As many states continue to ease regulations and the Food and Drug Administration considers moving cannabis to Schedule III, commercial real estate is increasingly buzzed with interest in properties for use by cannabis businesses, from agricultural land and warehouses to retail spaces. Despite this seemingly abundant opportunity, investors currently…

In Seyfarth’s 9th annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey, executives across the commercial real estate sector weigh in on their top concerns and investment priorities as they navigate a delicate balance between hope and caution, mindful of impacts stemming from potential rate adjustments, persistent scarcity in debt financing, the looming spect…

As the trend of working from home solidifies and the number of office vacancies continues to rise, many office building owners are looking for alternative uses for their properties. While converting those buildings to residential spaces could reinvigorate central business districts and help ease the housing crunch, there’s no straight line to succe…

The development and construction of a new real estate project can be a long and winding road, with many traps for the unwary along the way. Having an experienced real estate attorney to quarterback the process from site selection through to completion and delivery can help owners and developers save time and money and avoid headaches.In this episod…

As lenders continue to sell sub- and non-performing loans in today’s market, buyers should consider important legal, financial, and commercial analyses to avoid “buyer’s remorse.” Whether a single loan or a portfolio, reviewing loan documentation, examining security measures, verifying the status of original notes, assessing lender transfer restric…

Artificial intelligence and large language models have had an impact on many industries during the past year, including commercial real estate. Despite lingering concerns about data confidentiality and AI hallucinations, among other things, this new technology has showcased remarkable potential to streamline transactions when used with proper overs…

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was passed in 2019 to address the use of legal entities in money laundering, the financing of terrorism, and other illegal activities. Commencing on its effective date of January 1, 2024, the CTA will require affected legal entities to disclose information about their beneficial owners and controlling parties to…

Amidst rising interest rates and lower asset values, many borrowers find themselves struggling to refinance existing commercial mortgage loans. As a result, both borrowers and lenders are confronting a surge in distressed mortgage debt. In this episode, Arren Goldman and James Sowka return to join James O’Brien and Eric Greenberg for a discussion o…

Distressed loans are becoming increasingly relevant across all sectors for borrowers, lenders, and servicers, but is this distress a result of economic conditions, over-extended sponsors, poor management, or a combination of all of these factors?In this episode, Richard Fischel, partner at Brighton Capital Advisors, joins Arren Goldman and James So…

When a borrower faces financial distress, a deed in lieu allows it a voluntary path to transfer ownership of the property in question back to the lender. Though this can help avoid the lengthy and expensive traditional foreclosure process, both borrowers and lenders should be aware of potential cons depending on the circumstances of the situation b…

Across the US, retail tenants, landlords, and customers are grappling with the detrimental effects of organized retail theft, which involves groups of individuals stealing goods to finance criminal activities. As the issue continues to grow in both scale and complexity, property owners and retailers are seeking ways to protect the safety of custome…

Foreign sovereigns frequently engage in real estate transactions in the United States, ranging from embassies and consulates leasing property for their offices to sovereign wealth funds investing in real estate. Owners of real estate might interact with foreign sovereigns for other reasons as well — for example, if your neighbor is an embassy or co…

Build-to-suit (BTS) leases have become increasingly popular, especially with users of industrial real estate, but they present certain development-related issues not found in standard commercial leases. Budget development and reconciliation, bidding, allocation of cost savings, and late delivery are all important items for tenants to understand in …

Over the past week, first Silicon Valley Bank and then Signature Bank fell victim to bank runs and were taken over by the FDIC. These bank failures have riled financial markets both domestically and abroad, leading to concerns that other banks may be in trouble. How does this affect owners and occupiers of real estate?In this episode, Bill Hanlon a…

In Seyfarth’s 8th Annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey, executives across the commercial real estate sector shed light on their top concerns and investment priorities for 2023. Though many industry media outlets remain focused on high inflation rates and a potential decline in economic activity, survey respondents were cautiously optimistic a…

Retail bankruptcies are back, driven by high labor costs, rising inflation, and maturing debt. Even if a bankruptcy is a “financial restructuring,” you can count on the bankrupt tenant using the bankruptcy code to reject, renegotiate, or sell some of its leases. Additionally, there may be a “going out of business sale” on your property or you may e…

Discussions of rising interest rates and inflation coupled with other hurdles are largely behind the feeling of uncertainty that persists across the real estate finance market. However, opportunities are there for those ready to seize them.In this episode, Dan Evans and Jay Wardlaw talk with Willard Moore and James Sowka about anticipated top lendi…

Despite indicators signaling a coming downturn, retail remains on the rise as companies expand at a brisk pace across the country. Are consumers making up for time lost during the pandemic? How long can this last given the coming economic headwinds?In this episode, hosts Eric Greenberg and James O‘Brien talk with Greg Covey, Senior Vice President a…

Cannabis continues to be one of the fastest-growing industries, with exponential growth predicted over the next decade. Commercial real estate transactions in this space still face many hurdles and question marks, however, due to constant shifts in the legal landscape.In this episode, hosts Stanley Jutkowitz and Christopher Palmese are joined by Be…

Over the past few years, the economy in general, and commercial real estate markets in particular, have proved remarkably resilient – absorbing the shock of the pandemic and its lingering after effects, contending with climate change, and managing through a challenged supply chain, all while maintaining growth and a strong job market. 2022 has look…

What is the “metaverse”? It’s touted as a place online where in the future we’ll all be working and socializing, but why is it seen as an investment, or even a place to own and rent property? Paul Haswell joins host James O’Brien to provide an overview of the metaverse and the risks and opportunities presented by investing in digital property.…

Following two years of relatively stable and historically low interest rates, the commercial real estate industry now finds itself in the throes of a challenging market for closing transactions. In this episode, hosts Jay Wardlaw and Dan Evans and guests Ron Gart and Tobi Pinsky take a look at the current environment through a finance lens, includi…

In this episode, partners Jay Wardlaw and Gordon Peery discuss challenges stemming from the successful adoption of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and cessation of 24 of 35 settings of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).At the end of 2021, we saw the close of the first phase of LIBOR cessation with the remaining LIBOR settings sc…

With uncertainties regarding the economy, interest rates rising, the cost of real estate development soaring, and financial distress resulting from the pandemic weighing heavy on many, real estate investors and users may find themselves in financial distress and exploring bankruptcy as a necessary step. In this episode, we offer a primer on some of…

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues are becoming increasingly important to real estate investors. With more media coverage of the environmental and social issues affecting society, there is greater awareness of the need to address sustainability and social impacts in real estate investment strategies. In this episode, Seyfarth partne…

Driven by pent-up demand coming out of the pandemic, retail is on the rise. After a two-year hiatus, the ICSC retail real estate conference returned to Las Vegas in May with 20,000+ attendees from leading retailers, developers, and real estate companies. In this episode, partner Eric Greenberg and senior associate Annie Malo highlight key takeaways…

It’s 5:00 PM on Monday, May 23, 2022. Do you know how interest is calculated on your loan?As the remaining settings for interest and swap payments based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) cease in June 2023, and as markets continue to get comfortable with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) as a LIBOR replacement, uncertainty inso…

The commercial real estate (CRE) executives who responded to Seyfarth’s recently released 7th annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey are optimistic about investment opportunities in 2022 despite inflation and rising costs.In this episode, real estate partners James O’Brien, Christa Dommers, and Ron Gart discuss key sentiments from this year’s s…

A high-level understanding of opinion letters is a useful tool for anyone working in commercial real estate (CRE)—including businesspeople and next generation attorneys. Guest hosts Daniel Evans and Jay Wardlaw, co-chairs of Seyfarth’s Real Estate Finance practice, are joined by Cameron Weil, counsel in Seyfarth’s Real Estate department, to discuss…

The industrial real estate market has experienced high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to hold strong as the development of e-commerce, warehouse, and logistics facilities remains robust. While the accelerated buildout of industrial facilities is expected to alleviate supply pressure over the next year, markets remain tight an…

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020, but its impact was felt throughout 2021. The real estate industry faced unprecedented challenges this year, including rapid shifts in demand and changing expectations, but the real estate markets remained surprisingly buoyant with high levels of investment activity. In this episode of the Property Line, we exa…

Despite dire predictions and a slowing of the return-to-work movement due to the delta variant, certain sectors of the office market remain strong—perhaps most notably (and understandably) life sciences spaces. These combination office/lab environments have proven to be more resilient than traditional office space due to (a) the vaccine push and (b…

There are a variety of ways to structure an investment in commercial real estate, which might be held by a single bankruptcy remote entity, by a joint venture, or by an operating company. Cameron Weil, Real Estate counsel, joins host James O’Brien to discuss organizational structures for real estate transactions and the different types of legal ent…

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been in existence since 1975, but it was not until February 2020 that CFIUS adopted regulations specifically targeting the real estate industry. CFIUS now has the express power to review standalone real estate leases, purchases, sales, and other property transactions that are not …

When construing lease obligations, courts generally attempt to enforce what the parties intended at the time of contract formation. Now that a pandemic like COVID-19 is foreseeable, landlords and tenants must carefully draft their leases to give effect to the business deal that the parties intend. Building on the last episode, Elizabeth Schrero ret…

As retailers and restaurants begin to open doors and welcome back customers, the lawsuits between landlords and tenants that started during the pandemic are still working their way through the court system. Although most decisions so far have skewed toward landlords, there have been a few tenant-friendly outliers. Elizabeth Schrero, co-chair of Sey…

Business disruption was a common theme in 2020, particularly for franchisors in the retail/restaurant space. While these companies were forced to confront unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic, there’s a whole new set of hurdles ahead for the franchisor/franchisee relationship. As the economy reopens, consumer patterns and demographic…

Building on the last episode’s look at recent federal relief, Paul Mattingly and Thomas Michaelides return alongside hosts James O’Brien and Eric Greenberg to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) residential eviction moratorium—which has recently come under fire in federal court, notably in the US District Court for the Di…

Over the last few months, two large rescue packages—The Consolidated Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act—have been enacted by Congress in order to help the country push through the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Paul Mattingly, partner and chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate department, and Thomas Michaelides, Real Estate associate…

In this extended episode, T5’s Tim Bright and David Horowitz join hosts Mike Rechtin and Michael Merar to share what sets T5 apart from other data center operators; how the pandemic has changed their business; how data center lease negotiations have changed over the years; and what guides their decisions when expanding into new markets.T5 provides …

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is one of the most critical components of a data center lease. In this episode, Mike Rechtin and Michael Merar return to join host James O’Brien for a discussion of why this agreement is key, despite often being overlooked. They dig into what an SLA is, why it’s needed, and what it contains, and also offer tips on dr…

Old common law doctrines are not dormant and may enable tenants to avoid the payment of rent due to government shutdown orders during the pandemic. As more cases are tried, a jurisprudence regarding these doctrines and their applicability to the pandemic is being developed. In this episode, Mark Johnson, partner and co-chair of Seyfarth’s Real Esta…

Data centers are unique assets with specialized security, communications, cooling, and power needs. Data center leases are structured to address these needs and include rental and other provisions that differ from more conventional leases. In this episode, Mike Rechtin, chair of Seyfarth’s Data Center Services practice, and Michael Merar, a Real Es…

Over the past few years, cloud-based data storage and data center development has grown rapidly. The current pandemic has further stimulated the demand for data storage as more and more tasks are being done virtually, rather than in-person.Mike Rechtin, chair of Seyfarth’s Data Center Services practice, and Michael Merar, a Real Estate partner with…

In Seyfarth’s recently released 6th annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey, commercial real estate executives weigh in on the outlook for the industry as it grapples with the lingering effects of the pandemic and a change in political power.James O’Brien, Christine Kim, and Ronald Gart discuss the survey and its methodology, as well as some of …

The pandemic’s impact on real estate is well documented, but how have current events affected the less-publicized mezzanine loan market? How have courts addressed the New York mortgage foreclosure moratoria in the mezzanine loan context? What is clogging the equity of redemption and why is it important now? Seyfarth Real Estate partners Willard Moo…

In today’s volatile market, commercial real estate loan modifications are an important tool to address loans that are, or may soon be, in default. They can also be valuable in connection with routine servicing requests. Seyfarth Real Estate partners Arren Goldman and Tobi Pinsky return to discuss:- Initial steps for loan modifications and the impor…

COVID-19 has impacted the world of commercial real estate finance in many unique ways. In this new environment, borrowers, guarantors, servicers, and lenders have been confronted with difficult decisions. Seyfarth Real Estate partners Arren Goldman and Tobi Pinsky join this episode for a discussion on:- What’s happening in the market with respect t…

US dollar LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) has been one of the most widely utilized reference rates in floating rate commercial real estate lending for more than 30 years. Following concerns pertaining to possible LIBOR manipulation, various regulatory bodies have called for the replacement of LIBOR with a different reference rate, which …

Federal and state governments have stepped in to help mitigate the economic damage caused by the pandemic, changing the ways in which lenders operate and their ability to enforce remedies. This episode discusses: - Government responses to date, including foreclosure and eviction moratoriums, and the impact they have had on lenders- Oregon House Bil…