Commercial

  • January 29, 2025

    Experts Expect Tweaks, Not Teardown, For Renewable Credits

    A Trump administration order to pause "green new deal" programs shouldn't halt tax credits for renewable power overnight, legal experts say, even if those programs and others within the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act could face fresh scrutiny.

  • January 29, 2025

    SEC Says PE Firm Defrauded Investors In $1B Fund

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued a private equity firm in Florida federal court Wednesday, alleging that it defrauded investors in a $1 billion fund by, among other things, falsely promising to segregate their assets and by transferring tens of millions of dollars into bank accounts held by the fund's leading executives.

  • January 29, 2025

    $17M Punitive Award Reversed In Miami Hotel's Noise Suit

    A Florida state appeals court on Wednesday upheld sanctions against the owner of two Miami Beach hotels for committing fraud on the court in a commercial landlord-tenant dispute, but the court threw out a $17.4 million punitive damages award and ordered a new trial on that issue.

  • January 29, 2025

    Senate Banking Committee Forms NFIP Working Group

    With the National Flood Insurance Program's authorization set to expire in March, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking has formed a working group to reform the program and work toward long-term reauthorization, a press release from committee chairman and South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott said.

  • January 29, 2025

    Momentary Funding Freeze Gives Brownfields Pause

    President Donald Trump's turbulent 48-hour federal funding freeze sent ripples through the brownfields industry, with developers — who often rely on the federal government as a major funding partner — unsure of the future feasibility of their projects.

  • January 29, 2025

    NYC Seeks Bids For 'Ambitious' Manhattan Redevelopment

    New York City is seeking bids to redevelop the 66,000-square-foot Gansevoort Square area in Manhattan, and bidders have until April 30 to make their pitches, the mayor's office announced Wednesday.

  • January 29, 2025

    Polsinelli Guides $135M Loan Deal For Ex-Pfizer NYC HQ

    Northwind Group, guided by Polsinelli PC, loaned $135 million for a 33-story midtown Manhattan office tower that used to be part of Pfizer's New York City headquarters and will be converted into a residential property, the real estate private equity firm announced Wednesday.

  • January 29, 2025

    Cooper Union Prevails In Dispute Over Chrysler Building

    Cooper Union's response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus does not amount to a breach of contract with the ground leaseholder of the Chrysler Building, which is owned by the university, despite allegations that the college's actions led subtenants to bail, a New York state court judge found Wednesday.

  • January 29, 2025

    Historic Texas Hotel Nets $79M Construction Loan

    The developer of El Tropicano Hotel has closed a $79 million construction loan as it works on overhauling the historic San Antonio, Texas, landmark.

  • January 29, 2025

    Real Estate Group Of The Year: DLA Piper

    The real estate team at DLA Piper over the past year has shepherded deals on matters ranging from massive, billion-dollar data centers to inner city mixed-use projects and what's been widely reported as the largest private real estate development in the United States, securing a place among the 2024 Law360 Real Estate Groups of the Year.

  • January 29, 2025

    Construction Group Of The Year: Nossaman

    Nossaman LLP's work on major projects like the $4.9 billion automated people mover system in Los Angeles International Airport and the $600 million modernization of Interstate 75 in Michigan scored the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Construction Groups of the Year.

  • January 29, 2025

    Katten Real Estate Leaders Suggest Prenegotiated Bankruptcy

    Bankruptcy protection is usually a last resort for commercial real estate borrowers. But for a large distressed asset in a high-tax district, a prepackaged bankruptcy is a no-brainer, according to Katten partners Scott M. Vetri and Timothy G. Little. Here's how it would work.

  • January 29, 2025

    Swift Policy Shifts Make Adaptability Crucial In Real Estate

    Few professionals understand the relentless pace of change quite like real estate attorneys do, and navigating the shifting sands of policy is becoming an all too familiar challenge where the only constant seems to be the need for constant adaptation.

  • January 28, 2025

    End To Third-Party Standing May Affect Ga. Civil Rights Suits

    The Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday shut down a landowner's bid to sue her county on behalf of the would-be buyer of her property, declaring that Peach State courts will no longer recognize third-party standing as a means for plaintiffs to get in the courthouse's doors in a ruling experts say could have a wide effect on future civil rights cases.

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge OKs Refiling Of Suit Over $20M Austin Nightclub Deal

    A Texas federal judge granted a bid to dismiss a suit claiming a title company handed over $3 million to a fraudster, saying Tuesday that she would allow the plaintiff to rework its complaint to show the defendants were indeed more heavily tied to the sham than the current complaint contended.

  • January 28, 2025

    Life Sciences REIT Exec Sees Market Boon In Trump Admin

    Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.'s founder and executive chairman applauded the Trump administration in a Tuesday earnings call, saying several expected reforms will indirectly aid key life science real estate markets.

  • January 28, 2025

    Dubai Co. Begins Condo Project At Surfside Collapse Site

    Dubai-based developer DAMAC International said Tuesday it plans to build its first U.S. real estate project in the town of Surfside, Florida, at the site where the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium collapsed in June 2021, resulting in the deaths of 98 people.

  • January 28, 2025

    Citadel Taps Related For Miami Tower, While Another Is Cut

    In a pairing of heavyweights in their fields, Citadel LLC has announced that it is partnering with developer Related Companies to build the hedge fund's planned waterfront supertall tower in Miami's Brickell Financial District. But the news was accompanied by word that another prominent tower project in the neighborhood will not be moving forward.

  • January 28, 2025

    BCLP Adds Ex-Brownstein Hyatt Real Estate Atty In Denver

    Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP hired a former Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP real estate attorney as a partner for its commercial real estate team in its Denver office, the firm announced Monday.

  • January 28, 2025

    Ohio Board Nixes Bid To Cut Regal Theater's Value

    The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals rejected arguments that a Regal Cinemas property's value should be cut to $4 million from $11.6 million, saying the property owner didn't show that a county appraiser's valuation based on leases and rents of similar properties across seven states was flawed.

  • January 28, 2025

    Industrial Developer Invests $120M Into NC Distribution Center

    PNK Group invested $120 million into a High Point, North Carolina, distribution center that it built on behalf of water hygiene and conservation company Ecolab Corp., the industrial property developer announced Tuesday.

  • January 28, 2025

    Guns Owners Urge Justices To Throw Out NY Carry Law

    Members of the Gun Owners of America Inc. have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a New York carry law that the Second Circuit largely upheld last year, arguing that the lower appellate court's ruling "doubled down" on erroneous conclusions already vacated the last time the justices heard the case.

  • January 28, 2025

    Greenberg Traurig Digital Infrastructure Leader Joins Kirkland

    Kirkland & Ellis LLP has picked up the longtime co-chair of Greenberg Traurig LLP's digital infrastructure, data center and cloud computing industry group, who has joined the firm's corporate practice group in Washington, D.C.

  • January 28, 2025

    Wynn Fraud Trial Still On As Appeals Court Declines To Step In

    A Wynn Resorts subsidiary cannot challenge a decision allowing a trial on accusations that it misled the former owner of the site of its Encore Boston Harbor casino into cutting the property's sale price by $40 million, the state's intermediate-level appeals court has ruled.

  • January 28, 2025

    NY Assembly Bills Seek Tax On Vacant Land, Buildings In NYC

    New York City would be permitted to impose taxes on certain vacant land and vacant residential properties under a pair of bills introduced in the New York state Assembly.

Expert Analysis

  • It's Time To Defuse The Ticking Time Bomb Of US Landfills

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    After recent fires at landfills in Alabama and California sent toxic fumes into surrounding communities, it is clear that existing penalties for landfill mismanagement are insufficient — so policymakers must enact major changes to the way we dispose of solid waste, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief

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    As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.

  • Tips For Advising CRE Owners Affected By Houston Storms

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    As Houston residents begin the arduous process of recovery after this month's devastating storms, attorneys should guide commercial real estate owners and managers toward immediate action under their insurance coverage to facilitate restoration and a return to normalcy, says Justin Ratley at Munsch Hardt.

  • How Real Estate Cos. Can Protect Their IP In The Metaverse

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    The rise of virtual and augmented reality creates new intellectual property challenges and opportunities for real estate owners, but certain steps, including conducting a diligence investigation to develop an understanding of current obligations, can help companies mitigate IP issues in the metaverse, says George Pavlik at Levenfeld Pearlstein.

  • Ga. Law Creates Challenges For Foreign Ownership Of Land

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    Under Georgia's new law limiting certain foreign possessory interests in agricultural land and land near military properties, affected foreign persons and entities will need to do significantly more work in order to ensure that their ownership remains legal, say Nellie Sullivan and Lindsey Grubbs at Holland & Knight.

  • Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

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    A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Takeaways From Biden's Crypto Mining Divestment Order

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    A May 13 executive order prohibiting the acquisition of real estate by a foreign investor on national security grounds — an enforcement first — shows the importance of understanding how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States might profile cross-border transactions, even those that are non-notified, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Insurer Quota-Sharing Lessons From $112M Bad Faith Verdict

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    In Indiana GRQ v. American Guarantee and Liability Insurance, an Indiana federal jury recently issued a landmark $112 million bad faith verdict, illustrating why insurers must understand the interplay between bad faith law and quota-sharing before entering into these relatively new arrangements, say Jason Reichlyn and Christopher Sakauye at Dykema. 

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

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    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 2nd Circ. Eminent Domain Ruling Empowers Municipalities

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, finding that a pretextual taking does not violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause, gives municipalities a powerful tool with which to block unwanted development projects, even in bad faith, say James O'Connor and Benjamin Sugarman at Phillips Lytle.

  • SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

  • How Cos. Can Comply With New PFAS Superfund Rule

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous substances" under the Superfund law will likely trigger additional enforcement and litigation at sites across the country — so companies should evaluate any associated reporting obligations and liability risks, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.