Real EstateRSS

  • March 12, 2012

    PE Firms, Innkeepers Trustee Settle $84M Claim Dispute

    Five Mile Capital Real Estate Advisors LLC and Apollo Investment Corp., special servicer and equity holder in the Innkeepers USA Trust bankruptcy, reached an agreement with the trustee Friday to allow Five Mile's $83.9 million claim against Innkeepers parent company Grand Prix Holdings LLC. 

  • March 12, 2012

    Ex-Construction Co. Worker Cops To Role In $10M Fraud

    A former employee of defunct general contractor Krahl Construction copped to one count of mail fraud Monday in Illinois for her role in an alleged sham billing and kickback scheme that the government says cost two Krahl clients roughly $10 million.

  • March 12, 2012

    Covington To Launch Seoul Office By July

    Covington & Burling LLP plans to open a Seoul office in light of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and has tapped a veteran Korean litigator to lead the expansion, the firm announced Monday.

  • March 12, 2012

    Banks Face Stiff Penalties Under $25B Mortgage Deal

    Banks participating in the $25 billion mortgage settlement will face heightened public scrutiny of their efforts to help homeowners and the threat of future financial penalties, according to court documents filed Monday, more than a month after the deal was announced to great fanfare.

  • March 12, 2012

    Judge Keeps $5.9B MBS Suit In Federal Court

    A judge on Friday refused to return Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston’s suit against several banks and ratings agencies over $5.9 billion in mortgage-backed securities to Massachusetts state court, saying the bank’s own federal charter puts the suit squarely in federal court.

  • March 12, 2012

    Dubai Fund Seeks $500M In NY Hotel Sale

    A Dubai sovereign wealth fund is looking to sell the iconic Jumeirah Essex House hotel in New York and could get more than $500 million for the property because of the increasingly strong hotel market in the city, a senior real estate attorney said Monday.

  • March 12, 2012

    Cornerstone Caps $546M Fund For Tech, Energy Real Estate

    Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC has closed its eighth private equity fund at $546 million to target properties serving the fast-growing technology, energy and health sectors, the firm announced Monday.

  • March 12, 2012

    Failed Bank Claims Regulators Forced It To Distort Books

    Charter National Bank and Trust on Friday sued the federal bank regulators that shut it down last month, claiming they forced it to book erroneous accounting entries regarding its real estate holdings that made it appear the suburban Chicago bank was critically undercapitalized.

  • March 9, 2012

    Hooters Casino Hotel's Ch. 11 Plan Gets Nod

    A Nevada bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the Hooters Casino Hotel owners' first amended Chapter 11 plan and disclosure statement, after he greenlighted the $60 million sale of the property at a February auction.

  • March 9, 2012

    Calif. Court Won't Rehear Fight Over Development's Impact

    A California appeals court on Friday declined to reconsider its decision affirming that the city of Selma’s approval of a 160-unit housing development violated the California Environmental Quality Act because it overlooked the impacts on groundwater.

  • March 9, 2012

    NC Developments Seek Bankruptcy Protection

    Brier Creek Corporate Center Associates LP and other affiliates that own the land beneath several American Asset Corp. planned community projects and developments in North Carolina filed for bankruptcy protection Friday.

  • March 9, 2012

    Ex-Katten Atty Loses Spoliation Bid In Tishman Mold Row

    An Illinois appeals court on Friday rejected as time-barred a former Katten Muchin & Zavis attorney's bid to add a spoliation claim to her suit against Tishman Speyer Properties Inc., which alleges she was sickened by mold in a Katten office owned by Tishman.

  • March 9, 2012

    BofA Agrees To Deeper Writedowns In $25B Mortgage Deal

    Bank of America Corp. has agreed to steeper principal reductions for troubled homeowners than were originally in the landmark $25 billion settlement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers, which could see the bank avoid as much as $850 million in penalties, a bank representative confirmed Friday.

  • March 9, 2012

    Canadian Developer Planning $100M LA High-Rise

    Canadian property developer Onni Group of Cos. is finalizing plans for a $100 million mixed-use high-rise in downtown Los Angeles, Onni Vice President Chris Evans said Friday.

  • March 9, 2012

    Developer Preps Master Planned Community Near Chicago

    Developer PulteGroup Inc. has set a late April opening for offering homes for sale in a master planned community, the developer said Friday, as it looks to corner what some call the increasingly healthy residential community market in one of Chicago's most affluent suburbs.

  • March 9, 2012

    $77.5M Ritz-Carlton Offering Heats Up NY Condo Market

    In yet another sign of Manhattan's strengthening condominium building market, a 10,888-square-foot duplex at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel was put up for sale on Friday with a hefty $77.5 million price tag.

  • March 9, 2012

    Q&A With Greenberg Traurig's Michael Fishman

    The billable hour is the single biggest issue in our practice. Given the vast differences in the type of work we perform and the competitive landscape in which we work, determining the value of your work product based solely on how long it took a particular attorney to complete a task is not the most efficient means to provide the level of service clients require, says Michael Fishman, co-chairman of Greenberg Traurig LLP's Chicago real estate practice.

  • March 9, 2012

    HSBC Targeted In Force-Placed Insurance Class Action

    HSBC Mortgage Corp. on Wednesday became the latest big-name lender hit with a putative class action claiming the company imposed expensive force-placed insurance on homeowners.

  • March 9, 2012

    Vorys Welcomes Bankruptcy, RE Partners in Ohio

    Ohio-based law firm Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP has added a real estate partner from McDonald Hopkins LLC in Cleveland and a bankruptcy partner from Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP in Cincinnati, Vorys announced Thursday.

  • March 9, 2012

    LaSalle Drops $144M On Hotel Palomar

    LaSalle Hotel Properties has purchased the 335-room Hotel Palomar in Washington for $143.8 million from an equity fund affiliated with Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group LLC, the buyer said Friday.