Commercial
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May 02, 2025
Construction Spending Dips In March After Steady Growth
Construction spending in March fell slightly from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,196 billion, with slightly reduced spending along nearly all the private and public construction subcategories tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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May 02, 2025
Phoenix Industrial Project Deliveries, Starts Balance In Q1
The Phoenix industrial market saw 7.3 million square feet of new space delivered in the first quarter, while new construction slowed to its lowest level since 2020, balancing one of the top U.S. markets for net absorption, according to commercial broker Colliers.
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May 02, 2025
Nixon Peabody Appoints Finance, Tax Partner As DC Leader
Nixon Peabody LLP has appointed a more than 20-year veteran of the firm as its Washington, D.C., office managing partner, who focuses his practice on a range of corporate, finance and real estate matters, according to a Thursday announcement.
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May 02, 2025
Colorado Investor, Ex-Counsel Trade Blows In Malpractice Suit
A Colorado real estate investor and Fox Rothschild LLP have filed a flurry of motions in a legal malpractice suit, with the investor requesting that the firm be found liable for damages amid its representation in an underlying fight over a soured development deal, and the firm contending the investor abandoned a claim over attorney fees.
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May 02, 2025
Goldberg Weprin, Fried Frank Guide $164M Brooklyn Site Sale
Developers Charney Cos. and Tavros, advised by Goldberg Weprin Finkel Goldstein LLP, have bought a fully permitted development site in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood from RFR, led by Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, for $164 million, the companies said this week.
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May 02, 2025
Trump Proposes Massive Cuts To Federal Housing Assistance
The Trump administration outlined $163 billion in cuts to non-defense government spending next year in a Friday memo from the Office of Management and Budget, including significant cuts to federal rental assistance to shift responsibility for the programs to states.
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May 02, 2025
Dickinson Wright Combines With Firm, Opens Seattle Office
Dickinson Wright PLLC announced that it has combined with Seattle-based Ashbaugh Beal LLP and opened a full-service office in the city, now home to eleven attorneys and the firm's first foray into the Northwest.
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May 01, 2025
Claims Against Attys In $2.6B Casino Merger Row Get Tossed
A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday permanently ended claims a real estate investor in a botched $2.6 billion Philippine casino deal brought against attorneys from Sadis & Goldberg LLP, finding that claims that they allowed a fraud to unfold and breached their fiduciary duties were too vague.
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May 01, 2025
Soccer Club Spars Over Evidence As Stadium Trial Looms
An Oklahoma soccer team suing the National Premier Soccer League for breach of contract argued that the trial court should allow evidence showing that it lost revenue after the organization refused to allow access to a local stadium for its home games.
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May 01, 2025
VICI Touts Casino Loan, Despite 'Difficult' Collateral Structure
VICI Properties Inc. agreed to provide up to $510 million for a new casino near Madera, California, noting that even though the tribal ownership structure could complicate an attempt to take collateral in the future, it's confident in the operator tapped to oversee the property.
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May 01, 2025
Ballard Spahr Adds Real Estate Ace From Hunton In DC
Ballard Spahr hired ex-Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP attorney Jill S. Parks as a partner for the firm's real estate department and its teams for real estate development and transactions and zoning and land use in its District of Columbia office, the firm announced Thursday.
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May 01, 2025
Masonry Exec Cops To $52M Amtrak Program Bribery Scheme
The owner of an Illinois-based masonry business awarded a federal contract to renovate Philadelphia's historic 30th Street Station admitted Wednesday to bribery charges in a case alleging he had his executives shower gifts on an Amtrak employee who then approved additional work that added $52 million to the project's cost.
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May 01, 2025
Zipcar, Garage Not Liable For Injuries To Driver Returning Car
Massachusetts-based car sharing company Zipcar and the owner of a public parking garage are not liable for injuries suffered by a college student who was struck by a drunken driver while dropping off a car back in 2017, an intermediate appellate court concluded Thursday.
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May 01, 2025
Greenberg Traurig Hires Procopio Litigation Duo In San Diego
Greenberg Traurig LLP announced Wednesday that it has added a member of Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch LLP's management committee and another partner from that firm to its litigation practice in San Diego.
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May 01, 2025
Massumi & Consoli Announces New Real Estate Practice
In a move designed to expand the firm's ability to serve clients in transactional matters, national private equity law boutique Massumi & Consoli announced that it has added a real estate practice, led by two New York-based partners who made the leap from Brown Rudnick LLP.
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May 01, 2025
Real Estate Lawyers On The Move
Winston & Strawn, Honigman and Stephenson Harwood are among the law firms that have made recent real estate or construction hires.
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May 01, 2025
Equinix Sees Q1 Revenue Jump As Tariffs Temper Optimism
Equinix Inc.'s CEO expressed optimism in the data center-focused REIT's first-quarter earnings call, noting its $2.2 billion in revenue, but the executive also urged caution due to tariffs implemented by the U.S. and other countries.
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April 30, 2025
Multifamily, Lodging Push CMBS Delinquencies Higher In April
Commercial mortgage-backed securities tied to multifamily and lodging drove overall delinquency rates in April back up to heights not seen since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, per a Wednesday report from Trepp.
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April 30, 2025
Tribes Join Push For High Court To Review Ariz. Tax On Plant
Arizona misinterpreted federal law and threatened the sovereignty of a Native American tribe with its taxation of a natural-gas-powered plant that sits on a reservation, the tribe told the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief Wednesday.
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April 30, 2025
Winston & Strawn Guides $450M Loan For Miami Stadium Plan
The developers of a $1 billion Miami soccer stadium project under construction have secured a $450 million mortgage from JPMorgan Chase Bank in a transaction advised by Winston & Strawn LLP.
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April 30, 2025
Equity Sees Housing Shortage As Shield Against Uncertainty
Equity Residential executives on Wednesday said the rental giant in the first quarter saw record-low levels of resident turnover along with higher year-over-year occupancy, and is expecting a lack of U.S. housing supply to insulate from unfolding economic uncertainty.
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April 30, 2025
KHP Hires Goodwin Procter Partner As New General Counsel
Real estate private equity firm KHP Capital Partners said Wednesday that former Goodwin Procter LLP real estate partner Alex Lewis will become the firm's executive vice president and general counsel.
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April 30, 2025
Texas Panel Backtracks In Nate Paul's Receiver Row
A Texas appellate court revoked its prior ruling and backed a lower court ruling that allowed an attorney acting as a receiver in one suit to take over as counsel in another suit for a company belonging to real estate investor Nate Paul, permanently dismiss its claims and counterclaims, and reach a settlement.
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April 30, 2025
Here's What Real Estate Execs Are Saying About Tariffs
Executives across a wide range of real estate industries recently said President Donald Trump's tariffs would result in cost increases — some providing single-digit expected jumps — and some companies have been stockpiling additional imported supplies ahead of anticipated tariffs.
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April 30, 2025
Gov't Properties REIT Tapped To Build Oregon Courthouse
The General Services Administration has selected Easterly Government Properties Inc. to build a new federal courthouse in Oregon and inked a 20-year, noncancelable lease for the site once construction is complete, the real estate investment trust announced.

Ripe For Revitalization, Owners Transform Class B Malls
Class B malls are the subject of renewed focus as owners and developers add residential, hotel, medical, entertainment, and food and dining uses to properties in an effort to reverse sinking vacancy rates at the decades-old assets.

Real Estate Sees Action-Packed First 100 Days Of Trump
The real estate sector — from which President Donald Trump hails — has not been spared an onslaught of significant policy changes as the new administration marks its first 100 days, including tariffs, a federal office slim-down and an effort to curb diverse hiring programs.

It's Getting Harder To Be A Data Center Speculator
Opportunistic investors have discovered they can make a pretty penny selling land after securing power for a proposed data center. But utilities have found ways to weed out the speculators, such as requiring a seven-figure deposit up front.
Expert Analysis
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Negotiating Triparty Hotel Agreements To Withstand Risk
Brewing economic uncertainty in the hospitality industry underscores the importance of subordination, nondisturbance and attornment agreements, and hotel managers should tightly negotiate these agreements to ensure remedies will not disturb key rights, say attorneys at Sidley.
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CRE Challenges Demand New Lease And Development Plans
As developers and landlords face declining occupancy of commercial, industrial and office space post-pandemic, a combination of business and lease considerations may better position stakeholders to protect the value and profitability of their commercial real estate, says Geoffrey Leskie at Segal McCambridge.
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Ch. 11 Free-And-Clear Sale Ruling Takes Pragmatic Approach
A recent ruling from a New York bankruptcy court in which the debtors were allowed to sell interests free and clear regardless of a lienholder's objection signals a practical approach and a recalibration of the balance between debtor flexibility and creditor protections, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.
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What's At Stake As 9th Circ. Eyes Cultural Resource Damages
In Pakootas v. Teck Cominco, the Ninth Circuit is faced with the long-unresolved question of whether cultural resource damages are recoverable as part of natural resource damages under the Superfund law — and the answer will have enormous implications for companies, natural resource trustees and Native American tribes, says Sarah Bell at Farella Braun.
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5 Insurance Types For Mitigating Tariff-Related Trade Losses
The potential for significant trade-related losses as a result of increased tariffs may cause companies to consider which of their insurance policies, including marine, builders risk, trade credit, and directors and officers, could provide coverage to alleviate the financial impact, say attorneys at Pillsbury.
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Avoiding Pitfalls Around New Calif. Commercial Lease Law
A California law that became effective this year requires commercial landlords to extend certain protections previously afforded to residential tenancies, and a few key provisions of the law especially warrant reexamination of leasing and operational processes, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Measuring And Mitigating Harm From Discriminatory Taxes
In response to new tariffs and other recent "America First Trade Policy" pronouncements, corporations should assess and take steps to minimize their potential exposure to discriminatory and reciprocal tax measures that are likely to come, say economists at Charles River Associates.
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Addressing Tariff Price Escalation In Construction Contracts
As construction projects across the U.S. face uncertainty surrounding material price increases driven by government-imposed tariffs, owners and developers should draft strong contracts to protect themselves from tariff-related cost overruns and delays, say attorneys at Akerman.
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How The CRE Industry Is Adapting To Tariff Uncertainty
Amid uncertainty about pending tariffs and their potential ripple effects, including higher material costs, supply chain delays and tighter margins, commercial real estate industry players are focusing on strategic planning and risk mitigation, says Daniel Diaz Leyva at Day Pitney.
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Reconciling 2 Smoke Coverage Cases From California
As highlighted by a California Department of Insurance bulletin clarifying the effect of two recent decisions on insurance coverage, the February state appellate ruling denying coverage for property damage from smoke, ash and soot should be viewed as an outlier, say attorneys at Reed Smith.
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Contractor Remedies Amid Overhaul Of Federal Spending
Now that the period for federal agencies to review their spending has ended, companies holding procurement contracts or grants should evaluate whether their agreements align with administration policies and get a plan ready to implement if their contracts or grants are modified or terminated, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Terminations Galore
Attorneys at Seyfarth examine three recent decisions in which the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals provide valuable insights into contract terminations, modifications and the jurisdictional requirements for claims.
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Making The Opportunity Zones Program Great At Last
As the opportunity zone program approaches its expiration, the Republican-led government could take specific steps to extend and improve the program, address its structural flaws, encourage broader participation and enable it to live up to its promised outcomes, say attorneys at Pillsbury.