Latest News & Developments in Commercial Real Estate Law
Since 2008, we have used our real estate law blog as a way to keep readers informed about the latest developments and news within commercial real estate law. Some of the topics we regularly address include court decisions on disputed commercial real estate transactions, limited liability company law and high-end residential real estate transactions. In addition to informing readers, we make it a priority to provide an in-depth analysis of the topics we discuss.
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Olshan Leasing Practice Matches Boom in NYC . . .
We continue to see creative strategies in the workout of troubled real estate. Here are a few with our thoughts as to structure and action plans:
Court of Appeals in Assured Guaranty v. J.P. Morgan Holds That Private Securities Fraud Actions are Still Permitted . . .
Theatre Development Fund and Astor Room Open at Kaufman Astoria Studios . . .
Rule Against Perpetuities Does Not Apply to Lease Renewals . . .
Cell antenna opponents have moved from NIMBY to NOMCR (Not On My Condo Roof) . . .
Update: The decision described in my blog post of January 21 has been overturned. See post dated February 24, 2011. The original post is below as it was originally written. In an earlier post I discussed Bleecker St Tenants Corp v. Bleecker Jones LLC where the co-op claimed that the Rule Against Perpetuities defeated a renewal right under a long term commercial lease signed years ago. The Perpetuities Rule has long bedeviled law students and is a famously esoteric mind-bender. At its most simplistic, it prohibits options which might vest in perpetuity. The co-op creatively tried to use ...
Update 11/27/10: The Delaware legislature amended the LLC Act to overrule the Halvorsen case I discuss below. "A limited liability company agreement is not subject to any statute of frauds (including § 2714 of this title)." Here’s one transactional lawyer’s opinion on the recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in Olson v. Halvorsen: the Court did not need to reach the question of whether the Delaware Statute of Frauds applies to oral LLC agreements but when it did so, the answer it gave was wrong. The result in the case was correct since the complaining member never proved an oral ...
Exploring the use of commercial condo structure to gain exemption on real estate taxes
A retail lease in SOHO provided for a renewal rent determined by an “independent MAI appraiser chosen by Landlord”. Should be pretty easy, right? Not so fast says Justice Tolub in Georg Jensen v. 130 Prince Associates LLC, NYLJ, 6/26/09, pg 26. The appraiser hired by the landlord worked for the management company for the landlord. In addition, there was no written retainer agreement with the appraiser, the written report was prepared well after the oral appraisal was given and the appraiser didn’t seem credible to the court. ”[T]he court finds it so flawed in its methodology as ...