Commercial
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July 30, 2025
2nd Circ. Backs Live Well Founder's Bond Fraud Convictions
The Second Circuit affirmed convictions for Live Well's founder for inducing lenders to extend credit by jacking up bond valuations to increase its debt and borrow against it, ruling Wednesday jurors had enough evidence to determine he misrepresented the value of collateral to secure loans and did so with fraudulent intent.
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July 30, 2025
Maturing Proptech Sector Navigates Uncertain Times
The volatility in the global economy this year has generated uncertainty within just about every industry, with no exception for property technology. Nonetheless, this subsector of the tech industry finds itself on relatively solid footing and with an overall positive outlook, according to professionals closely tracking its development.
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July 30, 2025
U.S. Co. Defends $1B Suit Over Nixed LNG Facility In Canada
A U.S. company making a $1 billion claim against Canada over a stymied liquefied natural gas facility in Québec is urging an international tribunal not to toss the case on jurisdictional grounds, saying the country's objections are without merit.
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July 30, 2025
US Office Vacancy Rates Still Climbing, Colliers Says
Vacancy rates across the U.S. office market are still rising, reaching a record-high of 18.4% nationwide in the second quarter of 2025, even as new construction levels hit 10-year lows, per a report from Colliers.
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July 30, 2025
NYC Mayor Revives Bally's $4B Bronx Casino Bid
New York City Mayor Eric Adams vetoed a New York City Council vote that shot down gambling company Bally's Corp.'s bid to build a $4 billion resort and casino in the Bronx, saying Wednesday that a casino in the city "would bring good-paying union jobs and an economic boost to the surrounding community."
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July 30, 2025
Calif. Tribe Says 70-Acre Casino Land Fight Must Continue
The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are fighting a bid by a fellow California tribe to pause their challenge to the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision to take 70 acres into trust for a casino project while a sovereign immunity order is appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
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July 30, 2025
Truist Triggered Employee Exodus, Not Ex-Execs, Court Told
Three former executives who helmed the real estate finance arm of Truist Financial Corp. and their new employer are seeking a pretrial win in the bank's poaching case, telling a North Carolina state court judge they aren't to blame for Truist's alleged bad business decisions.
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July 30, 2025
Buddhist Group's Suit Against Everglades Project Advances
A Florida Buddhist center's suit against an Army Corps of Engineers project in the Everglades will continue after a district court judge determined the center plausibly argued that the potential impacts of the project's construction didn't become clear until at least 2022.
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July 30, 2025
Wiggin And Dana Adds Real Estate Partner From Polsinelli
Law firm Wiggin and Dana LLP said Vasiliki Yiannoulis-Riva has joined as partner from Polsinelli PC in its real estate, environmental, construction and facilities department.
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July 30, 2025
Family In Row With McCarter & English Wants $4.6M Set-Aside
A deceased Connecticut shopping mall developer's family members want McCarter & English LLP and the estate of Laurence Rubinow, a lawyer with connections to the firm, to set aside $4.6 million in case they prevail in a lawsuit alleging mismanagement of the developer's estate and trust.
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July 30, 2025
Rising Star: Gibson Dunn's Eric Meer
Eric Meer of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP guided RXR Realty through major recapitalizations and loan modifications on New York City office properties amid a tight rate environment as the Manhattan office market continued to take a beating, earning him a spot among the real estate practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 30, 2025
Rising Star: Jones Day's Garrett Gibson
Garrett Gibson of Jones Day has notched several wins in notable construction cases, including a high-stakes dispute between a major contractor for the oil and gas sector and a petrochemical manufacturer in Texas, earning him a spot among construction law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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July 30, 2025
Terreno Unloads Fla. Industrial Portfolio For $82.3M
Industrial real estate firm Terreno Realty Corp. said it has sold a portfolio of industrial properties in Doral, Florida, for $82.3 million.
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July 30, 2025
Cherry Hill Mortgage Adds New GC from NorthMark
Real estate investment trust Cherry Hill Mortgage Investment Corp. announced that it has appointed a new general counsel who joins the company following a five-year stint at investment firm NorthMark Strategies.
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July 30, 2025
RealPage, Landlords Ask To Toss NJ's Antitrust Case
RealPage and a group of building owners urged a New Jersey federal court to toss a case brought by state enforcers accusing them of scheming to use software to raise rents, calling it one in a series of "baseless" lawsuits that fails to allege there was any kind of conspiracy.
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July 30, 2025
Ore. Clarifies Info Disclosure For Enterprise Zone Tax Breaks
Oregon specified which of a business's records are exempt from disclosure when applying for an enterprise zone property tax exemption and clarified eligibility requirements under a bill signed by the governor.
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July 30, 2025
DLA Global Real Estate Leader Eyeing Data Center Investment
As investment funds reach the ends of their life cycles and have capital that must be deployed, funds are looking to pour that capital into U.S. data centers, among other asset classes, one of DLA Piper's global real estate leaders recently told Law360 Real Estate Authority.
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July 30, 2025
Calif. Residents Urge Justices To Take Up Jury Trial Question
A group of Humboldt County, California, property owners is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the group's appeal over the dismissal of its Seventh Amendment claim for a jury trial in a suit against the county alleging the county wrongly targeted the owners for illegal cannabis growth, saying the justices should reject the county's argument that the question is not ripe.
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July 30, 2025
Blackstone, Rudin Employees Among Victims Of NY Shooting
A Blackstone real estate executive and an employee of property owner Rudin Management were among those killed in a mass shooting at a Midtown Manhattan office building on Monday.
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July 29, 2025
REIT Shareholders File 'Improper Lending' Suit Against Execs
Two Arbor Realty Trust Inc. shareholders hit several of the real estate investment trust's executives, including its president and CEO Ivan Kaufman, with a derivative suit on Tuesday alleging they made the REIT use "improper lending practices" that saddled the company "with a severely distressed loan portfolio."
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July 29, 2025
Mass. Tax Board Cuts Lowe's Property Valuation For 3 Years
A Lowe's store in Massachusetts was overvalued by town assessors for three years and is due reductions in property tax, the state's Appellate Tax Board said.
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July 29, 2025
Whitman Breed Says $6.5M Lease Current Despite Atty Exits
A member of Connecticut law firm Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC on Tuesday testified that all payments are current under a $6.5 million lease governing its Greenwich headquarters, disputing a landlord's bid for a $3.8 million asset freeze to ensure future payments amid a wave of attorney exits.
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July 29, 2025
Meet The Retired Michigan Federal Judge Joining JAMS
Sean F. Cox, the retired chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan who was part of the mediation team in Detroit's municipal bankruptcy, has joined alternative dispute resolution services provider JAMS.
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July 29, 2025
Verizon Inks Lease For HQ Move To Vornado's Penn 2 Tower
Vornado Realty Trust on Tuesday said telecommunications company Verizon will move its New York headquarters to the landlord's office tower above Penn Station.
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July 29, 2025
Calif. Allows Retroactive Tax Exclusion For Solar Property
California will allow the purchaser of a new property a three-year window to apply for a property tax exclusion for solar energy systems under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Expert Analysis
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Adjusting Deals To Reflect Shifts In The CRE Market
As the commercial real estate market strengthens and moves out from a challenging time, industry participants should consider any concessions made due to recent trends and update transaction documents accordingly before entering into new deals, says Alexander Davis at Mayer Brown.
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4 International Arbitration Trends To Monitor In 2024
Global growth slowed substantially in 2023, and may continue into 2024 due to geopolitical instability, which could fuel four key trends in international arbitration in the coming year, including investor-state and commercial arbitration, an increase in arbitration out of China, and more, say Gregory Litt and Sharmistha Chakrabarti at Skadden.
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How DOI Aims To Modernize Resource Damage Assessments
The U.S. Department of the Interior's recent proposal to redesign its Type A rule for conducting natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities could lead to a more streamlined, flexible assessment process that would benefit both natural resource trustees and potentially responsible parties, says Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley at Nossaman.
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Key Issues When Navigating A Tenant's Bankruptcy
In light of recent Chapter 11 filings by Rite Aid and WeWork — companies with thousands of commercial leases — practitioners should review issues that can arise when bankruptcy is used to exit a lease, including the consequences of lease rejection and the statutory cap on landlord damage claims for a rejected lease, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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The Year Ahead In Foreign Investment And National Security
In 2024, expect the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, already at the forefront of addressing national security threats, to increase monitoring and enforcement related to outbound investment, focus on supply chain resilience in nondefense sectors, and heighten oversight of agricultural transactions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Sale-Leasebacks May Provide A Safe Financing Alternative
Amid rising interest rates and unpredictable market conditions, sale-leasebacks can be a useful investment option for both buyers and sellers, though their potential drawbacks demand careful consideration, says Chanel Di Blasi at Crosbie Gliner.
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5 Recent Developments Family Offices Are Watching In 2024
Although family offices have long been exempt from many of the more onerous regulations and reporting requirements governing U.S. investment advisers and asset managers, recent amendments to federal rules will have an impact on how family offices invest and operate in 2024, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Challenging CRE Environment Holds Opportunities In 2024
As the commercial real estate market faces reduced occupancy levels and rising financing costs, the new landscape will be favorable to those who can leverage capital, strategic vision and expertise to meet challenges like taking on distressed properties and converting office space to residential use, say Nesa Amamoo and Vered Rabia at Skadden.
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What The 2023 Bank Failures Taught Us, And What's To Come
As 2023 draws to a close, it's apparent that the bank failures this past spring sparked a seismic shift in the regulatory and supervisory landscape for banking organizations, and the consequences are still continuing to be felt throughout the financial sector as we head into 2024, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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A Difficult Year For CRE, But Future May Be Brighter
2023 was a challenging year for the commercial real estate industry, marked by significant uncertainty, but market pressure and signs of rising interest rates provide some reasons to be cautiously optimistic for the year ahead as pandemic headwinds and gridlock fade away, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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3 Developments That Will Affect Hospitality Companies In 2024
As the hospitality industry continues its post-pandemic recovery, it faces both challenges and opportunities to thrive in 2024, including navigating new labor rules, developing branded residential living spaces and cautiously embracing artificial intelligence, says Lauren Stewart at Sheppard Mullin.
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What WeWork's Ch. 11 Filing Means For Landlords
WeWork’s recent Chapter 11 filing in New Jersey has the potential to be one of the most consequential cases in the real estate industry in many years, and presents a number of issues for landlords, including unexpired leases, assumption, assignment and more, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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The 4 Top Philadelphia Commerce Court Opinions Of 2023
Four 2023 rulings from the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas — including decisions on judicial privilege, stay requests, sheriff's sales and the appointment of a receiver — highlight the court's commitment to stringent standards and address evolving challenges in commercial litigation, say Jonathan Hugg and Sarah Boutros at Eckert Seamans.