Representative Matters

commercial real estate practice

The following is a sampling of matters in this practice area in which the Firm successfully represented its client:

The negotiation and consummation of a Temporary License and Construction Access Agreement with owner and developer of a parcel adjacent to the Firm's client upon which site excavation and construction of a major development will be undertaken, protecting the interests of the Firm's client and its property by requiring and verifying that adequate insurance coverage for all parties involved is properly placed, underwrtten, and endorsed with reputable and financially sound carriers, obtaining indemnification agreements from the adjacent property owner and its contractors, and securing reasonable compensation for the Firm's client for the inconvenience and disruption to be experinced by its tenants. All fees for the Firm's legal services, as well as those of engineering professionals we involved, were reimbursed to our client by the adjacent property owner, as we usually succeed in achieving.

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The negotiation and consummation of the client's acquisition of transferable development rights from the owner of a parcel adjacent to the Chelsea residential condominium project in which the Firm's client owns a full-floor condominium unit on the top floor of the building, enabling its vertical enlargement by two full floors and the conversion of the condominium unit into a triplex apartment, including a roof deck for the client's exclusive use and enjoyment. The complexity of this matter was greatly increased due to both the major structural nature of the alterations and the condominium ownership aspect, requiring extensive negotiations with not only the adjacent property owner, but also with the Condominium, achieving the proper amendment of the Condominium's governing documents and an alteration agreement with fair and reasonable terms.

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The negotiation of a sale of a portion of the client's transferable developments to the developer of an adjacent condominium project, in which it was critical to achieve and protect the client's unfettered right to utilize in a redevelopment of its own property or to transfer to other parcels its valuable remaining transferable development rights and all additional development rights resulting from an upzoning of the parcel.

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The acquisition of a block of six commercial condominium units, representing the entire ground floor retail space of a newly-converted condominium project, from the Sponsor of the Condominium and the simultaneous acquisition of license rights from the Condominium for the installation and maintenance of "black iron" venting for a potential restaurant tenant and for the use of portions of the Condominium's rooftops for air-conditioning, telecommunications, and other machinery and equipment.

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The acquisition of a retail condominium unit located in the heart of Tribeca, subject to an existing tenancy of a well-known restaurant and bar.

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The defeasance of a CMBS mortgage loan the Firm had originally consummated on behalf of the borrower a decade earlier, in which the client's debt obligation was reduced by hundreds of thousands of dollars based on the very favorable defeasance terms the Firm negotiated at the inception of the loan.

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The acquisition of a vacant retail condominium unit in Tribeca and the subsequent leasing of the unit to a medical professional tenant.

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The sale of a commercial building on Madison Avenue's Gold Coast, involving the use of a Qualified Intermediary for purposes of IRC Section 1031, in less than a two-week period, start to finish, in the implementation of a favorable tax strategy structured for the client.

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A sophisticated, multi-dimensional transaction involving the client's sale of transferable development rights ("air rights") to be utilized by a major developer in the development of a luxury hotel, condominium and retail project, the client's acquisition of a Manhattan multifamily property, and the structuring of the transaction as a like-kind exchange under IRC Section 1031, enabling the client to defer payment of all income taxes on the gain realized in the transaction.

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A complex commercial mortgage transaction, valued in excess of $55,000,000, covering multiple prime Midtown Manhattan office buildings, on behalf of the firm's institutional lending client.

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