Commercial

  • August 14, 2024

    NY Judge Tosses Noise Suit Against Queens Tennis Club

    A New York state judge on Tuesday dismissed a Queens nonprofit's nuisance suit against The West Side Tennis Club, which was accused of being responsible for excessive noise coming from concerts held at its century-old outdoor stadium in the borough's Forest Hills neighborhood.

  • August 14, 2024

    Rising Star: Kirkland's Michael Shultz

    Michael Shultz of Kirkland & Ellis LLP has advised investor Blue Owl on several major transactions, including its $15 billion acquisition of real estate investment trust STORE Capital Corp. with Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, earning him a spot among the real estate law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 14, 2024

    NYC Hotel License Bill Rattles Hospitality Industry

    A bill that would introduce licenses for hotels in New York City has the hospitality industry up in arms, and attorneys shared concerns with Law360 that the public safety messaging behind the proposal is a shield for measures that would drive up labor costs.

  • August 14, 2024

    Rising Star: Latham's Dustin Paige

    Latham & Watkins LLP counsel Dustin Paige's work on large, complex deals, including a $7 billion joint venture between Digital Realty Trust and Blackstone Inc. to develop four hyperscale data center campuses and Flynn Properties' $1.1 billion acquisition of an 89-hotel portfolio and its subsequent refinancing, has earned him a spot among the real estate attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 14, 2024

    Rising Star: Perkins Coie's Mica Klein

    Mica Klein of Perkins Coie LLP has advised Microsoft on a series of data center and electrical substation construction projects across North, Central and South America and represents the Seattle Mariners in a major stadium renovation, earning her a spot among the construction law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 14, 2024

    Holland & Knight Atty Previews DC Flood Construction Rules

    With only weeks left in the public comment period of Washington, D.C.'s proposed flood hazard rule change — a regulation that significantly widens the area under strict climate-driven building guidelines — attorneys like Holland & Knight LLP partner Amy L. Edwards have been analyzing maps, base flood elevations and what constitutes a public use in client projects.

  • August 14, 2024

    DC Tax Relief Can Aid Office Projects, But It's No 'Silver Bullet'

    While tax relief programs may help a handful of office conversion projects in Washington, D.C., and make financial sense, much more needs to happen to bring the city's struggling downtown back to life again, real estate experts say.

  • August 14, 2024

    Commercial Real Estate Cases To Watch In 2024's Second Half

    A Jo-Ann Stores co-tenancy dispute in California, a New York EB-5 dispute and a continued Florida challenge to a 2023 law limiting foreign land ownership are among the matters real estate lawyers will be watching in the second half of 2024.

  • August 14, 2024

    DC To Put $61M Toward Upgrading Community Facilities

    The District of Columbia received more than $61.3 million from the U.S. Department of the Treasury so that D.C. can improve community facilities such as public libraries and senior centers, the city's mayor, Muriel Bowser, announced.

  • August 13, 2024

    FDIC Looks To Dodge Suit Over First Republic Bank's Rent

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. urged a California federal court to toss a suit filed by a California landlord that once leased to First Republic Bank, arguing that federal law bars the suit because the FDIC is the bank's receiver.

  • August 13, 2024

    Anadarko Settles Wyo. Landowners' Antitrust Case For $12M

    Occidental Petroleum Corp. unit Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will pay $12 million to resolve a federal class action from Wyoming landowners accusing the extraction company of anticompetitively hoarding permits to block and control local oil and gas development, resolving the suit Monday — very nearly on the courthouse steps.

  • August 13, 2024

    'Delusional' Ex-Atty Gets 25 Years For Bank Embezzlement

    An Illinois federal judge blasted a former attorney and real estate developer Tuesday as she handed him 25 years in prison for misappropriating a bank's embezzled money, saying he was "delusional" to assert he's a victim in the case.  

  • August 13, 2024

    Lender Wins $17M Judgment In Miami Property Row

    An affiliate of Canadian real estate investment firm Romspen won a $17 million judgment in Florida state court and the right to foreclose on undeveloped land near the Miami International Airport.

  • August 13, 2024

    Partnerships' Easement Fight Ends As Gov't Drops IRS Notice

    An Alabama federal judge dismissed a complaint by dozens of partnerships claiming they shouldn't have to comply with an IRS notice regarding conservation easement transactions, following an Eleventh Circuit ruling upholding the notice as invalid and the government's agreement not to enforce it.

  • August 13, 2024

    Goetz Fitzpatrick Adds New Partner To Roster Ahead Of Merger

    As it prepares to merge with a Northeastern law firm at the start of next year, New York-based construction and real estate firm Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP announced the addition of a name partner from another Empire State firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC.

  • August 13, 2024

    Starwood Property's Former GC Joins Its Parent As COO

    The former general counsel for Starwood Property Trust Inc. is returning to its parent company Starwood Capital Group after a short stint with a private equity firm.

  • August 13, 2024

    Buchalter Adds Real Estate Trio From Nashville Boutique

    Three attorneys from a Tennessee real estate boutique, including the firm's founder, have joined Buchalter PC's Nashville office.

  • August 12, 2024

    Cannabis Advocates Drop Lawsuit Against Mich. Town

    A cannabis entrepreneur and local developers have agreed to end a lawsuit against a Michigan township that claimed the municipality's leaders blocked them from opening a marijuana dispensary.

  • August 12, 2024

    Claims Trimmed In Goldman Family's NYC Property Battle

    A New York state judge has tossed several claims that inheritors of the late Sol Goldman's real estate empire filed in a dispute over control of the family business, while keeping mismanagement claims against the deceased billionaire's daughter alive.

  • August 12, 2024

    NYC Office Guarantors Fight 'Surrealistic' Recourse

    The guarantors of financing on a Midtown Manhattan office building sued the lender Aug. 8, saying it tricked the borrower into an arrangement that could leave the guarantors liable for the full loan amount and attorney fees in a separate federal lawsuit.

  • August 12, 2024

    Philly Shop Blames HVAC Contractor For Fire

    A boutique operating on the ground floor of a Masonic meeting hall in Philadelphia's Chestnut Hill neighborhood has filed a lawsuit in state court blaming an HVAC contractor for a 2022 fire that severely damaged the building and its business.

  • August 12, 2024

    NYC Real Estate Week In Review

    Blank Rome and Lavian are among the law firms that scored work on the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw six deeds north of $20 million become public.

  • August 12, 2024

    NJ Health System Wants Proskauer DQ'd From Antitrust Case

    Proskauer Rose LLP is facing accusations that it should be disqualified from representing one of New Jersey's largest healthcare systems in an antitrust lawsuit brought by a competitor that was once a client of the firm.

  • August 12, 2024

    Real Estate, Business Atty Moves Practice To Barley Snyder

    A real estate attorney looking to expand the reach of her practice has joined Barley Snyder in York, Pennsylvania, after more than eight years as shareholder and practice group chair for CGA Law Firm.

  • August 12, 2024

    Move To Duane Morris Closes Whiteford Taylor In Pittsburgh

    The last remaining attorney at Whiteford Taylor & Preston LLP's Pittsburgh office following the recent departures of 17 colleagues has moved her hospitality industry-focused real estate and transactional practice to Duane Morris LLP.

Expert Analysis

  • The SEC's Cooled Down But Still Spicy Private Fund Rules

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    Timothy Spangler and Lindsay Trapp at Dechert consider recently finalized U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, which significantly alter the scope of obligations private fund advisers must meet under the Investment Advisers Act, noting the absence of several contentious proposals and litigation that could result in implementation delays.

  • Trump NY Fraud Trial Shows Civil, Criminal Case Differences

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    Former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial currently unfolding in New York provides a reminder that civil bench trials can be just as damaging, if not more so, than criminal prosecutions, due to several key elements of civil litigation procedure, says retired attorney David Moskowitz.

  • A Year-End Look At Florida's Capital Investment Tax Credit

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    Notwithstanding the Walt Disney Co.’s feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis this year, Florida's capital investment tax credit will continue to make the state a favored destination for large corporations, particularly in light of the new federal alternative minimum tax and the Pillar Two top-up tax, says Alan Lederman at Gunster.

  • Crypto Has Democratized Trading In Bankruptcy Claims

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    Following the pandemic, there has been a wave of cryptocurrency bankruptcies and a related increase in access to information, allowing nontraditional bankruptcy investors to purchase claims and democratizing a once closed segment of alternative investing, says Joseph Sarachek at Strategic Liquidity.

  • Paths Forward For RE Buyers In Turbulent Market Conditions

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    Real estate borrowers are facing significant challenges in financing new acquisitions or developments amid escalating interest rates, but opportunistic debt funds may be able to help bridge through the present environment, say Jon Gallant and Jared Hodges at Knowles Gallant.

  • DC Ruling Provides Support For Builders Risk Claim Recovery

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    To deny coverage for builders risk claims, insurers have been increasingly relying on two arguments, both of which have been invalidated in the recent U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, South Capitol Bridgebuilders v. Lexington, say Greg Podolak and Cheryl Kozdrey at Saxe Doernberger.

  • What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups

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    Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Inside Bank Regulators' Community Lending Law Overhaul

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    The federal banking agencies' recently finalized changes to the Community Reinvestment Act not only account for the gradual shift to an environment where lending and deposit-taking are primarily conducted online, but also implement other updates such as diversity initiatives and a new series of lending tests, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Sellers Seeking Best Deal Should Focus On Terms And Price

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    Rising interest rates and a decline in the automotive mergers and acquisitions market mean that a failed deal carries greater stakes, and sellers therefore should pursue not only the optimum price but also the optimum terms to safeguard their agreement, says Joseph Aboyoun at Fox Rothschild.

  • Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'

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    In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.

  • A Bird's Eye View Of NYC's New Parapet Inspection Law

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    Building owners in New York City should be ready for the city's new parapet inspection requirements going into effect in January, which will likely necessitate additional construction work for countless buildings not previously subject to formal inspections, says Benjamin Fox Tracy at Braverman Greenspun.

  • How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners

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    A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.

  • Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability

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    In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.