Real Estate

Offering a comprehensive suite: acquisitions and sales, construction and development, real estate finance (public and private), eminent domain and condemnation, foreclosure, leases, planned communities and condominiums, real estate tax, titles and title insurance, workouts, as well as zoning and land use.

The Firm is renowned for its long-standing real estate practice, which can be traced back more than 40 years; our real estate partners have more than 150 years of combined experience.

Through our experience, we have acquired extensive knowledge of the real estate business, enabling us to combine technical acumen with real world perspective--and deliver added value to our clients.

The Real Estate Group represents buyers, sellers, brokers, borrowers, lenders, landlords, tenants, developers, builders, investors, and entrepreneurs, large and small, individual, corporate, charitable, religious, and institutional. Our capabilities and expertise embrace the full range--literally "A to Z"--of real estate matters and transactions, basic and complex, including those highlighted below.

We provide assistance through all phases of the purchase and sale of real estate assets, from contract negotiations, to due diligence, to governmental compliance, through closing. We represent clients involved in virtually every real estate category, from multi-family, multi-state portfolios to regional and local owner occupied single asset properties, from retail shopping centers to office building owners. We represent investors, developers and REITs in all aspects of their real estate acquisition and disposition matters. We have decades of experience in handling every possible real estate sale or acquisition related problem regardless of the business cycle, including troubled debt restructuring, creative financing, sale/leaseback transactions, purchase money financing, and environmental related matters. We consider ourselves an integral part of any team assembled to get the deal closed and protect the interests of our client.

We represent owners, developers, lenders, general contractors, architects, engineers, subcontractors, and suppliers in all phases of design, development, and construction, including:

• Drafting and negotiating agreements as necessary to get the deal completed.
• Payment and performance bonds and financial assurances.
• Resolving disputes through mediation, arbitration, and litigation, in coordination with our Litigation Group.

Private Finance

We represent national and regional financial institutions, owners and developers in virtually all facets of real estate lending. We structure, document, and negotiate:

• Traditional acquisition and refinance loans.
• Construction and permanent loans.
• Bridge loans.
• Conduit loans and participations.

Law firms throughout the country call on us to act as local counsel and issue written legal opinions.

Public Finance

We represent borrowers, developers, and non-profit organizations in public finance projects involving federal, multi-state, and local agencies, including:

• Low and moderate income housing.
• Assisted living and continuing care retirement communities.
• Industrial revenue bonds.

Our real estate group represents owners of condemned property. We coordinate condemnation matters with appraisers, land planners, engineers, and consultants on condemnation and regulatory matters. Our experience ranges from takings of land for development to projects involving improved residential, commercial, and industrial properties, to representation concerning compensation for taken property. We work with our litigation practice group in fighting challenges to condemnation, and working to obtain just compensation, analyzing and pursuing relocation claims.

In addition to mortgage foreclosures for institutional and private lenders, we have a number of clients with significant tax lien portfolios. We advise and assist those clients on real estate tax liens, foreclosing on them, and disposing of foreclosed properties.

We have the expertise to handle all aspects of real estate related leasing, and represent clients throughout the country in leasing matters. We represent landlords and tenants in office, industrial, shopping center and multi-family leasing. We are adept at counseling our clients through the complex areas of ground leasing and pad-site development. We are proud to represent clients ranging from professional practices pursuing leasing and expansion opportunities, to national multi-family portfolios, to publicly held companies in their leasing matters. In every circumstance we are focused on completing the transaction and accomplishing our client's goals of liability protection and revenue maximization by utilizing our signature cost-effective, practical approach to deal-making.

In the current economic climate, state and local governments are scrambling to increase tax revenue wherever possible. Real-estate derived tax revenue has become a particular focus, translating into types of taxes, increased tax rates, fewer exemptions--and more complex regulation.

We advise and represent clients on:

• Transfer taxes and fees, including the so-called New Jersey "Mansion Tax": whether they apply, and how to minimize or eliminate them.
• Tax appeals.

Our proven capability in putting deals together positions us to help when deals encounter trouble.

We counsel our clients--both lenders and borrowers--relating to workouts, restructuring, and foreclosure of troubled real estate loans. This includes advising on and completing conveyances in lieu of foreclosure.

In our region--particularly in New Jersey--developing real estate requires careful navigation through a labyrinth of requirements and regulations. This entails not just technical acumen, but creative problem solving.

We offer clients demonstrable expertise in the full spectrum of zoning and land use solutions. For example:

• We advise upfront on how to best plan and develop residential, commercial, office, and mixed use facilities, and continuing care retirement communities.
• We partner and coordinate with our client's engineers and architects.
• We appear before and negotiate with municipal and county planning and zoning boards, and their professionals, to overcome hurdles and obtain:
  • Major and minor subdivision approvals.
  • General planning (including site plan) and zoning approvals.
  • Water and sewer permits.
  • Planned developments approvals.
  • Redevelopment agreements.
• We help clients obtain tax abatements and other development incentives.