Commercial

  • April 10, 2025

    Loan Investor Claims Servicer Mishandled $1.8B In Mortgages

    A loan investor accused mortgage servicer Caliber Home Loans in New York federal court of fumbling nearly $1.8 billion of distressed residential mortgages that were part of a purchase agreement between the two companies.

  • April 10, 2025

    Whole Foods Sues CBL, Transformco Over Asbestos In Store

    Whole Foods Market Group Inc. is suing entities connected to real estate investment trust CBL Properties and retail company Transformco for more than $1 million, alleging that the companies are liable for an "ill-fated and injurious" redevelopment project that created asbestos in a North Carolina Whole Foods store.

  • April 10, 2025

    Lowenstein Sandler Doubling DC Office Space By Next Year

    Lowenstein Sandler LLP will take over an entire floor in its current Washington, D.C., office building, doubling its footprint, to keep up with demand in the nation's capital, office managing partner Zarema A. Jaramillo told Law360 Pulse in an interview Thursday.

  • April 10, 2025

    Ready Capital Brass Face Suit Over Real Estate Loan Losses

    Executives and directors of real estate finance company Ready Capital Corp. were hit with a shareholder derivative suit alleging they failed to disclose that the company's nonperforming commercial real estate loans were damaging its bottom line and would force it to take "aggressive action" to preserve its finances.

  • April 10, 2025

    Sullivan & Worcester Hires Fried Frank REIT Tax Pro

    Sullivan & Worcester LLP announced Thursday that it has hired a Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP partner, noting that the attorney comes to the firm with deep real estate investment trust tax expertise.

  • April 10, 2025

    NJ Panel Tosses Mall Owner's Bid To Spike Mixed-Use Project

    A New Jersey appeals panel rejected a Newark shopping center owner's attempt to compel a builder to construct a parking garage instead of a mixed-use project on an adjacent property by citing a 2004 city plan.

  • April 10, 2025

    Del. Justices Urged To Revive Gellert Seitz Malpractice Case

    A homebuilder is asking the Delaware Supreme Court to undo Gellert Seitz Busenkell & Brown LLC's win in a legal malpractice case over damages the builder says it suffered due to negligent representation in loan restructuring disputes with a bank.

  • April 10, 2025

    Sidley Snaps Up Cadwalader Real Estate Finance Team

    Sidley Austin LLP recruited a team of real estate finance attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, including the co-head of the firm's real estate financing group and three other partners, Law360 Real Estate Authority has learned.

  • April 10, 2025

    Blackstone Bolsters Warehouse Portfolio In $718M Texas Buy

    Blackstone on Thursday announced it has agreed to buy a 6 million-square-foot portfolio of warehouse buildings in Dallas and Houston from Crow Holdings for $718 million in a bet on logistics during a time of market upheaval.

  • April 09, 2025

    Dechert Leaders Talk Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities

    After a few slow years, activity in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market has roared back to life, as investors, lenders and borrowers get comfortable with the new normal and find ways to get deals done, according to Laura Swihart and Stewart McQueen of Dechert LLP.

  • April 09, 2025

    NJ Will Pay $15M To Settle County's Casino Tax Break Lawsuit

    Atlantic County and the state of New Jersey have reached a $15 million settlement over a dispute related to a property tax break program for casinos that the county argued unconstitutionally shifted the tax burden to its municipalities.

  • April 09, 2025

    FAU Research Park Looks To Bring Innovators To Boca

    South Florida-based real estate private equity firm PEBB Enterprises and Banyan Development have tapped Colliers to handle leasing at a research office park connected to Florida Atlantic University, aiming to attract both startups and established businesses, particularly in technology and other innovative fields, to the recently upgraded facility.

  • April 09, 2025

    Ill. Real Estate Broker Gets 4 Years For $3M Investment Scam

    A Chicago real estate broker has been sentenced to more than four years in prison after pleading guilty last year to allegations he duped clients into investing millions of dollars in properties that did not exist and then used the investors' funds for personal expenses, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

  • April 09, 2025

    Banks Back Private Credit's Rise. Should Borrowers Care?

    Banks provide back-financing in most real estate private credit deals and often have a say on what happens when a loan goes bad, but attorneys have different opinions about whether borrowers should be tuned into what's going on with their debt behind the scenes.

  • April 09, 2025

    Colliers Says Q1 Atlanta Office Market Trends Toward Balance

    Commercial broker Colliers said construction activity remained at its lowest level since 2011 in the first quarter as the overall vacancy rate rose slightly on a quarterly basis to 24.2% in Atlanta's office market.

  • April 09, 2025

    Mich. City Says Pot Co. Can't Challenge Rivals' Licenses

    A Michigan city is urging a federal court to throw out a suit by a would-be dispensary alleging that the city violated state law and the Constitution when it awarded its cannabis licenses, saying the company does not have a property right to sell substances that are illegal under federal law.

  • April 09, 2025

    Miami Offices See Uptick, Despite Decline In Construction

    The Miami office market got off to a positive start in 2025 after slowing down last year, although construction activity continued to decline in the sector, according to a new report from global real estate advisory firm Avison Young.

  • April 09, 2025

    Trade Policy Prompts Fla. 'Wait-And-See' Effect, CBRE Says

    Commercial broker CBRE said firms in Jacksonville, Florida's industrial market may be taking a "wait-and-see approach" while digesting changes in trade policy, based on Q1 figures showing the market saw its first quarter of negative absorption since 2019.

  • April 09, 2025

    Blackstone Clinches $10.8B European Real Estate Fund

    Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP-advised private equity giant Blackstone on Wednesday announced that it wrapped its latest European real estate fund with €9.8 billion ($10.8 billion) of total capital commitments.

  • April 08, 2025

    Expedia's Cuban Island Bookings Were Illegal, Jurors Told

    A Cuban-American man who says he is the rightful heir to an island off the coast of Cuba that was seized by the Communist government told jurors Tuesday that Expedia illegally trafficked in stolen property by offering reservations for resorts on the island through its website.

  • April 08, 2025

    NY High Court Probes If State Emissions Cap Preempts City's

    New York's highest court questioned Tuesday why the state Legislature did not explicitly state that it meant for a 2019 climate law to preempt a law regulating greenhouse gas emissions that New York City passed earlier that year, amid property owners' challenge to the city law.

  • April 08, 2025

    Univ. Of The Arts Gets Last Ch. 7 Property Sale Approved

    Philadelphia's University of the Arts received the Delaware bankruptcy court's approval Tuesday for its sale of an historic building, the seventh and final real estate sale in the defunct school's Chapter 7 case.

  • April 08, 2025

    Cushman Atty Transitions In-House As Kidder Mathews GC

    Kidder Mathews announced Monday that it has hired Edward Castro, a 30-year corporate attorney with experience in commercial real estate law, as general counsel advising the company and its 19 West Coast offices.

  • April 08, 2025

    House Panel Tallies Office Waste After DOGE, GSA Scrutiny

    Republicans on a U.S. House committee cast the federal government's office footprint as costly, out of date and underused in a Tuesday hearing that came after a federal agency posted and then promptly removed a list of some 440 buildings it described as "non-core" last month.

  • April 08, 2025

    Contractor's Win In Insurance Fraud Suit Upheld By 6th Circ.

    A Sixth Circuit panel affirmed Continental Building Co.'s defeat of a lawsuit that leveled insurance fraud claims at the general contractor, finding a subcontractor failed to trace its losses to Continental's claim that it defaulted on a contract.

Expert Analysis

  • Climate Among Many Factors Driving Up RE Insurance Costs

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    A proactive approach to risk management may determine the viability of the U.S. commercial real estate sector as weather crises and other factors drive insurance costs higher, says Ulrick Matsunaga at Crosbie Gliner.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Debriefings, Timeliness, Documentation

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    ​James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concerning an agency's decision not to hold post-award discussions, a timeliness trap in certain Federal Supply Schedule procurements and the importance of providing contemporaneous documentation in price-evaluation protests.

  • A Look At Recent Case Law On Expedited Judgment In NY

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    A number of recent New York state court decisions clarify and refine the contours surrounding Civil Practice Law and Rule 3213, providing landlords, lenders and other payees guidance on how to seek accelerated judgment in certain litigation, says Alexander Lycoyannis at Holland & Knight.

  • Dealmaker Lessons From CFIUS' New Enforcement Webpage

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    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recently launched webpage, which details the actions — and inactions — that led to enforcement activity, provides important insights for dealmakers about filing requirements, mitigation commitments and the cost of noncompliance, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives

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    As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.

  • Avoid Getting Burned By Agencies' Solar Financing Spotlight

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    Recently coordinated reports and advisories from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission maximize the spotlight on the consumer solar financing market and highlight pitfalls for lenders to avoid in this burgeoning field, says Mercedes Tunstall at Cadwalader.

  • Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords

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    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.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    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.

  • Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls

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    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.

  • Keys To Successful Commercial Property Insurance Claims

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    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.

  • Tips For Handling Single Asset Real Estate Bankruptcy Cases

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    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.

  • Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks

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    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.

  • Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

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    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.