Commercial
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January 09, 2025
Calif. Insurance Chief Blocks Policy Cancellation In Fire Zones
Insurance companies can't cancel or refuse to renew homeowners coverage for policyholders in the immediate vicinity of the Los Angeles wildfires for one year, the California Department of Insurance announced as fires continue to ravage Southern California.
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January 09, 2025
McGuireWoods Adds Commercial Litigator Amid Hiring Spree
A commercial litigator specializing in complex construction disputes has moved his practice to McGuireWoods LLP's Washington, D.C., office after more than 19 years at Jones Day, amid a flurry of new partner hires at the firm, it announced Jan. 9.
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January 09, 2025
Morgan Stanley Sells NYC Office Tower For $360M
Morgan Stanley sold a 29-story, 1 million-square-foot New York City office tower to children's clothing retailer Haddad Brands for $360 million in a deal lined up by Newmark Group Inc., the commercial real estate adviser announced on Jan. 9.
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January 09, 2025
Meet The Attys Helping Ailing NY Nursing Home In Ch. 11
Cold Spring Holdings, owner of a 588-bed nursing facility on Long Island, has enlisted attorneys from Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP to help the company pursue a Chapter 11 bankruptcy it says was stimulated by a "crusade" on the part of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
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January 09, 2025
Kraft Heinz Set For March Trial Over Food Factory Overhaul
Kraft Heinz Foods Co. and the Ohio contractor that accused it of failing to pay $7.6 million for the work and materials that went into overhauling a factory the company has near the Sandusky River are scheduled for a March 25 bench trial, according to a Wednesday order.
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January 08, 2025
Bronx Multifamily Project Cashes In $218M Freddie Mac Loan
Affiliates of The Domain Cos. have secured a $218 million loan for a mixed-use, mixed-income multifamily project in the Bronx borough of New York City, with financing provided by Freddie Mac via JLL Real Estate Capital.
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January 08, 2025
Greenberg Traurig Works On $120M Prologis Industrial Buy
Exxon Mobil Corp. sold a Brooklyn, New York, commercial property to logistics real estate company Prologis Inc. for $120 million in a deal that involved Greenberg Traurig LLP, according to official property records.
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January 08, 2025
Toxic LA Landfill Closes, But Lawsuits Continue to Pile On
Los Angeles County has moved to study the effects of the closure of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which stopped accepting waste last week following a series of lawsuits and other complaints over the effects of an underground reaction that's been spewing super-heated wastewater, likely since 2022.
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January 08, 2025
Farm Owner Can't Claim $6.5M For Border Wall, 5th Circ. Told
The federal government argued Wednesday that a Texas woman isn't owed millions of dollars in compensation for a section of the state's border wall built on her land, telling the Fifth Circuit that a principle giving landowners rights to property improvements can't be equitably applied to the federal government.
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January 08, 2025
Judge Reverses His Own Ruling In Chicago Hotel Zoning Fight
An Illinois federal judge ruled against the owners of a historic Chicago hotel Tuesday, dialing back an earlier victory he had granted them last year in a zoning suit against the city.
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January 08, 2025
Calif. Tribe Has Standing To Block Casino Project, Court Told
A California tribe says it has constitutional standing to block the Interior Department from taking land into trust for a proposed casino project on its historic homelands, arguing that it suffered actual and concrete harm when the agency determined that no historic resources would be affected by the endeavor.
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January 08, 2025
Trump-Aligned Dubai Developer To Put $20B Into Data Centers
Dubai-based developer DAMAC Properties plans to break into the U.S. data center industry with a $20 billion investment targeting Sunbelt and Midwest states, with help from the federal government, according to a recent announcement by President-elect Donald Trump.
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January 08, 2025
REITs Should Expect More Shareholder Activism In '25
Public real estate companies should expect more shareholder activist campaigns in 2025, with investors targeting real estate investment trusts with poor corporate governance practices and placing a greater focus on mergers and acquisitions, according to an Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP attorney.
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January 08, 2025
Florida Real Estate Projects To Watch In 2025
Florida real estate has weathered the economic headwinds of the past few years and has no shortage of notable projects in the pipeline across multiple markets.
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January 08, 2025
NYC Development Projects To Watch In 2025
New York City real estate development is still squeezed by interest rates and office vacancies, but attorneys for developers are hopeful that public policy and pricing discovery will continue to spur deals.
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January 08, 2025
The Enviro Policies Real Estate Attys Are Eyeing In 2025
On the precipice of four years of expected deregulation, agency challenge, and a weakening of incentives and credits, real estate attorneys and their clients are in a wait-and-see phase to determine how environmental policy shifts will — or should — alter their work.
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January 08, 2025
Power Constraints May Test Data Center Gains In '25
Few doubt that demand for data centers will be strong this year, but can the industry's supply keep up, and does the energy infrastructure exist to make more development possible? These are the questions on attorneys' minds going into the new year.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Floats Mine, Data Center Property Tax Changes
Montana would lower the property tax rate imposed on metal mines, certain agricultural land and railroads but raise the rate on data center property as part of a bill introduced in the state Senate.
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January 07, 2025
Mich. Town Tries To Ditch $5M Suit Over Dispensary Flip-Flop
A Michigan township accused of greenlighting, and then blocking, a developer's special-use permit for a marijuana dispensary said Tuesday the developer suing it for $5 million never actually got the required prequalification from the state.
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January 07, 2025
DOJ Revamps Process For Federal Real Estate Deals
The U.S. Department of Justice has replaced "outdated provisions" that guided how federal agencies acquired real property with 10 new federal provisions that have the goal of "promoting government efficiency and saving taxpayer funds," the DOJ said Tuesday.
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January 07, 2025
Judge Trims Shareholders' Suit Against Data Center REIT
Equinix Inc. has escaped a claim stemming from a proposed securities class action in California federal court that accused the data center-focused real estate investment trust of misleading investors about its power capacity, growth potential and capital expenditures.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Calls For Property Tax Appraisals Every 2 Years
Montana would require all real property to be reappraised every two years for tax purposes as part of a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
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January 07, 2025
CMBS Deals, Distress Rates Saw 2024 Highs
Kroll Bond Ratings Agency reported Tuesday that $104.1 billion worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities were issued in 2024, more than doubling issuance rates seen in 2023, even as distress rates driven by office sector performance rose simultaneously.
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January 07, 2025
Property Owner Says Insurer Owes $16.2M For Fire Damage
A Colorado property owner is seeking to recover $16.2 million from its insurer for property damage caused by the 2021 Marshall Fire, telling a federal court the carrier wrongly concluded the properties did not sustain direct physical damage in order to justify replacement costs.
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January 07, 2025
Mont. Bill Seeks Review Process For Tax-Exempt Property
Montana would require the state Department of Revenue to create a program to review property that is exempt from taxation under a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives.
Expert Analysis
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DC Ruling Provides Support For Builders Risk Claim Recovery
To deny coverage for builders risk claims, insurers have been increasingly relying on two arguments, both of which have been invalidated in the recent U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, South Capitol Bridgebuilders v. Lexington, say Greg Podolak and Cheryl Kozdrey at Saxe Doernberger.
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What NJ's Green Remediation Guidance Means For Cleanups
Recent guidance from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection promoting greener approaches to restoring contaminated sites demonstrates the state's commitment to sustainability and environmental justice — but could also entail more complexity, higher costs and longer remediation timelines, say J. Michael Showalter and Bradley Rochlen at ArentFox Schiff.
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Inside Bank Regulators' Community Lending Law Overhaul
The federal banking agencies' recently finalized changes to the Community Reinvestment Act not only account for the gradual shift to an environment where lending and deposit-taking are primarily conducted online, but also implement other updates such as diversity initiatives and a new series of lending tests, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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Sellers Seeking Best Deal Should Focus On Terms And Price
Rising interest rates and a decline in the automotive mergers and acquisitions market mean that a failed deal carries greater stakes, and sellers therefore should pursue not only the optimum price but also the optimum terms to safeguard their agreement, says Joseph Aboyoun at Fox Rothschild.
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Illinois Trump Tower Ruling Illuminates Insurance 'Occurrence'
In Continental Casualty v. 401 North Wabash Venture, an Illinois appellate court found that Trump Tower was not entitled to insurance coverage for operating its HVAC system without a permit, helping to further define a widely litigated general liability insurance issue — what constitutes an "occurrence," say Robert Tugander and Greg Mann at Rivkin Radler.
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A Bird's Eye View Of NYC's New Parapet Inspection Law
Building owners in New York City should be ready for the city's new parapet inspection requirements going into effect in January, which will likely necessitate additional construction work for countless buildings not previously subject to formal inspections, says Benjamin Fox Tracy at Braverman Greenspun.
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How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners
A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.
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Calif. Ruling May Open Bankruptcy Trustees To Tort Liability
In Martin v. Gladstone, a recent California appellate court decision, the application of tort concepts to bankruptcy trustees could pose a new concern for trustees and federal receivers when controlling and maintaining commercial property, says Jarrett Osborne-Revis at Buchalter.
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Considerations For Navigating Mixed-Use Developments
As mixed-use developments continue to rise in popularity, developers considering this approach to urban planning must be aware of key considerations ranging from title and zoning laws to proper engagement with stakeholders, says Mehdi Sinaki at Michelman & Robinson.
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1st Tax Easement Convictions Will Likely Embolden DOJ, IRS
After recent convictions in the first criminal tax fraud trial over allegedly abusive syndicated conservation easements, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice will likely pursue other promoters for similar alleged conspiracies — though one acquittal may help attorneys better evaluate their clients' exposure, say Bill Curtis and Lauren DeSantis-Then at Polsinelli.
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Compliance Primer: Foreign Investment In US Real Property
The rise in foreign investment in U.S. real property, especially agricultural land, has led to increased national security concerns, meaning it’s important to understand reporting requirements under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and state-level statutes, and to monitor legislative proposals that could create more stringent reporting and review processes, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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How CRE Loans Would Shift Under New Bank Capital Rules
Attorneys at MoFo discuss how commercial real estate loans would fare under federal banking agencies' proposed changes to how large banks risk-weight loans, particularly how CRE loans are weighed based on the current standardized framework versus the proposed expanded approach.
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Calif. GHG Disclosure Law Will Affect Companies Worldwide
California's Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, which will require comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions disclosures from large companies operating in the state, will mean compliance challenges for a wide range of industries, nationally and globally, as the law's requirements will ultimately trickle out and down, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.