Real Estate Law
SGR’s Real Estate Section, operating from our Atlanta, Jacksonville, and New York offices, is anchored by attorneys with full-time commercial real estate experience.
Serving the Firm’s clients in the real estate industry and also those engaged in real estate transactions incidental to other businesses, the real estate attorneys have a broad base of experience in meeting our clients’ needs relating to acquisitions, development, financing, ownership, management, leasing, and dispositions of various types of commercial real estate. Our practice is diverse and sophisticated, and we are proud of our success in assisting our clients in responding to the challenges and opportunities of the real estate industry and the current market, through innovative and sophisticated approaches that meet client requirements for practical and cost-effective solutions.
Our clients include commercial banks and other institutional lenders, investment banks, institutional investors, public and private companies, landlords and tenants, developers of office/industrial buildings, apartment and condominium communities, golf courses, hotels, shopping centers, resorts and multi-use developments, and corporate users. We represent major real estate industry players in acquisitions, land assemblages, joint ventures, sales, financing, leasing, construction and development issues. Moreover, working closely with attorneys in other practice groups within the Firm, our acquisition and development work includes careful consideration of tax implications, governmental regulatory matters, zoning, land use and environmental issues. We pride ourselves on serving our clients as facilitators, not roadblocks. We strive to focus on our clients’goals, and promoting and protecting our clients’ interests, while ensuring compliance with ever-changing local, state and federal laws and protecting the value of the clients’ deal. Because of our experience and the effective use of our Firm’s “team approach”, we are able to go beyond being simply transactional lawyers to being advisors to our clients for strategic planning and day—to-day decision making.
Our experience includes all types of real estate transactions, including:
- Acquisition and Development
- Leasing
- Financing
- Timber
In the process of handling these various transactions, the real estate attorneys handle joint ventures from the investor or developer side; covenant, condition and restriction agreements; zoning and permitting issues; land use easements and ancillary rights; leasing and lease enforcement; project or corporate campus management, mixed use development and finance; public/private partnerships; and other matters and issues inherent to the intricacies of land ownership and operation.
The successful completion of any real estate transaction requires an appreciation of the importance of timing, a technical knowledge of the financing of the transaction, a thorough understanding of the applicable law, including relevant tax and other regulations, and an appreciation and understanding of the business aspects of the transaction. As team players, our attorneys possess these qualities and more, and are able to effectively partner with our clients and their other advisors, to successfully consummate transactions in a creative but practical and cost-effective manner. In so doing, we are enthusiastic proponents of technology and use it aggressively to manage costs and to accelerate delivery and transmission of draft documents and completion of transactions. We are committed to providing the highest quality legal services in a responsive and focused manner, on time and on budget.
Our assistance on financing matters includes:
Advising clients with regard to the structure and costs associated with a proposed financing transaction.
Drafting and negotiating documentation during all phases of the making of a loan, from loan applications and commitments to documents typically associated with a financing transaction including security instruments, promissory notes, loan agreements, guaranties, environmental indemnity agreements, opinions of counsel, security agreements, subordination and attornment agreements and tenant estoppel certificates.
Gathering and reviewing due diligence documentation such as title commitments, title exception documents, surveys, leases, land use and zoning compliance documentation, building permits, environmental assessments, contracts with and certifications from architects, contractors and engineers, construction contracts and organizational documentation of business entities.
Working in conjunction with attorneys from the Corporate and Bankruptcy Sections of the Firm, our real estate attorneys are experienced in handling workout, recovery and bankruptcy situations. We have worked with major financial institutions, including the RTC, extensively during the last four real estate down cycles.
