Commercial
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April 23, 2025
US Office Demand Falling, Usage Stagnating, Yardi Says
The demand for office space is declining in the U.S., while office leases aren't being extended and utilization rate has slowed, according to an April report from commercial real estate research firm Yardi Matrix.
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April 23, 2025
Colo. Resort Developer Nixes Suit To Pursue Barbuda Claims
A Colorado-based resort developer has voluntarily dismissed a Denver District Court lawsuit accusing a business partner on a Barbuda resort project of violating a noncompete by working on a similar resort, and plans to pursue his claims through a case in Barbuda, according to the developer's lawyer.
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April 23, 2025
Goodwin Guides KHP $300M Hotel Fund
KHP Capital Partners announced Wednesday that it had wrapped its latest real estate fund guided by Goodwin Procter LLP after raising $300 million, adding that it plans to invest in up to 10 hotel renovation and repositioning opportunities via the fund.
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April 23, 2025
Goldman Heiress Fights Chancery Ruling In NY Estate Dispute
The late Sol Goldman's billionaire daughter Jane Goldman is appealing a Delaware Chancery Court declaratory ruling that her nephew, Steven Gurney-Goldman, has rights to administer and settle his deceased father's interest in the family's vast real estate empire as an estate executor.
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April 23, 2025
Ariz. Bars Property Values Above Local Assessor Valuations
Arizona barred county board rulings in property valuation disputes from exceeding the valuation determined by a local assessor under a bill signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
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April 23, 2025
Minn. Tax Court Slashes $5.5M From Warehouse Value
A Minnesota warehouse property was overvalued by about $5.5 million, according to the state tax court, which used sales and income approaches and rounded downward to reflect its recent purchase price.
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April 23, 2025
Commercial Foreclosure Atty Joins Offit Kurman's NYC Office
Offit Kurman said Wednesday that it had added David Yohay, a veteran real estate attorney with expertise advising lenders on commercial foreclosures, to its commercial litigation practice group in New York City.
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April 23, 2025
Gibson Dunn Real Estate Atty Joins Milbank's NY Office
Milbank LLP announced Tuesday the addition of a former Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP lawyer to its New York office, highlighting his experience handling commercial real estate transactional matters for clients such as private equity and sovereign wealth funds, top financial institutions and family offices.
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April 23, 2025
It's Getting Harder To Be A Data Center Speculator
Opportunistic investors have discovered they can make a pretty penny selling land after securing power for a proposed data center. But utilities have found ways to weed out the speculators, such as requiring a seven-figure deposit up front.
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April 23, 2025
NJ AG Sues RealPage, Landlords, Claiming Rent Price 'Cartel'
RealPage Inc. and 10 of New Jersey's largest landlords are colluding to raise rents in violation of state and federal antitrust and consumer protection laws, forcing Garden State residents to overpay for housing, Attorney General Matt Platkin claimed Wednesday in a federal lawsuit.
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April 23, 2025
Sidley-Led Stonepeak Plugs $1.5B Into New Data Center Biz
Infrastructure and real assets-focused private equity shop Stonepeak, advised by Sidley Austin LLP, revealed on Wednesday that it launched a new North American hyperscale-focused data center company with a $1.5 billion equity commitment.
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April 23, 2025
Aztec Fund Says Ch. 11 Deal With Bank Of America On Track
Private equity investment group Aztec Fund can seek votes on its Chapter 11 liquidation plan after a Texas bankruptcy judge gave conditional approval of its disclosure statement.
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April 23, 2025
No Coverage For Shopping Mall In Shooting Suit, Insurer Says
Scottsdale Insurance Co. has told a Florida federal court that the owner of part of a shopping plaza isn't owed coverage for a $1 million personal injury lawsuit brought by a man who was shot in the parking lot of the shopping center, arguing that the incident didn't occur on the covered premises.
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April 22, 2025
Wyndham Must Face Suit Alleging It Enabled Sex Trafficking
A New Jersey federal judge Tuesday rejected Wyndham Hotels' bid to escape a woman's lawsuit accusing the company and one of its franchisees of ignoring signs she was trafficked for sex at a Hawthorne Suites in Northern California, finding the woman sufficiently alleged Wyndham was liable for her injuries.
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April 22, 2025
2 Firms Guide $200M Multifamily, Industrial JV Venture
Global real estate investment firm Kennedy Wilson and a subsidiary of Japanese developer Tokyu Land Corp. formed a real estate investment joint venture that's guided by Goodwin Procter LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and aims to focus on U.S. multifamily and industrial projects.
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April 22, 2025
DOJ Wants Time During 9th Circ. Vegas Room Rate Arguments
The U.S. Department of Justice has asked to participate in the Ninth Circuit argument for an appeal from Las Vegas casino-hotel guests accusing the operators of using software to inflate room rates, the first algorithmic price-fixing case to reach an appeals court.
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April 22, 2025
McCarter & English Caught In Mall Developer Estate Suit
The family of a deceased Connecticut retail developer has filed suit against the estate of a deceased attorney and his former firm, McCarter & English LLP, accusing him of mismanaging the developer's trust while extracting steep attorney fees.
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April 22, 2025
More Than A Dozen Firms Guided Largest Q1 Hospitality Deals
A&O Shearman and Hengeler Mueller are among more than a dozen law firms that guided the 10 largest global hospitality mergers and acquisitions of the first quarter, all but one of which were announced in the first two months, prior to the ensuing March trade war escalations.
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April 22, 2025
Intel Asks For Final End To Claims Over Chipmaking Problems
Intel Corp. has told a California federal judge that a group of investors on a second try failed again to show that the company concealed problems in its domestic computer chipmaking business before posting results on Aug. 1 that led to its largest single-day stock decline since 1985.
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April 22, 2025
Scott + Scott To Lead Medical Cannabis REIT Securities Suit
A Maryland federal judge picked Scott + Scott as the lead class counsel Tuesday for a proposed securities class action accusing a medical cannabis-focused real estate investment trust of misleading shareholders about its declining rents, declining property management fees and the state of its leasing operations.
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April 22, 2025
Calif. Pension Fund Injects $150M Into Self-Storage Assets
Real estate management firm Nuveen closed a California pension fund's account in order to make a $150 million investment that's part of a larger $166.6 million investment in U.S. self-storage assets, the firm announced Tuesday.
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April 22, 2025
Court Appoints Monitor In SEC's $1B PE Fraud Case
A Florida federal judge has appointed a founding partner of a Florida law firm to serve as a monitor in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit against a private equity firm it says defrauded investors in a $1 billion fund focused on real estate and small business funding.
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April 22, 2025
Chase Bank Can't Ditch Claims It Aided $119M Ponzi Scam
A California federal judge trimmed on Monday SiliconSage Builders LLC receiver's lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase of allegedly helping the now-defunct real estate developer carry out a massive $119 million Ponzi scheme, tossing an unjust enrichment claim, but allowing the bulk of the aiding-and-abetting allegations to survive.
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April 22, 2025
Pittsburgh Firm Accused Of Botching $3M Office Rent Row
The owner of a Pittsburgh office building claims mistakes made by attorneys from Meyer Unkovic & Scott LLP cost the company more than $3.3 million in rental income and interest payments, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.
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April 22, 2025
NJ AG Pushes To Revive RICO Case Against Power Broker
New Jersey urged a state appellate court to revive its sprawling racketeering indictment against Garden State power broker George E. Norcross III, politically connected attorneys and others, arguing that the trial court undertook a review that doesn't exist in criminal practice.
Expert Analysis
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Smith's New Trump Indictment Is Case Study In Superseding
Special counsel Jack Smith’s recently revised Jan. 6 charges against former President Donald Trump provide lessons for prosecutors on how to effectively draft superseding indictments in order to buttress or streamline their case, as necessary, says Jessica Roth at Cardozo Law School.
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Consider Best Legal Practices For Commissioning Public Art
Commissioning public art for real estate projects can provide many benefits to real estate developers and the public, but it's important to understand the unique legal and contracting aspects of the process to ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget, says Sarah Conley Odenkirk at ArtConverge.
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Applying High Court's Domestic Corruption Rulings To FCPA
After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the domestic corruption statutes in three decisions over the past year and a half, it’s worth evaluating whether these rulings may have an impact on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, and if attorneys can use the court’s reasoning in international bribery cases, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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Climate Among Many Factors Driving Up RE Insurance Costs
A proactive approach to risk management may determine the viability of the U.S. commercial real estate sector as weather crises and other factors drive insurance costs higher, says Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Debriefings, Timeliness, Documentation
James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concerning an agency's decision not to hold post-award discussions, a timeliness trap in certain Federal Supply Schedule procurements and the importance of providing contemporaneous documentation in price-evaluation protests.
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A Look At Recent Case Law On Expedited Judgment In NY
A number of recent New York state court decisions clarify and refine the contours surrounding Civil Practice Law and Rule 3213, providing landlords, lenders and other payees guidance on how to seek accelerated judgment in certain litigation, says Alexander Lycoyannis at Holland & Knight.
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Dealmaker Lessons From CFIUS' New Enforcement Webpage
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recently launched webpage, which details the actions — and inactions — that led to enforcement activity, provides important insights for dealmakers about filing requirements, mitigation commitments and the cost of noncompliance, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives
As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.
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Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight
Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.
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Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords
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.
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Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools
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.
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Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
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.
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Keys To Successful Commercial Property Insurance Claims
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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.