Commercial
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November 14, 2024
DC Circ. Says Zimbabwe Must Pay $440M In Land Dispute
The D.C. Circuit has affirmed the enforcement of approximately $440 million of arbitral awards against Zimbabwe that were issued to a Swiss-German family and two forestry and sawmill companies, agreeing with a lower court that the country waived its sovereign immunity in the land dispute.
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November 14, 2024
New Clean Electricity Credits At Risk In 2025 Tax Talks
Clean electricity tax credits in the Democrats' signature climate law could be scaled back amid next year's effort by President-elect Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers to quickly renew expiring provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act once they're in office.
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November 14, 2024
JLL Forecasts End To 'Peak Waiting' For Construction Work
Commercial broker JLL expects moderating interest rates and building costs that have held mostly flat in 2024 to help lay the foundation for growth in the industry next year after a recent downturn in new project starts.
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November 14, 2024
Latest Plan For Empty Astrodome Envisions $1B Overhaul
The Astrodome Conservancy has unveiled a $1 billion proposal to save the Houston landmark, which would see the property transformed into a mixed-use development with the aid of public and private investment.
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November 14, 2024
NY Contractor Cops To Aiding Theft In Commercial Bribe Case
A New York contractor pled guilty on Thursday in the Manhattan district attorney's commercial bribery case alleging dozens of construction industry defendants conspired to steal from developers in a sprawling kickback scheme involving $100 million in contracts.
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November 13, 2024
Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.
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November 13, 2024
Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.
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November 13, 2024
NY Judge Questions Offices Ringing Penn Station
In a Tuesday hearing before a New York state appeals court panel, attorneys for New York's economic development agency and the real estate developer who would remake the area ringing Penn Station argued against an appeal by building owners who say the plan is not economically viable and will benefit a private developer, not the public.
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November 13, 2024
Meet The Atty, Developer Who'll Be Middle East Special Envoy
President-elect Donald Trump has named Witkoff Group CEO and former real estate lawyer Steven Witkoff as special envoy to the Middle East, a move that could portend an infrastructure-focused, pro-Israel policy stance as the war in Gaza persists.
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November 13, 2024
Goulston & Storrs Real Estate Attys Talk Distress Playbook
As commercial real estate distress continues to play out, attorneys are seeing lenders adopt new strategies to save or reduce their exposure to troubled assets, sometimes working in tandem with investors looking to purchase such loans.
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November 13, 2024
MVP: Fried Frank's Matthew D. Parrott
Matthew Parrott of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP secured a major victory for a big hotel property lender in Manhattan and Los Angeles in a foreclosure suit and clinched a win in a notable case over an eminent domain petition in Texas, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Real Estate MVPs.
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November 13, 2024
Locke Lord Adds Real Estate Ace From Frost Brown In Dallas
A former Frost Brown Todd LLP attorney with diverse commercial real estate experience has joined Locke Lord LLP as a partner in Dallas, a reflection of the firm's focus on building out its real estate team "with top-tier talent."
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November 13, 2024
Jones Day Real Estate Ace Jumps To Greenberg Traurig In LA
Greenberg Traurig LLP is expanding its West Coast real estate team, bringing in a Jones Day real estate transactions pro as a shareholder in its Los Angeles office.
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November 12, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Sheppard Mullin and Fried Frank are among the law firms that steered the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, with the week's largest transactions including several trades of Manhattan residential units.
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November 12, 2024
2 Firms Advise $745M Prospect Managed Care Sale
California-based Astrana Health said it has agreed to pay $745 million to acquire a significant amount of Prospect Medical Holdings' managed care business, including a 177-bed acute care hospital, in a transaction advised by Russ August & Kabat LLP and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
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November 12, 2024
Fried Frank, Sheppard Mullin Wrap $100M Art Museum Sale
The Whitney Museum of Art has closed the sale of a Manhattan art museum building to an entity connected to broker Sotheby's in a $100 million deal worked on by Fried Frank and Sheppard Mullin.
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November 12, 2024
Holding Co.'s $6B CMBS Exposed By Bankruptcy, Report Says
Franchise Group Inc.'s $6.18 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities are at risk of exposure after the retail-focused holding company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which has caused the company to close down more than 300 store locations, according to a report from the analytics team of credit ratings agency KBRA released Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Treasury's Energy Tax Perk Regs On Track Despite Trump Win
The U.S. Treasury Department still plans to finalize remaining clean energy tax credit regulations by the end of this year despite President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to unravel the 2022 climate law that enacted them, a Treasury spokesperson told Law360 on Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
SD AG Issues Explanation Of Property Tax Hike Limit Initiative
South Dakota's attorney general released a final explanation for an initiative that could appear on the state's 2026 general election ballot and would limit annual property tax assessment increases for nonagricultural property, according to a news release published Tuesday.
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November 12, 2024
Paul Hastings Commits To Texas With New Office Leases
More than 12 years after first hanging a shingle in Houston and months after opening a Dallas outpost, Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that it had ambitious plans to continue its recent expansion in Texas with the signing of two commercial leases to boost the firm's capabilities in the Lone Star State.
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November 12, 2024
Goodwin Lands 2 Willkie Real Estate Finance Partners In NY
Goodwin Procter LLP announced Tuesday that it has added two partners from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP to join Goodwin's growing global real estate industry practice in New York.
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November 12, 2024
Bradley Arant Adds Real Estate Pro In Dallas Office
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is growing its real estate team in its 6-year-old Dallas office by bringing in a commercial real estate expert who previously ran his own boutique firm as a partner.
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November 08, 2024
Cannabis Shops Sue DC To Halt Enforcement Actions
A coalition of Washington, D.C., recreational marijuana shops has launched a federal lawsuit against a slew of District entities, including the mayor, cannabis regulator and police department, seeking to halt the government's enforcement actions against their stores.
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November 08, 2024
Investors Say REITs Misled Them Into Delaying Liquidations
A group of retail-focused, non-traded real estate investment trusts misled shareholders into approving charter amendments that stopped shares liquidation and prevented them from making money off their investments, a proposed class claimed in New Jersey federal court.
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November 08, 2024
Exec Exodus At Hospitality Platform Sonder Includes CLO
Hospitality platform Sonder announced Friday its chief legal officer will be resigning from her role later this month as one of three executives who have announced their plans to leave the company by the end of 2024.
Expert Analysis
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Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords
Large retail tenants often require co-tenancy provisions in their leases, entitling them to remedies if a shopping center's occupancy drops in certain ways, but landlords must draft these provisions carefully to avoid giving tenants too much control, says Gary Glick at Cox Castle.
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Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools
A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.
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Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Keys To Successful Commercial Property Insurance Claims
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
While insurance needs for commercial leasing arrangements are driven by the characteristics of the premises and the nature of the tenants' intended operations, there are several universal best practices landlords and their counsel can follow when making claims after loss or damage.
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Tips For Handling Single Asset Real Estate Bankruptcy Cases
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Bankruptcy counsel should consider several strategies when representing either a debtor or lender in single asset real estate debtor Chapter 11 cases, which generally arise when a debtor is forced to file for relief to stop an impending foreclosure sale.
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Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority
Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.
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Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer
My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.
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Proposed Law Would Harm NYC Hospitality Industry
A recently proposed New York City Law that would update hotel licensing and staff coverage requirements could give the city commissioner and unions undue control over the city's hospitality industry, and harm smaller hotels that cannot afford full-time employees, says Stuart Saft at Holland & Knight.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.
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Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.
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Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus
Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.