News & Resources

7/20/2021 | Articles & Alerts, Real Estate Transactional, Zoning & Development

A few weeks ago, as a part of an international meeting of lawyers and accountants, I participated on an international panel discussing the future of commercial real estate law. The worldwide perspective was interesting and highly varied. Overwhelmingly, attorneys, accountants, and their clients continued to work from home. In parts of Europe, those trickling back to the office were informed that a new wave of shutdowns was likely and that they should return home. Aside from the obvious stresses of […]

Related Practices: Land Use, Zoning, and Development

4/8/2021 | Articles & Alerts, News & Resources, Real Estate Transactional, Zoning & Development

Forecasters, political or weather (think Punxsutawney Phil) seldom admit prior failures. Casey Stengel astutely observed that one should “never make predictions, especially about the future.” With due respect to Casey, I have agreed to engage in the fruitless endeavor of forecasting the immediate future of commercial real estate and those lawyers who practice in that arena. Pessimism is not in the DNA of the CRE industry. However, 2021 will present challenges for CRE. Residential real estate will continue to benefit […]

Related Practices: Land Use, Zoning, and Development

11/28/2018 | Articles & Alerts, Real Estate Transactional

With numerous retail stores closing locations in 2018 and 2019, co-tenancy clauses and use and building restrictions in retail leases continue as major issues that could have damaging effects on shopping centers and malls. The closures of such stores as Sears, J.C. Penney, Kmart, Macy’s, Toys R Us and Lord & Taylor have caused significant vacancies in retail properties, and have a domino effect resulting from the co-tenancy provisions in the other leases of the properties. These co-tenancy provisions permit […]

Related Practices: Real Estate Transactional

5/30/2018 | Articles & Alerts, Real Estate Transactional

                 Several quotes come to mind when summing up the current state of the retail business – “bend but don’t break”, “down but not out” and “The Reports of My Death are Greatly Exaggerated”.   Despite the widely held panic that Amazon and its online comrades have sounded the death knell for the traditional shopping center, the current reality is that retail is very much alive, albeit different and evolving.                I have spoken to dozens of brokers and developers, and […]

Related Practices: Real Estate Transactional

1/30/2018 | Articles & Alerts, Real Estate Transactional, Zoning & Development

Yes, I added a question mark to the title to emphasize that any forecast comes with uncertainty. Of course, much of this uncertainty emanates from the President’s influence on the federal government. Sweeping changes to the tax code have arrived as have the rollback of a great many regulations. Other changes, such as the travel ban, are mired in litigation without any possibility for a compromise solution. It seems as though Republicans and Democrats have become the political equivalent of […]

Related Practices: Land Use, Zoning, and Development