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Real Estate
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June 12, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Carlyle, Marubeni, Vale
Carlyle is plotting a $4 billion property fund that would be the largest new real estate effort since the financial crisis, while Marubeni stays active on the deal-making front with an expression of interest in a $2 billion stake in a Rio Tinto coal unit.
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June 12, 2013
FHFA Can't Sue UBS Over $1.1B In Problem MBS, Judge Says
The Federal Housing Finance Agency can't make a UBS AG affiliate buy back allegedly defective loans in a $1.1 billion mortgage-backed securities pool that the Swiss bank sold to investors because only the securities' trustee has that power, a New York state judge ruled Wednesday.
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June 12, 2013
SF Board OKs Condo Conversions Despite Poison Pill Worries
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday pushed through a controversial proposal to allow tenancies-in-common apartment owners to convert their units into condominiums for a fee, with some opposing commissioners arguing the legislation holds a legal poison pill.
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June 11, 2013
Jury Convicts Ex-Rep. Renzi Of 17 Corruption Charges
An Arizona federal jury on Tuesday convicted former Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., on 17 counts stemming from corruption charges that he tried to push a mining company into buying land from a former business partner who owed him money.
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June 11, 2013
BofA Says FDIC's $283M MBS Suit Is Time-Barred
Countrywide Securities Corp. and successor Bank of America Corp. urged a California federal judge Tuesday to toss the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s $283 million lawsuit alleging they duped now-defunct Colonial Bank into buying doomed mortgage-backed securities, arguing its claims are time-barred under federal securities law.
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June 11, 2013
US Says States, Banks Aren't Harmed By Dodd-Frank
The U.S. government urged a Washington federal judge Tuesday to nix 11 states' and a bank's attempts to knock down several Dodd-Frank Act mortgage and bank liquidation provisions on constitutional grounds, maintaining they couldn't show they have been injured by the financial reforms.
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June 11, 2013
Ritz Carlton Says Palm Beach Hotel Owner Breached Contract
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. LLC said Tuesday it would stop managing its Palm Beach, Fla., property at the end of the month and has filed a multimillion-dollar breach of contract counterclaim against the hotel owner who sued the luxury hotel company for allegedly mismanaging the hotel.
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June 11, 2013
DC Poised For Apartment, Condo Boom
The more than 200 new multifamily projects set to hit the D.C. metro market in the next few years have some observers concerned about oversupply, but experts say the influx of apartments could help balance the local market and satisfy a backlog of demand.
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June 11, 2013
Bloomberg Proposes $20B Storm-Protection Plan For NYC
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious $20 billion plan to protect the city from future storm surges, rising sea levels and extreme weather by fortifying the coastline, a response to both the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and climate change.
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June 11, 2013
Carey Watermark Pays $121M For NYC Holiday Inn
Carey Watermark Investors Inc. has purchased the Holiday Inn hotel in Chelsea from InterContinental Hotels Group for $121.4 million, the real estate investment trust announced Tuesday.
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June 11, 2013
Edwards Wildman Adds US Capital Markets, RE Partner
Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP has hired a veteran transactional and capital markets attorney who specializes in real estate finance and debt restructuring as a partner in its New York and Washington, D.C., offices, the law firm said Monday.
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June 11, 2013
Pa. House OKs Natural Gas Lease Deduction Disclosure Bill
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday threw unanimous support behind a bill aimed at providing detailed and uniform information about deductions taken out of royalty checks for property owners who lease out their land for natural gas drilling.
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June 11, 2013
Attys In $730M Citigroup Deal Make $146M Fee Request
Attorneys who wrangled a $730 million class action settlement out of Citigroup Inc. over allegations the bank misled purchasers about its exposure to collateralized debt obligations backed by subprime assets on Friday asked for $146 million in fees in New York federal court.
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June 11, 2013
Philly Planning Commission OKs Core Development Plans
The Philadelphia City Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved two ambitious strategic plans focusing on zoning changes and infrastructure improvements in the Central District and University Southwest District, which together host more than half of all jobs in the city.
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June 11, 2013
Del. High Court Tosses Challenge To Beachfront Project
The Delaware Supreme Court on Monday agreed to toss a suit alleging that a town's settlement agreement with developers of a proposed beachfront hotel, condo and retail complex was invalid because it was a private zoning arrangement, finding the suit is time-barred.
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June 11, 2013
Fla. County OKs $62M Hotel Takeover For Airport Project
Broward County commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a $62 million settlement reached by the county and the Blackstone Group-affiliated owners of an area hotel to take over the property to make way for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport's $791 million south runway expansion.
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June 11, 2013
6 New Suits Launched In Fatal Philly Building Collapse
The owner of a four-story Philadelphia building that collapsed, killing six people and injuring more than a dozen others, has been slapped with six more lawsuits in Pennsylvania court in recent days in the first wave of an expected torrent of litigation stemming from the disaster.
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June 11, 2013
Empire State Building Tenant Sues For $40M Over Renovation
The landlord of the Empire State Building and several affiliates were hit with a $40 million suit Friday by a ground-floor retail tenant that contends construction at the iconic property violates a lease agreement and has caused its bar and lounge business to plummet.
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June 11, 2013
London Mayor OKs Developer's £1.5B Riverside Project Plans
London Mayor Boris Johnson on Monday greenlighted £1.5 billion ($2.3 billion) plans by developer Chelsfield Properties and regeneration specialist First Base to transform a 50-acre swath of the city’s docklands area into a mixed-use site with 1,500 homes, space for retail and other amenities.
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June 11, 2013
Calif. Puts Up 81 Acres Of Silicon Valley Land For Sale
The California Department of General Services is looking to shed 81 acres of prime Silicon Valley real estate and has put the property up for sale, hoping to lure a major corporation or real estate developer, according to a Monday announcement.
Expert Analysis
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Commercial Leasing Recovery Remains Uneven
In addressing trends in the current commercial leasing market, several patterns are apparent. For one, many property owners that have been able to survive foreclosure now face the specter of refinancing their property in the mixing bowl of loss of market value, lenders requiring a lower loan-to-value ratio, and reduced cash flow from the property, says Barry Katz of Arnstein & Lehr LLP.
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5 Reasons For Optimism In The Venture Capital Community
Not every company can be the next Facebook. But thankfully, for many startups, generating one billion users is not the end goal, nor should it be. Enter “narrowcasting” — one of a few reasons to be optimistic about venture capital, despite the first quarter of 2013 being the slowest for fundraising since 2002, says David Kaufman of Thompson Coburn LLP.
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A Troubling Surprise For Construction Projects
Recently, the D.C. Circuit surprisingly overturned a decision that invalidated the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to veto a Clean Water Act “dredge and fill” permit, putting several construction projects under threat of losing permit authorization. Although the case specifically refers to a coal mining operation in West Virginia, it has serious implications beyond the coal industry and state, say attorneys with Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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The ABCs Of Data Center Leasing
Data centers house the computer servers and equipment that allow you to use your computer at work and stream a movie through Netflix, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With demand continuing to grow for the foreseeable future, this is one of the hottest, but least understood, real property types, says Michael Rechtin of Quarles & Brady LLP.
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Condemn Now, CEQA-Compliance Later? Maybe
Must a public project receive environmental clearance before an agency may begin acquiring property for it? In Golden Gate Land Holdings LLC v. East Bay Regional Park District, the California Court of Appeal answered no, permitting an agency to file an eminent domain action prior to complying with the California Environmental Quality Act, but the holding appears limited, say attorneys with Nossaman LLP.
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Del. Draws Line In The Sands Of Discovery
In resolving Morgans Hotel Group Co. Kalisman v. Friedman, the Delaware Court of Chancery carefully drew the line to allow discovery of communications between counsel and a special committee that the plaintiff-director was a member of, but shielded communications between counsel and a subcommittee on which the plaintiff-director did not serve, says Herbert Kozlov of Reed Smith LLP.
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Parsing The 4th Circ. Stance In Campbell V. Hanover
Almost 50 years after its Decker decision, the Fourth Circuit in Campbell v. Hanover Insurance Co. — In re ESA Environmental Specialists Inc. — has reaffirmed the vitality of the earmarking defense. The decision also allowed the Fourth Circuit to shed light on the contemporaneous exchange for new value defense, say Jason Harbour and Tara Elgie of Hunton & Williams LLP.
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3 Courts Weigh In On Faulty Workmanship Coverage
After a spate of bad decisions for policyholders on whether general liability policies can provide coverage for construction liabilities, three courts recently have done an about-face, holding that there is coverage in certain circumstances. In light of these rulings, policyholders should ensure that their policies include the "subcontractor exception" to the "your work" exclusion, says John Berringer of Reed Smith LLP.
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5 Arbitration Assumptions That Aren't Always True
Arbitration is often thought to be preferable to litigating in court, and in some circumstances, it may be. Deciding to arbitrate, however, should be the result of a careful analysis of the benefits and disadvantages. That analysis requires examining some common perceptions, say Frank Emory and Rita Davis of Hunton & Williams LLP.
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A Must-Read For 'Repo' Counterparties
Given that few courts have construed the meaning of “repurchase agreement” as used in the Bankruptcy Code, the recent case of In re Homebanc Mortgage Corp. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware is a must-read for “repo” counterparties, say attorneys with Alston & Bird LLP.