>Return to Main Practice Areas

Real Estate

Real Estate Acquisitions and Dispositions

Our firm's real estate practice includes the acquisition of real estate, including the following:

El Dorado Hills Joint Venture
We represented one of the general partners of El Dorado Hills Joint Venture, a partnership that owned more than 3,000 acres of partially improved residential land in El Dorado County, California, in the sale of its interest and that of another partner to an affiliate of a third partner.

Hiuka America Corporation
We represented the chapter 11 trustee for this scrap-metal processor and exporter in connection with the sale of substantially all of the assets of "Hiuka" and several of its subsidiaries to an affiliate of Mitsui & Company and Birmingham Steel Corporation. The assets were sold for approximately $34 million and included large equipment, intangible personal property, and fee and leasehold interests in real property, including a valuable leasehold interest covering a large berth at the Port of Long Beach.

PaineWebber
We represented a major institutional investor who acquired a 380-acre, partially developed, casino and resort in Nevada. Our representation included negotiating a management contract for the operation of a golf course located on a portion of the property.

RPD
Our firm assisted a real estate investor in acquiring a large office building in Los Angeles from an institutional lender that had obtained the property through foreclosure, and that provided the financing for our client's acquisition of the property and for the rehabilitation of the property necessitated, in part, by the Northridge earthquake.

Development and Subdivision

Real estate developers often require legal assistance to overcome obstacles or to comply with governmental requirements. Members of the firm have represented, among others:

The developer of a 900-unit residential apartment and condominium project. In addition to the acquisition and financing required for the site, the project involved negotiating offsite rights from unfriendly third parties and access rights over the Los Angeles aqueduct for the development of a major county highway.

A land owner in disposing of all its remaining real property in Southern California, including raw acreage, a proposed golf course, and finished lots to three separate Florida entities. This transaction involved negotiating separate option agreements, which could only be exercised after a portion of the property was subdivided.

A real estate investment trust (REIT) in providing construction financing for the hospital portion of a hospital and medical office building complex. Upon completion of construction, the REIT purchased the entire complex and leased the hospital and medical office building to separate operators. In addition to negotiating the financing, acquisition, and leasing documents, the attorney dealt with complex issues regarding the development and subdivision of the properties, reciprocal rights and obligations between adjacent owners, and environmental concerns.

A hospitality company in the disposition of its interest in a ground lease, together with related hotel improvements, located in Miami. The purchaser acquired our client's ground leasehold interest concurrently with the acquisition of the fee estate to the property, the funding of an acquisition and construction loan for further development of the property, and the purchase-money financing of the property by our client.