Commercial
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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November 12, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Sheppard Mullin and Fried Frank are among the law firms that steered the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with the week's largest transactions including several trades of Manhattan residential units.
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November 12, 2024
2 Firms Advise $745M Prospect Managed Care Sale
California-based Astrana Health said it has agreed to pay $745 million to acquire a significant amount of Prospect Medical Holdings' managed care business, including a 177-bed acute care hospital, in a transaction advised by Russ August & Kabat LLP and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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November 12, 2024
Fried Frank, Sheppard Mullin Wrap $100M Art Museum Sale
The Whitney Museum of Art has closed the sale of a Manhattan art museum building to an entity connected to broker Sotheby's in a $100 million deal worked on by Fried Frank and Sheppard Mullin.
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November 12, 2024
Holding Co.'s $6B CMBS Exposed By Bankruptcy, Report Says
Franchise Group Inc.'s $6.18 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities are at risk of exposure after the retail-focused holding company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which has caused the company to close down more than 300 store locations, according to a report from the analytics team of credit ratings agency KBRA released Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Treasury's Energy Tax Perk Regs On Track Despite Trump Win
The U.S. Treasury Department still plans to finalize remaining clean energy tax credit regulations by the end of this year despite President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to unravel the 2022 climate law that enacted them, a Treasury spokesperson told Law360 on Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
SD AG Issues Explanation Of Property Tax Hike Limit Initiative
South Dakota's attorney general released a final explanation for an initiative that could appear on the state's 2026 general election ballot and would limit annual property tax assessment increases for nonagricultural property, according to a news release published Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Paul Hastings Commits To Texas With New Office Leases
More than 12 years after first hanging a shingle in Houston and months after opening a Dallas outpost, Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that it had ambitious plans to continue its recent expansion in Texas with the signing of two commercial leases to boost the firm's capabilities in the Lone Star State.
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November 12, 2024
Goodwin Lands 2 Willkie Real Estate Finance Partners In NY
Goodwin Procter LLP announced Tuesday that it has added two partners from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP to join Goodwin's growing global real estate industry practice in New York.
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November 12, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Real Estate Pro In Dallas Office
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is growing its real estate team in its 6-year-old Dallas office by bringing in a commercial real estate expert who previously ran his own boutique firm as a partner.
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November 08, 2024
Cannabis Shops Sue DC To Halt Enforcement Actions
A coalition of Washington, D.C., recreational marijuana shops has launched a federal lawsuit against a slew of District entities, including the mayor, cannabis regulator and police department, seeking to halt the government's enforcement actions against their stores.
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November 08, 2024
Investors Say REITs Misled Them Into Delaying Liquidations
A group of retail-focused, non-traded real estate investment trusts misled shareholders into approving charter amendments that stopped shares liquidation and prevented them from making money off their investments, a proposed class claimed in New Jersey federal court.
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November 08, 2024
Exec Exodus At Hospitality Platform Sonder Includes CLO
Hospitality platform Sonder announced Friday its chief legal officer will be resigning from her role later this month as one of three executives who have announced their plans to leave the company by the end of 2024.
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November 08, 2024
Cohen & Steers Names General Mills' GC To Its Board
Investment management company Cohen & Steers Inc. announced Friday that it has appointed General Mills' general counsel Karen Wilson Thissen to its board of directors.
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November 08, 2024
Steptoe & Johnson Adds Veteran Corporate Atty In Dallas
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC announced that a veteran corporate attorney who previously served as the top attorney for a major auto repair company has joined the firm's Dallas office as of counsel, in a move the firm said will help strengthen its private credit practice.
Expert Analysis
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Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus
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.
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Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing
Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.
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DOJ Paths To Limit FARA Fallout From Wynn's DC Circ. Win
After the D.C. Circuit’s recent Attorney General v. Wynn ruling, holding that the government cannot compel retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has a few options to limit the decision’s impact on enforcement, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer
As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.
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Shipping Containers As Building Elements Require Diligence
With the shipping container market projected to double between 2020 and 2028, repurposing containers as storage units, office spaces and housing may become more common, but developers must make sure they comply with requirements that can vary by intended use and location, says Steven Otto at Crosbie Gliner.
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NY Tax Talk: Triggers For Tax On Software-As-A-Service
Recent decisions by New York’s Tax Appeals Tribunal and Division of Tax Appeals, finding that services bundled with prewritten software were tangible property, provide insight into the features and customer interactions that render such products subject to New York sales tax, say Elizabeth Cha and Madison Ball at Eversheds Sutherland.
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Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.
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NY Ruling Offers A Foreclosure Road Map For Lenders
A New York appellate court recently upheld a summary judgment ruling in favor of a commercial lender's foreclosure in U.S. Bank v. 1226 Evergreen Bapaz, illustrating the proofs lenders will need to prosecute a foreclosure action, especially where the plaintiff is an assignee of the originating lender, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.
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Kentucky Tax Talk: Appeals Court Revisits Leases' Tax Effects
With better facts and greater emphasis on the Kentucky Constitution, Walgreen Co. may succeed in its latest Kentucky Court of Appeals challenge to a tax assessor's method of valuing leaseholds on real property for purposes of determining ad valorem tax, say Mark Sommer and Elizabeth Ethington at Frost Brown Todd.
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Utilizing Liability Exemption When Calif. Cities Lease Property
With rising costs pushing California municipalities to lease real estate assets instead of purchasing them, municipalities should review the ample case law that supports certain exceptions to California Constitution Section 18(a) requirements, providing that certain long-term lease obligations are not considered to be liabilities, says Steven Otto at Crosbie Gliner.
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How NJ Worker Status Ruling Benefits Real Estate Industry
In Kennedy v. Weichert, the New Jersey Supreme Court recently said a real estate agent’s employment contract would supersede the usual ABC test analysis to determine his classification as an independent contractor, preserving operational flexibility for the industry — and potentially others, say Jason Finkelstein and Dalila Haden at Cole Schotz.
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A Checklist For Lenders Preparing For CRE Loan Defaults
Considering the recent interest rate environment, lenders should brush up on the proper steps that they should take when preparing to respond to a borrower's default on a commercial real estate loan, and borrowers should understand what lenders will be reviewing, says attorney Norma Williams.