Real Estate and Land
Use
With a broad
background in all areas of real estate practice, the real estate
attorneys at RSB-Law give our domestic and foreign clients the
necessary edge to succeed in this industry. Our team keeps abreast
of both market conditions and the complex and constantly changing
laws and regulations governing U.S. real estate.
Our clients
include domestic and foreign lenders, investors, developers, landlords
and tenants, contractors, title companies and other parties involved
in the acquisition, planning, financing, development, leasing,
lease auditing, syndication and disposition of real property.
Their projects range from single-family residential tracts to
apartment buildings, shopping centers and malls, office buildings,
industrial parks and mixed-use projects. Our practice includes
active involvement in structuring, negotiating and documenting
and, when necessary, restructuring the full range of real estate
transactions. We also offer an efficient, economic, and thorough
due diligence review of important aspects of all real estate transactions,
such as title, leases, entitlements, environmental and other contractual
and legal obligations which will affect cash flow and valuation.
We also draw
upon our experience in government practice, financial institutions,
creditors' rights and insolvency, tax and litigation - to provide
a broad-based approach to our clients' needs.
We represent
developers, property owners, investors, contractors and financial
institutions in a variety of development projects. We are assisting
and advising clients with regard to some of the highest profile
projects in California, including the development of urban entertainment
and retail centers, office buildings, master planned communities
and landmark mixed-use projects. We have experience in entitlement
development and construction processes, including land use and
subdivision approvals, environmental impact assessments, development
agreements, hazardous waste regulation and disposition, and redevelopment
issues as well as endangered species and wetlands compliance.
We are experienced
in the negotiation and documentation of declarations of conditions,
covenants and restrictions, reciprocal easement agreements and
other documents relating to the functional use of improved real
estate. Real estate attorneys also work with both our developer
clients and our contractor clients to prepare architectural, design,
construction and construction supervision contracts. We are particularly
adept at the creation of innovative compensation arrangements
and the avoidance of project delays.
Our real estate
firm regularly handle acquisitions and dispositions of real estate
projects, and the origination and disposition of mortgage loans
for both domestic and foreign clients. We represent some of the
largest financial institutions, pension funds, advisors and other
investors in the country, and other public and private companies.
In recent years, our attorneys have been involved in the purchase
and sale of all types of real estate, including major residential
subdivisions, malls, industrial properties, research and development
sites, warehouses, health care facilities and corporate facilities.
We are experienced
in negotiating and preparing general and limited partnership agreements
as well as limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships
and other real estate entities and joint ventures. This experience
includes dealing with capital formation issues, distribution priorities,
accounting arrangements, tax considerations, management rights
and duties, transferability and dispute resolution.
The real estate
attorneys represent various domestic and foreign lenders, including
investment banks, mortgage brokers and originators, commercial
banks and savings and loans, in actively negotiating and preparing
all documents necessary for construction and permanent and other
real property secured loans, including loans backed by credit
leases, tax-exempt bonds and ground leases. These activities include
commitment letters, loan agreements, notes, deeds of trust, environmental
indemnity agreements and other collateral documents. We also assist
our lender clients in designing and implementing appropriate due
diligence investigation before loan closing. Attorneys also prepare
"standard form" agreements for many of our clients, recognizing
that the standardization of certain provisions or documents can
yield tremendous savings for them. In addition, we are proficient
in drafting new and creative debt and debt enforcement instruments
for such recent innovations as profit-participation loans, convertible
loans, participatory loans, arrangements among multiple lending
institutions and other lender/borrower syndication and joint venture
agreements.
We counsel
landlords and tenants in the negotiation and documentation of
commercial, industrial, retail and other business leases. Real
estate lawyers have been extensively involved in transactions
involving millions of square feet of space in urban and suburban
areas across the United States. We also assist our clients who
own or are about to acquire commercial real property in the due
diligence, analysis and audit of pass-through charges such as
common area expenses. We have also been active in structuring
and negotiating lease-equity deals and other innovative approaches
to lease transactions.
We offer lenders,
investors and borrowers a wide range of services in connection
with identifying and quantifying problem loans and pre- and post-bankruptcy
matters, including reviewing, analyzing and restructuring loan
documents and planning and evaluating available legal strategies
and remedies. We are particularly skilled at recommending additional
collateral opportunities, loan restructurings and other workout
agreements. We also advise local and out-of-state lenders concerning
the processing of foreclosures and bankruptcies as well as the
management and subsequent disposition of collateral acquired through
foreclosure or "deed-in-lieu" agreements.
We provide
an unparalleled knowledge of how to navigate the current political
system and comply with the complex and constantly changing laws
and regulations governing land use in California and elsewhere.
Our land use
attorneys advise all types of parties involved in major local
and regional projects. The firm's land use expertise spans all
phases of a project, from acquisition, entitlement, financing,
and development, to leasing, syndication, and disposition of real
property. We also serve as aggressive advocates in representing
client projects in hearings and other matters before local, state,
and federal administrative bodies. We have hands-on experience
in dealing with all the relevant agencies, as well as an impressive
track record in marshaling support for our clients' projects.
We also offer wide-ranging strategies for clearing the many environmental
hurdles that confront all land use projects--before, during, and
after development.
Obtaining
the necessary land use entitlements is a key step in turning undeveloped
or underutilized property into a successful and profitable development.
We regularly represent property owners and developers before planning
commissions, city councils, county boards, the California Coastal
Commission and other local, regional, state and federal administrative
and legislative bodies. We assist clients in obtaining all permits
and entitlements necessary for the project, including general
and specific plan amendments, zone changes, variances, tract maps,
parcel maps, and project approvals.
We are skilled
in drafting development agreements to lock into place entitlements
and land use designations. We also negotiate exclusive negotiation
agreements, disposition and development agreements (DDAs) and
owner participation agreements (OPAs) to assist clients in assembling
parcels of property and obtaining financing for the project. As
part of the entitlement process, we assist in the preparation
and review of environmental documents to ensure compliance with
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and local environmental guidelines.
Our land use
office also represent clients in resolving a broad range of environmental
matters before, during and after development has been completed.
We:
? Review and
comment on documents required by the California Environmental
Quality Act and the National Environmental Policy Act; ? Prepare
environmental audits and ensure compliance with due diligence
requirements in financial transactions; ? Handle all aspects of
hazardous waste issues under Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA) and analogous state statutes, including
private cost-recovery matters; ? Assist clients in developing
Brownfield sites; ? Review and advise clients on the regulation
of underground storage tanks (USTs); ? Resolve air quality issues
before the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD)
and other regional air quality districts, the Air Resources Board,
and the Environmental Protection Agency; ? Advise and defend Proposition
65 warning requirements and discharge requirements.
In addition,
we are experienced with the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal
Protection Act, and other resource development and protection
issues.
We have experience
in a wide range of land use-related litigation matters, including
project entitlement challenges, general plan and zoning consistency,
and CEQA and NEPA adequacy. Our broad experience with both the
public and private sectors give our clients an advantage in defending
their projects against challenge.
We work with
title companies to efficiently and creatively resolve many title
problems which arise in the acquisition, sale or financing of
real estate. We are also active in analyzing and resolving title
problems and claims under title insurance policies. We work closely
with our litigation attorneys on claims that have matured into
litigation.
|
