The Firm has an extensive real estate practice involving a variety of work. Our attorneys have experience with:
Leasing
The Firm is very familiar with all aspects of lease negotiations in both the commercial and industrial markets.
Development
We have represented clients in the development of regional shopping malls, strip centers, office buildings, hotels, warehouses, manufacturing plants, restaurants, schools, urban redevelopment projects, golf courses, movie theaters, telecommunications facilities, mixed use facilities, sports arenas, single family residential subdivisions, planned unit developments, apartments, affordable housing, condominiums, dams, docks and industrial facilities. Our representation is often from the ground up, requiring the negotiation of land acquisition contracts, construction and architects’ contracts, major leases, general and limited partnership agreements and limited liability company operating agreements, construction and permanent financing documents, reciprocal easement agreements and declarations, development, management and leasing agreements, tax increment financing and transportation development districts.
Acquisition
Our development experience gives us an awareness of the entire scope of due diligence and contract provisions necessary when acquiring an interest in real estate. We routinely handle complex acquisitions of individual commercial properties, and increasingly we have been called upon to represent clients in substantial transactions involving multiple properties.
Financing
We represent both borrowers and lenders in construction, interim and long term financing transactions. These transactions include participating mortgages and equity kickers of all kinds, junior and convertible mortgages, leasehold mortgages, sale-leaseback transactions, and mortgages secured not only by realty but also by franchise rights, warrants, operating licenses and other unconventional collateral.
Redevelopment Work
We are extremely familiar with government sponsored development incentives, including tax increment financing, Missouri’s Chapter 353 “private condemnation” provisions, and similar development incentive programs.
Joint Ventures
We have represented developers and institutional investors (including tax-exempt investors) in all kinds of partnerships, both general and limited, and other entities including limited liability companies. We have substantial experience in drafting and negotiation of a wide variety of partnership agreements for single and multiple property transactions, many of which contain sophisticated provisions dealing with preferred returns, priority distributions, special allocations of profits and losses, specially tailored decision making arrangements and puts, calls and other buy-out rights.
Taxation
We have extensive experience in all aspects of the taxation of real estate transactions. This includes familiarity with pass-through entities and the tax aspects of such investment vehicles and the complex rules governing special allocations and loss limitations, detailed knowledge of the “unrelated business taxable income,” “tax-exempt entity leasing” and “original issue discount” rules, and the rules governing simultaneous and deferred like-kind exchanges (including multi-party exchanges), installment sales, shared appreciation mortgages, and the merger of partnerships owning multiple properties.
We also have extensive experience in real estate property taxation including counseling clients in tax reducing strategies and handling disputes with taxing jurisdictions in multiple states.
Environmental
Our Firm also has extensive experience in environmental matters, distressed projects, wetlands and clean-ups.
Workouts and Restructuring
We have negotiated, structured, documented and implemented numerous workouts representing both developers and lenders.