Commercial
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January 28, 2025
Slaughter & May-Led JV To Buy 6 Warehouses Worth €470M
Property investor Segro PLC said Tuesday that its joint venture with a pension fund has agreed to acquire six logistics centers in the Netherlands and Germany worth €470 million ($490 million), as the U.K. company plans to expand its presence in Europe.
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January 27, 2025
Feds May Trim $2B In Leases Over Trump's Term, Trepp Says
Following President Donald Trump's order on Inauguration Day that federal workers return to the office, a Trepp report finds more than a third of all office space leased by the federal government could potentially be terminated during Trump's second term.
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January 27, 2025
Amazon To Open Office In Miami's Wynwood District
Amazon has chosen Miami's Wynwood neighborhood for a new location in the Magic City, agreeing to lease 50,333 square feet at the soon-to-be-completed Wynwood Plaza mixed-use project, the owners said Monday.
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January 27, 2025
Party City Inks Deal To Sell IP, Assets In 2nd Ch. 11
Bankrupt retailer Party City has reached a stalking horse agreement to sell its brand name, other intellectual property and related operating assets to an affiliate of the pop culture merchandiser Ad Populum LLC, which owns the brand behind Chia Pet and is an owner of the entertainment complex at Elvis Presley's home Graceland.
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January 27, 2025
Late Filings Didn't Stymie Tax Challenges, Conn. Justices Say
Failing to file timely appraisals on commercial properties valued over $1 million was not fatal to several owners' tax assessment challenges under a new state law, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday, agreeing that a trial judge properly reopened the cases months after a missed deadline.
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January 27, 2025
Office CMBS Delinquency Rate Rises To All-Time High Of 11%
Some commercial mortgage-backed securities continued to go underwater in December, with the office sector's delinquency rate hitting a record 11.01% and the biggest, newly delinquent piece of debt being a $670 million loan backed by Manhattan's 230 Park Ave., according to Trepp data on Monday.
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January 27, 2025
NJ Shortens Window For Use Of Redevelopment Tax Credits
New Jersey reduced the time in which tax credits for certain mixed-use and commercial real estate redevelopment projects must be used after approval as part of a bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy.
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January 27, 2025
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Seyfarth Shaw and Nixon Peabody are among the law firms that scored work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with a pair of transactions in Brooklyn leading the way.
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January 27, 2025
High Court Skips Golf Course Investors' Class Cert. Bid
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a review petition filed by Chinese investors who wanted class certification for their Ponzi scheme suit against a Chinese citizen accused of misusing the investors' money to buy multiple golf courses and other properties in South Carolina.
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January 27, 2025
Loeb & Loeb Adds Another Morrison Cohen Partner
Commercial real estate attorney Gillian Kessler became the latest Morrison Cohen LLP partner to leave the firm for Loeb & Loeb, according to an announcement.
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January 27, 2025
Mo. Tax Commission Lowers T-Mobile Towers' Value
Two T-Mobile cell towers in Missouri should have their value lowered after the company provided a thorough inspection that properly accounted for depreciation, the state's tax commission ruled.
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January 27, 2025
Barings, Apollo Ink $113M Refinancing For Indianapolis Hotel
Barings said Monday that it worked with Apollo Global Management to provide $113 million in refinancing for a hotel in downtown Indianapolis owned by an affiliate of KSL Capital Partners.
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January 27, 2025
Proskauer Brings On MoFo REIT Expert As M&A Partner In DC
Proskauer Rose LLP has added a former co-chair of Morrison Foerster LLP's real estate investment trust practice as a mergers and acquisitions partner in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced Monday.
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January 27, 2025
High Court Passes On Solar Project Fine Levied Without Jury
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review the Vermont Supreme Court's ruling that the state Public Utility Commission has the authority to bypass a jury trial and unilaterally impose civil penalties on solar energy project backers that allegedly cleared land without a permit.
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January 24, 2025
Various Law Offices Evacuated As Hughes Fire Burns Nearby
Within hours of igniting Wednesday, the Hughes Fire became the third-largest blaze to affect Los Angeles County this month — and prompted various lawyers in the area to evacuate their offices.
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January 24, 2025
Property Plays: AT&T, Blue Owl, Flow Life
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 24, 2025
NJ Judge Rejects Bid For New Trial In Red Roof Inn Deal
A New Jersey state judge has rejected a bid for a new trial over a deal gone wrong to purchase a Red Roof Inn, ruling two witnesses who asserted their Fifth Amendment rights outside of the jury's presence had no bearing on the jury's verdict.
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January 24, 2025
Gordon Rees Expands Litigation Bench With Atlanta Partner
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP has added a former Gray Rust St. Amand Moffett & Brieske LLP partner in Atlanta, strengthening the firm's commercial litigation practice.
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January 24, 2025
Lutnick Settles Chancery Suit Ahead Of Commerce Hearing
Billionaire Howard L. Lutnick, President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of commerce, has settled a Delaware Court of Chancery derivative suit accusing the Newmark Inc. principal executive officer of "blowing smoke" around his part in a $500 million stock-value gain in order to receive a $50 million bonus.
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January 24, 2025
GSA Taps Ex-BlackRock Atty As New GC
The General Services Administration has tapped Russell McGranahan, the former general counsel of Focus Financial Partners who held legal roles at BlackRock and in private practice for almost 30 years, as its next general counsel, according to a Friday announcement.
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January 24, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Latham, Simpson Thacher
In this week's Taxation With Representation, a Brookfield private real estate fund acquires Divvy Homes' property portfolio and platform, Kantar Group proposes the sale of Kantar Media, and an Ares Management-led group buys a majority of Form Technologies Inc.'s common equity.
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January 24, 2025
AT&T Unloads Copper Network Sites To Developer For $850M
AT&T said on Friday it has reached a sale leaseback agreement with New York real estate development firm Reign Capital netting the telecommunications company $850 million to unload 74 properties as it transitions to a fiber optic and wireless network instead of one reliant on copper.
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January 24, 2025
Blackstone To Buy $1B Power Plant In Va. Data Center Mecca
Blackstone, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, plans to purchase a natural gas power plant in Loudoun County, Virginia — a region known for having the biggest data center market in the world — for $1 billion from Latham & Watkins LLP-led Ares Management, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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January 23, 2025
Conn. Lawmakers Target Healthcare After Hospital's Ch. 11
In the lead-up to and aftermath of California hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings Inc.'s $1 billion bankruptcy, Connecticut lawmakers are considering new regulatory powers, promising and penning oversight bills for hospitals owned by private equity firms and real estate trusts while seeking to stabilize the state's healthcare markets.
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January 23, 2025
Wells Fargo Prevails In $25M Mortgage Default Dispute
A Pennsylvania state court sided with Wells Fargo in a foreclosure suit accusing a Philadelphia property owner of defaulting on a nearly $25 million mortgage loan, finding the owner failed to abide by the loan agreement.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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7th Circ Joins Trend Of No CGL Coverage For Structural Flaws
The Seventh Circuit, which recently held potential structural instability did not count as property damage under a construction company's commercial general liability policy, joins a growing consensus that faulty work does not implicate coverage without tangible and present damage to the project, say Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty, and Elan Kandel and James Talbert at Bailey Cavalieri.
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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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The Often Overlooked NY Foreclosure Notice Requirements
As multifamily real estate defaults mount, New York foreclosing parties should be aware of pitfalls and perils that can await the litigant who is not prepared to ensure adherence with tenant notice requirements under the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Rosenberg & Estis.
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A Case Study For Calif. Cities In Water Utility Takeovers
With growing water scarcity and drier weather looming, some local governments in California have sought to acquire investor-owned water utilities by eminent domain — but the 2016 case of Claremont v. Golden State Water is a reminder that such municipalization attempts must meet certain statutory requirements, say attorneys at Nossaman.
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Lower Courts May Finally Be Getting The Memo After Ciminelli
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court again limited prosecutors' overbroad theories of fraud in Ciminelli v. U.S., early returns suggest that the message has at least partially landed with the lower courts, spotlighting lessons for defense counsel moving forward, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.
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A Framework For Investigating Commercial Loan Fraud
As commercial loan transactions are increasingly subject to sophisticated fraud schemes, lenders must adopt dynamic strategies to detect, investigate and mitigate these schemes, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Yellow Corp. Lease Assumption Shows Landlord Protections
Yellow Corp.’s recent filing of a motion to assume unexpired leases is a helpful reminder to practitioners to maintain a long-term approach about what is most beneficial for an estate and to not let a debtor's short-term cash position dictate business decisions, says Kyle Arendsen at Squire Patton.
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How A Bumblebee Got Under Calif. Wildlife Regulator's Bonnet
A California bumblebee's listing as an endangered species could lead to a regulatory quagmire as California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits now routinely include survey requirements for the bee, but the regulator has yet to determine what the species needs for conservation, says David Smith at Manatt.
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The Clock Is Ticking For Fla. Construction Defect Claims
Ahead of the fast-approaching July 1 deadline for filing construction defect claims in Florida, Sean Ravenel at Foran Glennon discusses how the state's new statute of repose has changed the timeline, and highlights several related issues that property owners should be aware of.
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It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills
After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.