Commercial
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April 03, 2024
Broker Says Developer Won't Pay Finder's Fee On $24M Loan
A South Carolina real estate developer has failed to fork over a finder's fee to his broker on more than $24 million in financing for a mixed-use project on the coast of North Carolina, according to a newly filed federal complaint.
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April 03, 2024
Md. Lawmakers OK Special Tax Rates For Vacant Property
Maryland would authorize its counties and the city of Baltimore to impose special tax rates on vacant or abandoned property under legislation approved by lawmakers and headed to the governor.
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April 03, 2024
5 Hotel Cos. Defeat Trafficking Claims, 2 Others Settle
An Ohio federal judge gave five hospitality companies early wins against a sex trafficking survivor's liability claims and dismissed two others following undisclosed settlement agreements, bringing an end to the survivor's suit alleging the companies should have seen warning signs and prevented what happened to her.
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April 03, 2024
Forchelli Appoints Environmental Practice Chair
Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP has announced the hiring of a partner with experience in organizations such as Miller Environmental Group Inc. and New York American Water to chair its environmental practice group.
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April 03, 2024
Hotels Eye Conversions, M&A As Construction Slows
Hotel operators are seeking growth through brand conversions and mergers and acquisitions as hospitality construction activity stagnates worldwide, JLL reported.
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April 03, 2024
RE Funds Lost Money For First Time Since '08, McKinsey Says
The real estate industry brought investors negative returns in 2023 for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a year-end report from consultant McKinsey.
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April 03, 2024
Skanska Inks $1.4B Contract To Replace Seattle Bridge
Skanska and Washington's Department of Transportation closed a $1.4 billion bridge replacement contract that aims to update Seattle's Portage Bay Bridge so that it's up to "current seismic resiliency standards," the construction and development company announced.
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April 03, 2024
CBRE Economist Projects Real Estate Uptick For 2024
After largely retreating to the sidelines during the past couple of years of economic challenges, it is time for real estate players to step back on the field and take some risks — if cautiously — in light of the current economic outlook and solid industry fundamentals, CBRE Group Inc.'s global chief economist suggested Wednesday.
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April 03, 2024
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Goodwin Procter, Akin Gump and Dykema Gossett are among the law firms that have made recent real estate hires.
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April 03, 2024
Lawmakers Rail Against Amtrak's Union Station Takeover Bid
In a letter made public Tuesday, lawmakers raised concerns to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg about Amtrak's pending bid to take control of Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, which, if successful, could upend eminent domain precedent.
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April 03, 2024
As EVs Catch On, Chargers May Be New Real Estate Standard
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure isn't yet a prerequisite for a successful real estate development, but experts say it's speeding toward becoming as standard as Wi-Fi or ATMs, even in an environment of rapid-fire regulatory and technology change.
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April 03, 2024
Winston Real Estate Leader Eyes Uptick In Deal Volume
In anticipation of multiple interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve later this year, commercial real estate deal flow is likely to pick up in the near term, Winston & Strawn LLP's real estate leader told Law360 in an interview.
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April 03, 2024
2024 Proxy Fight Preview: Hotel Operator, Shops, Offices
Every spring ushers in a new season of proxy fights between activist investors and boards of directors, and a handful of commercial property companies are in the midst of battles with dissatisfied shareholders, while the industry at large continues to face economic stressors.
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April 02, 2024
Lenders Notch Win In Tilting Manhattan Condo Loan Suit
A New York appellate court on Tuesday dropped an Israeli bank and several claims from a thorny loan dispute brought by the developers behind a slanted, half-built Manhattan tower, months after a trial court judge greenlit the lenders' request to foreclose on the property.
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April 02, 2024
NY Appeals Court Nixes Sanctions In $195M Mezzanine Loan Row
A New York state appeals court unanimously reversed $50,000 in sanctions against Friedman Kaplan Seiler Adelman & Robbins LLP on Tuesday in a dispute involving a $195 million mezzanine loan, ruling that the law firm's conduct during the suit wasn't frivolous under state law.
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April 02, 2024
Detroit Office Market Improving Somewhat In 2024, CBRE Says
Detroit's office market showed some good signs in 2024's first quarter, with the city seeing nearly 50,000 square feet of positive net absorption and the downtown area showing positive net absorption for the first time since 2023's second quarter, according to a new report on Tuesday.
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April 02, 2024
McGuireWoods Guides $414M Loan Deal For Brooklyn Tower
McGuireWoods LLP guided a mortgage loan deal in which an affiliate of real estate company The Brodsky Organization LLC borrowed $414.8 million from M&T Realty Capital Corp. for a 51-story, 858-unit Brooklyn residential tower, according to official property records.
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April 02, 2024
Berkeley Nixes Natural Gas Ban, But Shift To Electric Rolls On
The city of Berkeley has agreed to unwind a ban on natural gas infrastructure in new construction under a deal with the California Restaurant Association, possibly foreshadowing a shift away from such bans and toward new incentive structures for electrification, attorneys say.
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April 02, 2024
Cemetery Owner Can't Sell Unused Land, NC Panel Rules
The operator of two North Carolina cemeteries couldn't convince the state Court of Appeals to let her section off unused land for a potential sale, with a three-judge panel ruling Tuesday state law forbids her from transferring the property even if remains are not interred.
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April 02, 2024
King & Spalding Lands 3 Kasowitz Partners For Biz Litigation
King & Spalding LLP announced Tuesday that it had hired three partners for its business litigation practice from Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, including the co-chair of Kasowitz's real estate litigation practice group.
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April 02, 2024
La. Property Owners, Insurers To Arbitrate Hurricane Claims
A Hurricane Ida damage coverage dispute between seven New Orleans-area property owners and their insurers will be stayed pending arbitration, a Louisiana federal judge ruled, agreeing with the insurers that the policy's arbitration agreement is enforceable under the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
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April 02, 2024
NY Pot Biz Says Store Placement Rules Unconstitutional
A marijuana company is suing the New York State Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management, along with others, alleging rules restricting how close dispensaries can be to one another are too vague.
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April 02, 2024
WeWork Drops 150 Leases To Cut Rent Costs By $8B In Ch. 11
Coworking company WeWork has agreed to exit 150 leases and restructure others to reduce its future rent payments by some $8 billion, saying the "significant milestone" paves the way for it to exit Chapter 11 by the end of May.
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April 01, 2024
Trump Posts $175M Bond, Pausing $465M Fraud Judgment
Donald Trump on Monday posted a $175 million bond, ducking, for now, enforcement of a nearly $465 million civil fraud judgment against him and his businesses in the New York attorney general's case accusing them of defrauding banks and insurers.
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April 01, 2024
Health System Says $1B In Losses Dooms Beth Israel Hospital
Mount Sinai Health System Inc. told a New York state court to let it go forward with its plans to shut down Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, arguing that it reached its decision to close the Manhattan hospital "after a decade of mounting losses at MSBI amounting to over $1 billion."
Expert Analysis
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Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals
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.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'
Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.
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Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play
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.
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4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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.
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What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance
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.
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Rare Reg A+ Fines Reflect New Era Of SEC Enforcement
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.
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Factors To Consider When Structuring Data Center Contracts
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.
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Rethinking Mich. Slip-And-Fall Defense After Top Court Ruling
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.
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Subchapter V Eligibility Ruling Raises Uncertainty For Tenants
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.
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Parsing Tax Implications Of NYC Office Leasing Transactions
Though New York City's tax laws generally do not require negotiated contractual risk allocation in the case of sublease and early lease termination transactions, it is still helpful for counsel to both landlords and tenants to understand the laws' nuances, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Caregiver Flexibility Is Crucial For Atty Engagement, Retention
As the battle for top talent continues post-pandemic, many firms are attempting to attract employees with progressive hybrid working environments — and supporting caregivers before, during and after an extended leave is a critically important way to retain top talent, says Manar Morales at The Diversity & Flexibility Alliance.
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NY's Take On Premises Insurance Policies: What's In A Name?
A New York appellate court's recent decision in Wesco Insurance v. Fulmont Mutual Insurance — requiring insurance coverage for a property owner not named on the policy — strengthens a state case law trend creating a practical exception in premises liability cases to normally strict requirements for coverage, says Craig Rokuson at Traub Lieberman.
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Bankruptcy Ruling Shows Section 363's Magic Has Its Limits
The Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel's recent ruling in Groves demonstrates that Section 363 — which allows a debtor-in-possession to sell their property in order to generate cash — fails as a tool when it’s used to turn a nondebtor entities' property into property of a debtor's bankruptcy estate, says Brian Shaw at Cozen O'Connor.