suit by Chinese EB-5 investors and a request to depose the chief legal officer of Smithfield Foods Inc.

  • February 13, 2025

    Ashford Closes $580M Mortgage Loan Secured By 16 Hotels

    Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust said it has secured $580 million in financing to pay off debt coming due this summer with a new loan secured by 16 properties, part of a nearly $1 billion portfolio in default after a 2018 deal.

  • February 13, 2025

    Profs Back Hotel Guests In 3rd Circ. Algorithmic Pricing Case

    A group of academics has joined antimonopoly groups to support hotel guests accusing several Atlantic City casino hotels of using shared software to fix room rates in their Third Circuit fight to revive their suit.

  • February 13, 2025

    Brookfield Eyes Data Centers In Optimistic Market Outlook

    Canadian asset manager Brookfield Corp. said Feb. 13 in its fourth-quarter earnings call it expects the real estate market to recover, and sees big investment opportunities at the intersection of infrastructure and renewable power for data centers.

  • February 13, 2025

    Buyer Seeks $3.5M Price Cut Over Bungled Conn. Mill Cleanup

    A property developer has asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to lower the purchase price of a polluted industrial site in Branford from $6 million to $2.5 million, saying the seller failed to develop legitimate remediation plans and breached a settlement agreement that ended prior litigation.

  • February 13, 2025

    Three Firms Guide $375M Data Center Bridge Financing

    Applied Digital Corp. closed on a $375 million financing with SMBC in a deal guided by Milbank, Lowenstein Sandler and Paul Hastings, a loan that the company says will help it pay down a senior secured note and continue construction on a North Dakota campus.

  • February 13, 2025

    NYC Man Pleads Guilty To $62.8M Crowdfunded CRE Scheme

    A New York City man who raised $62.8 million through commercial real estate platform CrowdStreet for sham developments in Atlanta, Georgia, and Miami Beach, Florida, has pled guilty to a federal wire fraud charge.

  • February 13, 2025

    SDNY US Atty Resigns, Alleging Trump-Adams 'Quid Pro Quo'

    Danielle R. Sassoon, the interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned Thursday after she refused an order by U.S. Department of Justice officials to drop the federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and expressed concern the move was part of an improper quid pro quo with President Donald Trump.

  • February 13, 2025

    Developer Starts $1B Fla. Mixed-Use Redevelopment Project

    Terra started work on the first phase of its $1 billion redevelopment project that aims to turn the Dolphin Station Park-and-Ride Transit Terminal Facility in Miami-Dade County into a 47-acre, mixed-use community with transit options, homes and places to shop, the developer announced Feb 13.

  • February 12, 2025

    Avison Young CEO Urges Steadiness For Real Estate In 2025

    The head of global commercial real estate services firm Avison Young on Wednesday encouraged keeping a focus on the cyclical nature of the industry and long-term principles in the face of numerous current uncertainties in the world.

  • February 12, 2025

    Rhodium Says Landlord Tried To 'Destroy' It In $300M Suit

    Bankrupt Bitcoin mining company Rhodium Encore has filed a $300 million lawsuit in Texas bankruptcy court accusing competitor Riot Platforms and landlord and power provider Whinstone US Inc. of sabotaging its business and driving it into bankruptcy.

  • February 12, 2025

    Developer Trio Plans To Build 1,600-Foot Manhattan Tower

    Vornado Realty Trust, Rudin Management and Citadel are aiming to put up a roughly 1,600-foot tower on Park Avenue in Manhattan, and Law360 has added that project to its Tall Buildings Tracker.

  • February 12, 2025

    4 Va. Bills That Data Center Industry Insiders Should Watch

    Efforts to regulate data centers in Virginia, the home of the world's biggest data center market, have largely flamed out during this year's legislative session. But some bills proposing more rules for the fast-growing industry might cross the finish line.

  • February 12, 2025

    Texas Real Estate Firm Closes $58M Self-Storage Fund

    HPI closed its latest self-storage fund after raising more than $58 million worth of capital commitments from old and new investors, the Texas-based real estate investment firm announced Wednesday.

  • February 12, 2025

    Investors Returned To Capital Markets In 2024, Colliers Says

    Capital markets activity built momentum throughout 2024 after property buyers and sellers began adjusting pricing following a recent turbulence, with commercial broker Colliers projecting further growth in 2025.

  • February 12, 2025

    Yellow Corp. Seeks OK For $15M Real Estate Sale

    An investment banking advisory firm for bankrupt trucking company Yellow Corp. asked a Delaware bankruptcy court to approve three asset purchase agreements for properties owned by the trucking company that are worth $15.1 million.

  • February 12, 2025

    Dentons Adds Indianapolis Attorney To Energy Practice

    Dentons bolstered its energy practice in Indianapolis with the hire of Matthew Neumann, an attorney advising developers, investors and other parties on energy project development in Indiana and the Midwest.

  • February 12, 2025

    Mass. Justices Nix Tax Break For Cargo Biz On Massport Land

    A site leased by the Massachusetts Port Authority to a for-profit cargo management business is not exempt from local property taxes, the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled Wednesday, affirming a $22 million property valuation.

  • February 12, 2025

    Real Estate Group Of The Year: Simpson Thacher

    Attorneys from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP advised Blackstone, a longtime client of the firm, on a $7 billion data center campus joint venture with Digital Realty, as well as the investment giant's $725 million sale of a Hawaii resort, earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Real Estate Groups of the Year.

  • February 12, 2025

    Construction Group Of The Year: Troutman

    Providing counsel on the design and construction of a new Terminal One at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Big Apple's first soccer-specific stadium, as well as handling litigation over a $2 billion hydroelectric project in Chile, earned Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP its selection as one of the 2024 Law360 Construction Groups of the Year.

Expert Analysis

  • How Rate Exportation Is Shifting Amid Regulatory Trends

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    All banks and their partners, including fintechs, that wish to lend to borrowers in multiple states and charge uniform interest rates should heed regulatory developments across the country and determine how best to mitigate risks in their efforts to offer credit to consumers on a nationwide basis, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How The Commercial Real Estate Slump May Weigh On Banks

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    The continuing underperformance of the U.S. commercial real estate market has significant implications for the financial performance and disclosure requirements for various banks, especially regional ones with large debt exposures, say Atanu Saha and Yong Xu at StoneTurn.

  • Negotiating Material Escalation In Construction Contracts

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    As material price escalation clauses have remained popular in construction contracts despite an easing of recent supply chain issues, attorneys representing owners should understand key considerations for negotiating such clauses, and strategies to mitigate potential exploitation by contractors, says H. Arthur Black II at Brooks Pierce.

  • Landlords Should Prep As WeWork Faces Potential Ch. 11

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    After years of financial trouble and the recent announcement that it has substantial doubt that it would be able to continue as a going concern, WeWork may have a bankruptcy filing in its future that would have a significant impact on landlords and other stakeholders who are owed money by the company, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Key Drivers Behind Widespread Adoption Of NAV Financing

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    While net asset value-based lending has existed for years, NAV lending has only started to move into the mainstream recently — likely due to difficult market conditions faced by sponsors including persistent inflation, high interest rates and a lack of exit opportunities, say Matthew Kerfoot and Jinyoung Joo at Proskauer.

  • Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals

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    The Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in High Watch Recovery Center v. Department of Public Health, rejecting rigid application of statutes concerning certificate-of-need procedure, provides important guidance on building an administrative record to support a finding that a case is contested, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play

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    Pickleball's burgeoning popularity in Florida is catalyzing a transformation in the state's commercial real estate market, but investors must take steps to navigate legal challenges related to noise, insurance and community dynamics, says Emmanuelle Litvinov at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent announcement of civil penalties against 10 microcap companies for violations of Regulation A+ shows that as the SEC continues to expand its enforcement efforts, its focus remains on protecting investors of all sizes — including those investing in the historically less-scrutinized Reg A+ issuers, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Factors To Consider When Structuring Data Center Contracts

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    Data center leases and service agreements grant very similar rights and impose similar obligations, but they also hold notable differences and a range of factors that are important to consider when selecting which form of agreement to use, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • Rethinking Mich. Slip-And-Fall Defense After Top Court Ruling

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    The Michigan Supreme Court recently overturned three decades of premises liability jurisprudence by ruling that the open and obvious danger defense is no longer part of a traditional duty analysis, posing the question of whether landowners will ever again win on a motion for summary dismissal, say John Stiglich and Meriam Choulagh at Wilson Elser.

  • Subchapter V Eligibility Ruling Raises Uncertainty For Tenants

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    A Virginia bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Macedon Consulting — that all remaining rent under a lease should be factored into a lessee's Subchapter V eligibility — raises the question, but does not address, how a court should calculate the amount of debt owed under a lease, creating significant risk for potential tenant debtors, says Sam Ashuraey at Ashuraey Law.