Commercial
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January 22, 2025
4 California Construction Projects To Watch In 2025
A number of projects are underway in California, including a plan to build a new neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area on a former Navy base, a $5 billion "urban resort" in Beverly Hills and a university housing project in Berkeley that's moving ahead thanks to a court ruling and state law.
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January 21, 2025
Return To Work Order A Symbolic Boost To Office Sector
Real estate attorneys said President Donald Trump's return to work order for federal employees will not have much immediate impact on the office sector as the larger question of the size of the federal workforce looms.
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January 21, 2025
La. Judge Lifts Arbitration Order In $7M Ida Damage Case
A Louisiana federal judge lifted a stay and vacated an order to arbitrate a $7 million Hurricane Ida damage claim against domestic surplus insurers, ruling that a recent decision from Louisiana's top court represents an "'intervening change in the controlling law.'"
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January 21, 2025
Colo. Court OKs Use Of LLC Test For LPs In Ranch War
A Colorado state appeals court affirmed a trial court's decision to dissolve a partnership that owned a ranch in the state, ruling for the first time that a test for determining when judicial dissolution is necessary can be applied to limited partnerships.
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January 21, 2025
Medical Cannabis REIT Misled Investors, Suit Claims
A medical cannabis-focused real estate investment trust lied to its shareholders about the profitability of its leasing operations and declining rents, a new suit has alleged in Maryland federal court.
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January 21, 2025
Victors In Landmark Graft Case Want 2nd Top Court Review
The defendants who won a landmark 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed certain types of corruption prosecutions have asked the justices to intervene in their case again, claiming the Second Circuit had wrongly allowed the government to pursue new trials based on a different theory of fraud.
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January 21, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Fried Frank and Skadden are among the law firms that landed work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with a $355 million Manhattan deal leading the way.
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January 21, 2025
Tribal Tax Status Regs Leave Energy Credit Access Up In Air
While recently proposed regulations would provide long-awaited clarity that enterprises wholly owned by Native American tribes are exempt from federal taxes, the rules leave glaring questions open about whether tribes can access clean energy tax credits through business structures like joint ventures.
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January 21, 2025
Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office
On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump ordered federal workers back to theirs.
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January 17, 2025
Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year
Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.
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January 17, 2025
Law360 Names Firms Of The Year
Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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January 17, 2025
Colo. AG, FTC Say Greystar Advertised Deceptive Rent Prices
The Federal Trade Commission sued developer and property manager Greystar in Colorado federal court Thursday, alleging Greystar advertised deceptive prices for its units to entice prospective tenants to apply, only to later slap them with mandatory hidden fees not included in the marketed price.
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January 17, 2025
Property Plays: Pretium, The Perigon, Stack Infrastructure
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.
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January 17, 2025
Concrete Co. Picks Up Queens Space For $60M
A Tennessee concrete manufacturer has secured a lot at 120-05 31st Ave. in College Point, Queens, from a New York concrete company for $60 million in a deal guided by Holland & Knight LLP, according to property records.
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January 17, 2025
Credit Asset Manager Closes $135M Refi For Manhattan Hotel
Benefit Street Partners wrapped up a $135 million refinancing of a 427-room hotel in Manhattan's Upper West Side, the global alternative credit asset manager announced Friday.
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January 17, 2025
NYC Mall Lenders, Developer Want Foreign Investor Suit Nixed
Financial backers of a Staten Island mall project are asking a federal judge to toss a suit by foreign investors seeking damages, arguing that the investors are just trying to "claw back" whatever they can from others who lost even more money.
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January 17, 2025
Polsinelli Commercial Litigation Vice Chair Joins Honigman
Honigman LLP announced the addition of Polsinelli PC's vice chair of commercial litigation on Thursday, saying his experience will support the growth Honigman anticipates in the commercial real estate market.
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January 17, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Simpson Thacher, Covington
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Eli Lilly and Co. buys a precision breast cancer program, Applied Digital Corp. enters a financing agreement for its high-performance computing business, Clearwater Analytics buys Enfusion, and Lantheus Holdings Inc. buys Life Molecular Imaging Ltd.
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January 17, 2025
Litigators Make Up Half Of Ballard Spahr's Promotion Class
Ballard Spahr LLP unveiled five promotions to partner and seven to of counsel on Wednesday, elevating lawyers for four of its five departments in five cities.
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January 16, 2025
Fire-Safe Rebuilding Key To Reducing LA Insurance Issues
Reducing the potential of fires like those in Los Angeles to disrupt insurance and housing markets will require a significant and sustained effort to lower physical risks in fire-prone communities, and a commitment to rebuilding to stronger standards.
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January 16, 2025
Texas Justices Question If Courts Can Rethink TCPA Motions
Texas justices questioned whether a trial court can reconsider a motion under the state's anti-SLAPP law to dismiss a farmland-centered REIT's suit against a Dallas-based hedge fund, saying during oral arguments Thursday that allowing it to do so might create a "big hammer" hanging over the parties' heads.
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January 16, 2025
Creditors Push For Mississippi Casino Developer Ch. 7
Creditors for developer Diamondhead Casino Corp., which has been trying for years to build a casino in Mississippi near the Gulf Coast, pressed a Delaware bankruptcy judge to liquidate the company, saying it's the "fairest and the most equitable" way to collect the $2.4 million they are owed.
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January 16, 2025
Browns Stadium Fight Belongs In Ohio State Court, Judge Told
The city of Cleveland has sued the Browns in Ohio state court in an attempt to block the NFL team's planned stadium move, as the city and the state are urging the judge in a separate federal case to toss the team's bid to relocate to the suburbs.
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January 16, 2025
PE Exec Nominated To Lead Fannie, Freddie Regulator
President-elect Donald Trump said he will nominate Bill Pulte, the CEO of private equity firm Pulte Capital, to lead the agency regulating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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January 16, 2025
Bridge Industrial, CPPIB Launch $789M Industrials JV
Private real estate company Bridge Industrial and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board are entering into a $789 million joint venture to invest in high-quality industrial properties throughout the U.S., the companies announced Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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How To Avoid A Zombie Office Building Apocalypse
With national office vacancy rates approaching 20%, policymakers, investors and developers will need to come together in order to prevent this troubling trend from sucking the life out of business districts or contaminating the broader real estate market, say Ryan Sommers and Robyn Minter Smyers at Thompson Hine.
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A Clearer Path To Speedy Guaranty Litigation In NY Courts
Recent cases indicate that New York's Appellate Division, First Department, is shifting its stance regarding when agreements with both monetary and nonmonetary obligations qualify for expedited litigation, and highlight best practices for drafting guarantees and notes, say Joshua Kopelowitz and Bansari Sheth at Fox Rothschild.
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LA's High-Value Real Estate Transfer Tax Should Be Scrapped
Los Angeles’ recently implemented high-value property transfer tax has chilled the real estate market, is failing to meet revenue expectations and raises significant constitutional concerns, making it a flawed piece of legislation that should be invalidated, says attorney Paul Weinberg.
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High Court Ruling Provides New Avenue For Foreign Plaintiffs
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Yegiazaryan v. Smagin offers a new path for foreign plaintiffs attempting to enforce arbitral awards in the U.S., but it also leaves the standard for such attempts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act unsettled, say attorneys at Wiley.
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Justices' Corruption Ruling May Shift DOJ Bank Fraud Tactics
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month in Ciminelli v. U.S., curtailing a government theory of wire fraud liability, prosecutors may need to reconsider their approach to the bank fraud statute, particularly when it comes to foreign bank enforcement, says Brian Kearney at Ballard Spahr.
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Avoiding Negative Tax Consequences In Loan Modifications
Borrowers who may be caught in the dramatic uptick in nonperforming commercial real estate loans should consider strategies to avoid income and capital gains tax that may be triggered by loan modifications, says Aman Badyal at Glaser Weil.
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Foreign Investment In Real Estate Is Getting More Complicated
Increasing federal scrutiny and a proliferation of new state laws targeting foreign investment in real estate may complicate or prevent transactions even by U.S. companies or funds that have shareholders or limited partners from China and other countries of concern, say attorneys at Akin.
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5th Circ. Ruling Aids Insureds In Contractual Exclusion Rows
The Fifth Circuit's recent insurance decision in Windermere Oaks v. Allied World, in favor of coverage, provides policyholders with guidance on how to distinguish between contractual and noncontractual claims when insurers deploy broadly worded liability exclusions to deny coverage, say Max Louik and David Ledet at Reed Smith.
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What OneMain Order Says About CFPB's Regulatory Priorities
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s recent action against OneMain Financial Group and others reflect a continuing trend of arguably historic regulatory scrutiny for consumer lenders, and send a strong message that the CFPB is taking a tough stance against deceptive sales practices, say Felix Shipkevich and Jessica Livingston at Shipkevich.
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2nd Circ. Reinsurance Ruling Correctly Applied English Law
Contrary to a recent Law360 guest article's argument, the Second Circuit correctly applied English law when it decided in Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania v. Equitas that concurrent reinsurance certificates required the reinsurer to cover loss in accordance with the law of the policy's governing jurisdiction, say Peter Chaffetz and Andrew Poplinger at Chaffetz Lindsey.
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Hospitality Biz Must Prep For Seaweed Damage Coverage
With the Great Atlantic Sargassum Seaweed Belt, a 10-million-ton mass of brown seaweed, potentially about to approach the coasts of the U.S. Southeast, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, affected policyholders should consider whether their losses are covered by their property insurance policies, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Sackett's US Waters Redefinition Is A Boon For Developers
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent landmark ruling in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should reduce real estate project delays, development costs and potential legal exposures — but developers must remain mindful of how new federal and state regulations governing wetlands could affect their plans, say attorneys at Morris Manning.
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For NY Wind And Solar Projects, Some Tax Assessment Clarity
Recent legislation, which moots a challenge to New York’s discounted cash flow method for assessing solar and wind project real property taxes, lifts a cloud of uncertainty and brings new considerations for developers, investors and lenders, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.