Commercial

  • March 28, 2025

    Judge Ends $400M Air Force Base PFAS Contamination Case

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has dismissed a $400 million lawsuit from New Mexico landowners alleging that PFAS runoff from a nearby U.S. Air Force base contaminated their land, saying they hadn't shown any taking by the government.

  • March 28, 2025

    9th Circ. Affirms Maui County's Win In Religious Land-Use Suit

    The Ninth Circuit is backing a Hawaii county's jury trial victory over a nonprofit's Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act lawsuit, ruling on Friday that the lower court rightfully sided with the county even though it erred by including a certain jury instruction.

  • March 28, 2025

    Masonry Exec Charged In Plot To Bribe Amtrak Official

    The president of an Illinois-based masonry contractor awarded a $58 million federal contract to renovate Philadelphia's historic 30th Street Station has been charged with conspiring to bribe an Amtrak official, the U.S. attorney's office in the city said Friday.

  • March 28, 2025

    Property Owners Sue NYC Over Sidewalk Shed Legislation

    A group of New York City property owners hit the city with a proposed class action alleging sidewalk shed regulations amount to an unconstitutional taking, one day after the city council approved a package of bills aiming to reform the policies.

  • March 28, 2025

    NYC Margaritaville Ch. 11 Plan OK'd After Buffett Hit Played

    A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday confirmed the Chapter 11 plan of the developer of the Margaritaville resort in Times Square, as he played the resort's namesake song during a hearing.

  • March 28, 2025

    Shutts & Bowen Accused Of Sinking Florida Country Club Sale

    A real estate corporation is suing Florida firm Shutts & Bowen LLP and one of its partners for malpractice, alleging that as part of a fee dispute, they scuttled a deal for the sale of a country club that the business had been negotiating.

  • March 28, 2025

    Calif. Tenants Claim REIT Charged Extra For Pests, Trash

    A proposed class of California tenants accused real estate investment trust Equity Residential and two of its subsidiaries of unlawfully charging them separate fees for pest control and trash collection.

  • March 28, 2025

    Rockwood Buys $153M DC Office Building From Brookfield

    Rockwood Capital has scooped up a nine-story office building in Washington, D.C., from Brookfield Properties for $153 million and secured $113.4 million in financing for the deal through a German bank, with help from King & Spalding LLP, property records show.

  • March 28, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Norton Rose, Latham, Ashurst

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Dollar Tree sells its Family Dollar business to private equity firms, eye care company Alcon buys medical technology company Lensar and Ithaca Energy PLC buys the U.K. subsidiary of Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd.

  • March 27, 2025

    Sticky's Seeks To Pluck Ch. 11 Victory From Jaws Of Defeat

    Popular New York-area chicken restaurant chain Sticky's has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge for permission to enter deals with a Southern-style restaurant chain and an investment firm in a last-ditch attempt to sell off the debtor's assets in its Chapter 11 case.

  • March 27, 2025

    Quarles & Brady Snag Land Banking Expert

    Quarles & Brady LLP announced Thursday that the firm added a partner to its real estate practice group, who joins Quarles & Brady from an in-house role at a residential real estate capital provider.

  • March 27, 2025

    Conrail Land Can't Go In Renewal Zone, NJ Court Says

    A New Jersey state appeals court has ruled that federal law bars Jersey City lawmakers from going forward with a redevelopment plan for local property owned by Consolidated Rail Corp.

  • March 27, 2025

    California Tribe Wants In On 70-Acre Casino Project Challenge

    A California tribe at the center of a challenge to an Interior Department decision to take 70 acres into trust for the construction of its hotel and casino project is asking a federal court to intervene in the dispute, arguing the plaintiff's anticompetitive behavior will impede its goal of self-governance.

  • March 27, 2025

    US Ranked Low At Fighting Real Estate Money Laundering

    The U.S. is the third-worst country when it comes to fighting money laundering in real estate because of a lack of regulations, according to a report ranking the national markets of 24 countries.

  • March 27, 2025

    Latham Guides $1B Hyatt Bond Offering

    Latham & Watkins LLP announced Thursday that it guided Hyatt Hotels Corporation's $1 billion bond offering, which the hospitality company plans to use to fund its $2.6 billion acquisition of a beachfront resort operator.

  • March 27, 2025

    CalSTRS, Mubadala Plug $215M Into Real Estate Lender

    Alternative commercial real estate lender 3650 Capital, advised by Sidley Austin LLP, on Thursday announced that it has secured $215 million in fresh capital commitments from existing investors California State Teachers' Retirement System and Mubadala Investment Company.

  • March 27, 2025

    Pa. Coal Co. Gets OK For $23.5M Asset Sale In Ch. 11

    A Pennsylvania bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved the sale of assets of bankrupt Corsa Coal Corp. for $23.5 million, overriding arguments against including litigation claims in the sale and for earmarking proceeds for environmental cleanup.

  • March 27, 2025

    Life Sciences REIT Says Ex-Employee Stole Trade Secrets

    Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. filed suit against a former employee in Massachusetts federal court, alleging that he stole a trove of proprietary information as he was planning to leave the company.

  • March 27, 2025

    Madison Newbond Loans $43M For Maryland Beach Resort

    A Madison Realty Capital affiliate said March 27 that it has agreed to provide a $43 million senior loan to a joint venture between Certares Real Estate Management and Monomoy Property Ventures for a hotel in Ocean City, Maryland.

  • March 27, 2025

    Related Launches Data Center Venture With $45B Pipeline

    Related Companies announced March 27 the launch of a data center development arm with a $45 billion pipeline of projects that's kicking off with a 64-megawatt expansion in Ontario, Canada.

  • March 26, 2025

    Sotomayor Urges Caution On Nondelegation Doctrine Revamp

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned her colleagues during oral arguments Wednesday against using a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's administration of a broadband subsidy program as a way to resurrect the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine. Several conservative justices, however, seemed willing to disregard that admonition.

  • March 26, 2025

    Resort Developer Asks To Unwind Pre-Ch. 11 Equity Deal

    California resort developer SilverRock Development Co. filed an adversary complaint in its Chapter 11 case Tuesday asking a Delaware court to unwind a pre-bankruptcy securitization transaction that converted preferred shares into secured debt.

  • March 26, 2025

    Soured Colo. Housing Partnership Spawns Another Suit

    A Colorado affordable housing project undermined by a trio of investors' soured partnership generated yet another lawsuit filed by an original investor alleging a partner brought on later intentionally tanked the project out of "seething vindictiveness."

  • March 26, 2025

    King & Spalding Dealmaker On Atlanta's Data Center Boom

    Readily accessible power and land have helped make the area surrounding Georgia's capital city a prime hub for data centers, but challenges are on the horizon, said a real estate transactions partner with Atlanta-founded King & Spalding LLP.

  • March 26, 2025

    Tax Court Erred In Ex-Braves' Easement Feud, 11th Circ. Told

    Two former Atlanta Braves players reupped their arguments before the Eleventh Circuit that the U.S. Tax Court made grave errors in a case that slashed their conservation easement value, saying the federal government's failure to address those missteps shields the issues from legal scrutiny.

Expert Analysis

  • Trends That Will Shape The Construction Industry In 2024

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    Though the outlook for the construction industry is mixed, it is clear that 2024 will bring evolving changes aimed at building projects more safely and efficiently under difficult circumstances, and stakeholders would be wise to prepare for the challenges and opportunities these trends will bring, say Josephine Bahn and Jeffery Mullen at Cozen O'Connor.

  • NY CRE Lenders Need Clarity On Foreclosure Standing

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    Recent contradictory New York case law regarding issues of standing in commercial real estate litigation creates confusion for borrowers and lenders alike, and should be addressed by courts in advance of the anticipated onslaught of commercial mortgage-backed securities foreclosures, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Rosenberg & Estis.

  • Adjusting Deals To Reflect Shifts In The CRE Market

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    As the commercial real estate market strengthens and moves out from a challenging time, industry participants should consider any concessions made due to recent trends and update transaction documents accordingly before entering into new deals, says Alexander Davis at Mayer Brown.

  • 4 International Arbitration Trends To Monitor In 2024

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    Global growth slowed substantially in 2023, and may continue into 2024 due to geopolitical instability, which could fuel four key trends in international arbitration in the coming year, including investor-state and commercial arbitration, an increase in arbitration out of China, and more, say Gregory Litt and Sharmistha Chakrabarti at Skadden.

  • How DOI Aims To Modernize Resource Damage Assessments

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    The U.S. Department of the Interior's recent proposal to redesign its Type A rule for conducting natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities could lead to a more streamlined, flexible assessment process that would benefit both natural resource trustees and potentially responsible parties, says Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley at Nossaman.

  • Key Issues When Navigating A Tenant's Bankruptcy

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    In light of recent Chapter 11 filings by Rite Aid and WeWork — companies with thousands of commercial leases — practitioners should review issues that can arise when bankruptcy is used to exit a lease, including the consequences of lease rejection and the statutory cap on landlord damage claims for a rejected lease, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • The Year Ahead In Foreign Investment And National Security

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    In 2024, expect the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, already at the forefront of addressing national security threats, to increase monitoring and enforcement related to outbound investment, focus on supply chain resilience in nondefense sectors, and heighten oversight of agricultural transactions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Sale-Leasebacks May Provide A Safe Financing Alternative

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    Amid rising interest rates and unpredictable market conditions, sale-leasebacks can be a useful investment option for both buyers and sellers, though their potential drawbacks demand careful consideration, says Chanel Di Blasi at Crosbie Gliner.

  • 5 Recent Developments Family Offices Are Watching In 2024

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    Although family offices have long been exempt from many of the more onerous regulations and reporting requirements governing U.S. investment advisers and asset managers, recent amendments to federal rules will have an impact on how family offices invest and operate in 2024, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • A Challenging CRE Environment Holds Opportunities In 2024

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    As the commercial real estate market faces reduced occupancy levels and rising financing costs, the new landscape will be favorable to those who can leverage capital, strategic vision and expertise to meet challenges like taking on distressed properties and converting office space to residential use, say Nesa Amamoo and Vered Rabia at Skadden.

  • What The 2023 Bank Failures Taught Us, And What's To Come

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    As 2023 draws to a close, it's apparent that the bank failures this past spring sparked a seismic shift in the regulatory and supervisory landscape for banking organizations, and the consequences are still continuing to be felt throughout the financial sector as we head into 2024, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • A Difficult Year For CRE, But Future May Be Brighter

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    2023 was a challenging year for the commercial real estate industry, marked by significant uncertainty, but market pressure and signs of rising interest rates provide some reasons to be cautiously optimistic for the year ahead as pandemic headwinds and gridlock fade away, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • 3 Developments That Will Affect Hospitality Companies In 2024

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    As the hospitality industry continues its post-pandemic recovery, it faces both challenges and opportunities to thrive in 2024, including navigating new labor rules, developing branded residential living spaces and cautiously embracing artificial intelligence, says Lauren Stewart at Sheppard Mullin.