Real Estate Law
SGR’s Real Estate Section, operating from both our Atlanta and Jacksonville 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 and conduits, 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 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 manners 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, 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.
Acquisition and Development
The real estate attorneys assist a range of developers and other professionals in the real estate industry in planning, structuring and documenting complex projects and real estate investments involving office, multifamily, industrial, hospitality, resort, retail and mixed-use projects. The real estate attorneys represent our clients throughout the acquisition or sale of commercial real estate, from drafting letters of intent and negotiating purchase and sale contracts through due diligence and closing.
Our acquisition and development services include:
Assisting clients with planning the structure of a proposed project, including tax considerations and formation of business entities.
Preparing and negotiating documents during the acquisition or sale of commercial real estate, including letters of intent, purchase and sale contracts, all forms of closing documents and related corporate organizational and authority documents, development agreements, management agreements, declarations of covenants, easement agreements and joint venture agreements.
Reviewing all due diligence materials including title insurance commitments, surveys, environmental reports, service contracts, zoning and land use documentation, easement and covenant documentation and building code violations.
Working in conjunction with lenders, investors and other capital providers to coordinate acquisition and financing activities for a project.
In addition, our real estate acquisition and development practice includes assisting with the tax-deferred exchange of real property of all types, including apartment buildings and complexes, office parks and buildings, shopping centers, hotels, golf courses and industrial facilities, including “reverse” exchanges. Working closely with the Firm’s corporate and tax attorneys, the real estate attorneys routinely structure and complete tax-deferred exchange transactions involving multiple parties and exchange intermediaries.
LEASING
The real estate attorneys represent both landlords and tenants in commercial leasing transactions involving a variety of property types, including office, retail, industrial warehouse and build-to-suit space and are able to approach either angle of a leasing transaction with an understanding of the nuances that may surface from either perspective. The real estate attorneys recognize that leasing is a unique area of real estate practice in that it must provide a framework for the ongoing relationship between the landlord and tenant. Our services include not only drafting and negotiating commercial leases but continuing to provide legal services once the lease relationship is in effect, such as preparing renewals and amendments, interpreting existing lease provisions in the event of a dispute and handling evictions.
Our commercial leasing services include:
Drafting lease forms for use by owners of office, retail, industrial space and communications towers;
Representing tenants in reviewing and negotiating leases for spaces in malls, shopping centers and office space;
Handling build-to-suit and development transactions;
Representing landlords and tenants in transactions involving sale-leaseback, ground leases, assignments and subletting, rights of first refusal, options to purchase, expansion, renewal and extension and subordination, non-disturbance and attornment documentation; and
Working in conjunction with attorneys from the Firm’s litigation section to resolve disputes which may arise from a lease such as dispossessory actions, lease defaults and brokerage commission disputes.
FINANCING
The real estate attorneys represent lenders and other capital providers and borrowers in all facets of loans and credit arrangements secured by or related to real property, including syndicated loans, conduit loans, joint venture arrangements and various secured and unsecured lines of credit.
Our financing services include:
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, the real estate attorneys are experienced in handling workout, recovery and bankruptcy situations associated with loans extended by our lender and capital provider clients.
TIMBER
SGR’s Timber Law Practice represents sellers, purchasers, institutional lenders, landlords and tenants seeking the expertise and capacity of a full-service firm to handle large, sophisticated transactions involving a wide variety of legal and operational issues unique to timberlands. Click here to read about our Timber Practice
SGR’s Real Estate practice was recently featured in Chambers USA 2008. Click here to find out more.
