Commercial

  • April 16, 2024

    3 Takeaways From Urban Land Institute's Resilience Summit

    Real estate professionals across the country convened in New York City last week to talk about how to navigate an inconvenient truth in real estate — that extreme weather and climate change must be factored into investments. Here are three takeaways from the conference.

  • April 16, 2024

    High Court Sides With Texas Landowners In Takings Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of landowners in a dispute with Texas, finding the owners can pursue their takings claim pursuant to state law but leaving open a larger Fifth Amendment takings question.

  • April 15, 2024

    NYC Offers 'Wholesale' Zoning Update To Boost Affordability

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams and city planning officials are relying on a constellation of zoning changes that loosen parking requirements, permit more density and aid building conversions as part of a plan that could pressure state lawmakers to act on housing costs.

  • April 15, 2024

    JLL Closes REIT's $171M Boston Hotel Sale

    Ashford Hospitality Trust completed a $171 million sale of Boston's 390-room Hilton Back Bay hotel to a joint venture of Certares Management LLC and Belcourt Capital Partners, in a deal arranged by JLL.

  • April 15, 2024

    Goodwin, Baker Donelson Guide MPT In $1.1B Hospital Sale

    Medical Properties Trust Inc. has sold its majority stake in five Utah hospitals to a joint venture with an unnamed investment fund, in a $1.1 billion transaction advised by Goodwin Procter LLP and Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC that comes days after the real estate investment trust sold another group of hospitals for $350 million.

  • April 15, 2024

    New San Diego Offices Drove Q1 Vacancies, CBRE Says

    CBRE said San Diego's office vacancy rate had yet to peak in the first quarter of 2024 thanks to a rash of new project deliveries, forcing a continued decrease in asking rents.

  • April 15, 2024

    Detroit Fire Safety 'Tax' Case Heads To Mich. Justices

    The Michigan Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Detroit's fire safety inspection fees, taking up an appeal from a pipe fitter's proposed class action alleging that the charges amounted to unlawful taxes.

  • April 15, 2024

    Haynes Boone Expands In Texas With New San Antonio Digs

    Haynes and Boone LLP said Monday that it has relocated its San Antonio office to a larger, newly designed space in the same building.

  • April 15, 2024

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Venable and Holland & Knight are among the law firms that guided the largest real estate deals that hit New York City public records last week, a period that saw four matters north of $20 million become public.

  • April 15, 2024

    Clark Hill Adds Fla. Real Estate Atty With 17 Years' Experience

    Clark Hill PLC has hired a longtime real estate attorney with almost two decades of experience who spent the past nine years working on transactional and other related real estate matters as a solo practitioner, the firm announced Monday.

  • April 15, 2024

    High Court Won't Hear California Tribal Casino Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a bid by an anti-casino advocacy group seeking to overturn a Ninth Circuit decision that dismissed their case after determining that the Ione Band of Miwok Indians is eligible to go forward with its project in California.

  • April 12, 2024

    Hedge Fund Fires Back At Hotel REIT With Proxy Contest Suit

    Blackwells Capital LLC has fired back at Braemar Hotels & Resorts Inc. with a lawsuit against the hotel REIT and its board chair Monty Bennett, seeking a green light to move forward with a campaign to place its own candidates on the company's board.

  • April 12, 2024

    NJ Gives Counties Power To Up Tax After Paying Off Debt

    New Jersey will allow counties greater authority to impose property taxes after retiring debts under a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mich. Township Wants Suit Over Foiled Pot Dispensary Tossed

    A Michigan township is urging a federal court to toss a lawsuit filed by a cannabis entrepreneur and local developers who claim the municipality's leaders blocked them from opening a marijuana dispensary, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction.

  • April 12, 2024

    Mich. High Court Snapshot: Atty Sanctions Kick Off April

    The Michigan Supreme Court returns Tuesday for its April session, hearing oral arguments about judges' ability to sanction lawyers for past attorneys' work in a case, what defendants say could be double recovery in wrongful death cases, and an attempt to use a Larry Nassar-inspired law to sue Catholic priests for decades-old abuse allegations.

  • April 12, 2024

    SEC Says Developer Pulled EB-5 Funds From Nursing Homes

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused a Las Vegas developer of using $10 million raised by overseas investors hoping to immigrate to the U.S. to pay down a loan for a project unconnected to their immigration applications.

  • April 12, 2024

    The Week In Trump: Catch Up On The Ex-President's Cases

    Donald Trump and his legal team proved that they are nothing if not persistent as they repeatedly tried — and failed — to hit the brakes on the former president's porn star hush money trial in Manhattan.

  • April 12, 2024

    Justices Back Property Owner In Dispute Over Permit Fees

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that a $23,420 local traffic impact fee charged to a California property owner's rural manufactured home isn't exempt from scrutiny as a Fifth Amendment taking simply because the charge is allowed by legislation.

  • April 11, 2024

    DC Circ. Mulls Jurisdiction In Fight Over Jewish Texts

    The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether a D.C. federal court can consider a Jewish group's allegations that Russia is illegally holding onto its long-lost sacred religious texts, after hearing arguments early Thursday in the appeal of a case that's been kicking around the lower court's docket for two decades.

  • April 11, 2024

    Wash. Justices Side With EB-5 Firm Over Arbitration Award

    Washington's high court ruled on Thursday that the payment of an arbitration award does not resolve a case seeking to confirm that award, standing by a lower court's decision to enter a confirmation order on an investment firm's $11.5 million win against a beleaguered developer over missed payments on a loan.

  • April 11, 2024

    REIT Hit With Suit By Ex-CEO Over Share Buyback Conflict

    A real estate investment trust has been hit with a proposed class action by its former CEO alleging the company's insiders breached their fiduciary duties by failing to make a legitimate effort to repurchase certain preferred shares prior to their redemption date, leading to severe dilution of the common shares.

  • April 11, 2024

    NJ Town Pays $5.5M To Exit Claims It Steered Deloitte HQ Deal

    Morristown, New Jersey, has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle claims that officials meddled in a project to relocate accounting firm Deloitte's headquarters to one town site in an attempt to direct the project to another owned by developers they preferred.

  • April 11, 2024

    Okla. City Officials Clear Hurdle For Planned 1,900-Foot Tower

    Oklahoma City Planning Commission members recommended approval for zoning Thursday to allow unlimited height on a site where a developer announced plans to build the tallest tower in the U.S., but not without cracking jokes about what would happen if a tornado landed nearby.

  • April 11, 2024

    LA's COVID-19 Anti-Eviction Law A Taking, 9th Circ. Told

    A Los Angeles landlord urged the Ninth Circuit during a Thursday hearing to revive his $100 million suit against the city over its COVID-19 anti-eviction moratorium, arguing the lower court erred when it found the moratorium against eviction of defaulting tenants didn't constitute a physical taking by the government.

  • April 11, 2024

    Dallas Developers Must Each Pay Bond In $400M Foreclosure

    A Texas appeals court on Thursday ordered developers to cough up more money as they appeal a ruling in a roughly $400 million foreclosure case involving an upscale residential tower in Dallas, saying that each of the debtors needed to file a bond as the case works its way through appeals.

Expert Analysis

  • A Legal Playbook For Stadium Construction Agreements

    Author Photo

    As a new wave of construction in the professional sports arena space gets underway, owners must carefully consider the unique considerations and risks associated with these large-scale projects and draft agreements accordingly, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Document Retention Best Practices To Lower Litigation Risks

    Author Photo

    As new technologies emerge and terabytes of data can be within the purview of a single discovery request, businesses small and large should take four document management steps to effectively minimize risks of litigation and discovery sanctions long before litigation ensues, says Kimbrilee Weber at Norris McLaughlin.

  • Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

    Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • How FinCEN Proposal Expands RE Transaction Obligations

    Author Photo

    Against a regulatory backdrop foreshadowing anti-money laundering efforts in the real estate sector, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's proposed rule significantly expands reporting requirements for certain nonfinanced residential real estate transfers and necessitates careful review, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Unpacking FinCEN's Proposed Real Estate Transaction Rule

    Author Photo

    Phil Jelsma and Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner take a close look at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's recently proposed rulemaking — which mandates new disclosures for professionals involved in all-cash real estate deals — and discuss best next steps for the broad range of businesses that could be affected.

  • New FinCEN Guide Provides Useful BOI Context For Banks

    Author Photo

    Financial institutions should review a new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network compliance guide for helpful details about how the agency's beneficial ownership information database should be used, though questions remain about the access rule and whether it will truly streamline bank borrowers' Corporate Transparency Act due diligence, says George Singer at Holland & Hart.

  • DC's Housing Tax Break Proposal: What's In It, What's Missing

    Author Photo

    Proposed Washington, D.C., rules implementing the Housing in Downtown Tax Abatement program — for commercial property owners who convert properties into residential housing — thoroughly explain the process for submitting an application, but do not provide sufficient detail regarding the actual dollar value of the abatements, says Daniel Miktus at Akerman.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: The Terms Matter

    Author Photo

    Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine recent decisions from the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which offer reminders about the importance of including contract terms to address the unexpected circumstances that may interfere with performance.

  • Reducing Carbon Footprint Requires A Tricky Path For CRE

    Author Photo

    As real estate owners find themselves caught between rapidly evolving environmental, social and governance initiatives and complicated societal debate, they will need to carefully establish formal plans to remain both competitive and compliant, say Michael Kuhn and Mahira Khan at Jackson Walker.

  • New CMS Rule Will Change Nursing Facility Disclosures

    Author Photo

    A new rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services significantly expands disclosure requirements for nursing facilities backed by private equity companies or real estate investment trusts, likely foreshadowing increased oversight that could include more targeted audits, say Janice Davis and Christopher Ronne at Morgan Lewis.

  • What Shareholder Approval Rule Changes Mean For Cos.

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved proposed rule changes to shareholder requirements by the New York Stock Exchange, an approval that will benefit listed companies in many ways, including by making it easier to raise capital from passive investors, say attorneys at Baker Botts.