Commercial

  • May 09, 2024

    10th Circ. Appeal May Expand Pollution Coverage In NM

    The Tenth Circuit will hear oral arguments May 20 to determine whether absolute pollution exclusions doom a New Mexico property owner's quest for $120,000 in defense coverage in a case attorneys say could determine the future of such environmental coverage in the state.

  • May 09, 2024

    Vinson-Led EnCap Lands $1.5B For Energy Transition Fund

    Vinson & Elkins LLP advised EnCap Investments LP on a $1.5 billion fund that seeks to invest in projects meant to decarbonize the power industry, as well as in low-carbon fuels and other green ventures.

  • May 09, 2024

    NY Appeals Court Says Parking Garage Is Rent-Stabilized

    A New York state appeals court on May 9 upheld a housing agency's decision finding that a parking garage in a building in the Bronx borough of New York City is rent-stabilized.

  • May 09, 2024

    NY Panel Backs Landlord's Win In Sonder Legionella Case

    A New York appeals court on May 9 mostly upheld a New York City landlord's victory against hospitality company Sonder in a dispute over unpaid rent at a luxury Manhattan apartment building following a Legionella outbreak.

  • May 09, 2024

    CBRE Reports CRE Investment Decline Slowed In Q1

    U.S. commercial real estate investment volume fell less quickly in the first quarter of 2024 than it did at the end of 2023, according to a CBRE report.

  • May 09, 2024

    TPG Lands Nearly $8B Across 3 Asia-Focused Funds

    Private equity giant TPG, advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, has closed three Asia-focused funds after securing a combined total of nearly $8 billion from investors.

  • May 09, 2024

    Judge Mulls Twitter's Rent Intent In Colo. Eviction Fight

    A Colorado state judge asked a Boulder landlord Thursday why Twitter's intent mattered when it stopped paying rent after being acquired by Elon Musk, as the landlord fights for access to records to rebut the social media company's wrongful eviction claims.

  • May 09, 2024

    Ore. Tax Court Drops Valuation Of Mobile Home Park

    An Oregon mobile home park should be reduced in value from $2.3 million to $1.7 million because an income analysis presented by the owners reflected the property's real market value better than a local assessor's method, the state's tax court said.

  • May 09, 2024

    Colo. Lawmakers Approve Extended Property Tax Cuts

    Colorado would extend its current temporary property tax rate reductions into 2024 and would lower tax rates for future years under legislation passed by Colorado lawmakers that could save property owners about $1 billion in its first year.

  • May 09, 2024

    Solar Co., Michigan Town Agree To End Zoning Dispute

    A solar energy company has agreed to drop its federal lawsuit accusing a Michigan township of imposing an illegal six-month zoning moratorium against solar projects.

  • May 09, 2024

    Hospital REIT Sees $736M Loss After Tenant's Ch. 11 Filing

    Medical Properties Trust, a healthcare real estate investment trust, lost $736 million in the first quarter of the year from the financial collapse of Steward Health Care, a major tenant, and the write-off of an international joint venture, executives said on May 9.

  • May 09, 2024

    Treasury's Energy Tax Credit Regs Leave Room For 'Chaining'

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury has said it is prohibiting the practice known as chaining that links two new ways to monetize clean energy tax credits, but recent final rules governing the two methods left the door open to possible exceptions.

  • May 09, 2024

    NFL Player-Turned-Atty Can't Appeal After Contempt Deal

    An appeal of a contempt-of-court order by NFL-player-turned-lawyer Walter Bernard is moot because the underlying dispute over unpaid rent has been settled and Bernard has been released from jail, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled.

  • May 09, 2024

    GE Dropped From Louisiana Factory Contamination Suit

    A Louisiana federal judge has dropped General Electric from property owners' suit alleging widespread contamination caused by a now-closed manufacturing facility, finding an earlier merger by a subsidiary did not make the company a liable successor.

  • May 09, 2024

    Designer, Hotelier Sued For Allegedly Duping EB-5 Investors

    Chinese investors in a luxury California hotel for green cards lodged a potential class action Thursday against a prominent interior designer and her hotelier husband for allegedly duping backers into believing Marriott would manage the hotel.

  • May 09, 2024

    Nossaman Scores New Land Use Partner For Seattle Office

    Nossaman LLP announced it has hired an attorney with experience advising and defending clients in environmental matters as a partner for its environment and land use team in the firm's Seattle office.

  • May 09, 2024

    DLA Piper CRE Survey Finds Optimism Despite High Rates

    A DLA Piper survey of commercial real estate professionals found that more are optimistic about the market this year than they were last year, although more than half are still bearish on the industry amid persistently high interest rates.

  • May 08, 2024

    Water-Damaged Conn. Hotel Sues Insurer For More Coverage

    A Connecticut hotel took Sompo America Insurance Co. to state court after the insurer only partially covered substantial water damage that forced the newly opened lodge's closure and purportedly offered "nonsensical" justifications for denying full coverage.

  • May 08, 2024

    Winstead Moves Austin Office To New Horizon Bank Site

    Winstead PC has relocated to Horizon Bank's newly completed office building in downtown Austin, Texas, moving from the Frost Tower, which the firm had called home for more than two decades.

  • May 08, 2024

    SEC Fines Real Estate Developer Over Unregistered Offering

    A real estate development company and its owner will pay $250,000 to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims they sold investors $1.4 million in promissory notes in an unregistered offering.

  • May 08, 2024

    From Trophy To Dead Weight At San Francisco's 111 Sutter

    Paramount Group Real Estate, a New York-based firm with an $8.4 billion portfolio of trophy assets in New York and San Francisco, isn't interested in hindsight at 111 Sutter St., the Hunter-Dulin Building.

  • May 08, 2024

    Brokers Lean On Other Business With Transactions Flat In Q1

    Commercial real estate's big four brokers are still waiting for inflation to cool down so capital markets can rebound, despite signs in the first quarter that a recovery was underway.

  • May 08, 2024

    Norfolk Southern Class Counsel Talks Settlement, Legacy

    With residents of East Palestine, Ohio, on the verge of a $600 million payout for the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment, plaintiffs' co-lead counsel Jayne Conroy shared some thoughts about the role property values played in the proposed settlement and what ripple effect their arguments might have in similar cases.

  • May 08, 2024

    Ballard Spahr Real Estate Pro Joins Hyland Levin In NJ

    New Jersey regional firm Hyland Levin Shapiro LLP leveled up its real estate practice this week with the hire of a Ballard Spahr LLP attorney of more than five years, bringing significant experience in commercial real estate in and out of the law.

  • May 08, 2024

    Conn. Builder Drops $4.7M Stamford Pavilion Delay Suit

    A Connecticut general contractor has dropped its lawsuit accusing the city of Stamford and an architecture practice of causing delays in a $4.7 million project and driving up the building company's costs as it tried to build a pavilion in a city park.

Expert Analysis

  • Keys To Navigating The Post-Pandemic CRE Market

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    As the commercial real estate market continues to face repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic, lawyers should use office occupancy and leasing volume numbers to anticipate future trends and help guide clients through an uncertain landscape, says Joseph Calvanico at J2C Valuations.

  • To Hire And Keep Top Talent, Think Beyond Compensation

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    Firms seeking to appeal to sophisticated clients and top-level partners should promote mentorship, ensure that attorneys from diverse backgrounds feel valued, and clarify policies about at-home work, says Patrick Moya at Quaero Group.

  • How Rate Exportation Is Shifting Amid Regulatory Trends

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    All banks and their partners, including fintechs, that wish to lend to borrowers in multiple states and charge uniform interest rates should heed regulatory developments across the country and determine how best to mitigate risks in their efforts to offer credit to consumers on a nationwide basis, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How The Commercial Real Estate Slump May Weigh On Banks

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    The continuing underperformance of the U.S. commercial real estate market has significant implications for the financial performance and disclosure requirements for various banks, especially regional ones with large debt exposures, say Atanu Saha and Yong Xu at StoneTurn.

  • Negotiating Material Escalation In Construction Contracts

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    As material price escalation clauses have remained popular in construction contracts despite an easing of recent supply chain issues, attorneys representing owners should understand key considerations for negotiating such clauses, and strategies to mitigate potential exploitation by contractors, says H. Arthur Black II at Brooks Pierce.

  • Landlords Should Prep As WeWork Faces Potential Ch. 11

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    After years of financial trouble and the recent announcement that it has substantial doubt that it would be able to continue as a going concern, WeWork may have a bankruptcy filing in its future that would have a significant impact on landlords and other stakeholders who are owed money by the company, say attorneys at Cadwalader.

  • Identifying Trends And Tips In Litigation Financing Disclosure

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    Growing interest and controversy in litigation financing raise several salient concerns, but exploring recent compelled disclosure trends from courts around the country can help practitioners further their clients' interests, say Sean Callagy and Samuel Sokolsky at Arnold & Porter.

  • Key Drivers Behind Widespread Adoption Of NAV Financing

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    While net asset value-based lending has existed for years, NAV lending has only started to move into the mainstream recently — likely due to difficult market conditions faced by sponsors including persistent inflation, high interest rates and a lack of exit opportunities, say Matthew Kerfoot and Jinyoung Joo at Proskauer.

  • Conn. Ruling Highlights Keys To Certificate-Of-Need Appeals

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    The Connecticut Supreme Court's recent decision in High Watch Recovery Center v. Department of Public Health, rejecting rigid application of statutes concerning certificate-of-need procedure, provides important guidance on building an administrative record to support a finding that a case is contested, say attorneys at Robinson & Cole.

  • The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Elrod On 'Jury Duty'

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    Though the mockumentary series “Jury Duty” features purposely outrageous characters, it offers a solemn lesson about the simple but brilliant design of the right to trial by jury, with an unwitting protagonist who even John Adams may have welcomed as an impartial foreperson, says Fifth Circuit Judge Jennifer Elrod.

  • Pickleball Makes Waves In Fla. Real Estate, With Risks In Play

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    Pickleball's burgeoning popularity in Florida is catalyzing a transformation in the state's commercial real estate market, but investors must take steps to navigate legal challenges related to noise, insurance and community dynamics, says Emmanuelle Litvinov at DarrowEverett.

  • 4 Business-Building Strategies For Introvert Attorneys

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Introverted lawyers can build client bases to rival their extroverted peers’ by adapting time-tested strategies for business development that can work for any personality — such as claiming a niche, networking for maximum impact, drawing on existing contacts and more, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • What Calif. Pot Permit Ruling Means For Enviro Compliance

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    While a California appeals court's recent decision in Lucas v. City of Pomona affirms the city's use of a statutory exemption for its commercial cannabis overlay permit program, the ruling does not mean that all applicants seeking similar approvals are exempted from state environmental compliance obligations, say Whitney Hodges and Barbara Machado at Sheppard Mullin.