Residential
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July 18, 2024
Blackstone Sees AI Revolution But 'Muted' RE Fundraising
Blackstone Inc., the world's largest commercial real estate owner, underscored its focus on data centers as the need for digital infrastructure increases, even as it contends with lower commitments from investors that are still skittish about real estate.
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July 18, 2024
Judge With Lake Property Exits $217M Dam Repair Tax Suit
A Michigan federal judge said he would step aside in a fight over a $217 million tax assessment to fund dam reconstruction because he's part of the assessment district, though he warned that hundreds of plaintiffs could have their own conflicts.
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July 18, 2024
Property Co. Settles Ex-Manager's Race Bias Suit
A Black former apartment complex manager who accused her ex-employer of putting her in charge of a struggling development because of her race and then firing her for complaining about the situation told a Pennsylvania federal court that her claims had been settled.
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July 17, 2024
Top Florida Real Estate News In 2024 So Far
Catch up on the hottest real estate news out of Florida so far this year, from alleged zoning abuse and bankruptcy to a brewing condo crisis and a seven-figure highway expansion.
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July 17, 2024
Gallagher & Kennedy Welcomes CRE, Telecom Expert
Gallagher & Kennedy PA announced that the company has added a commercial real estate and telecommunications expert from Goehring Rutter & Boehm to the firm's real estate practice group.
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July 17, 2024
Silicon Valley Sees $71M Affordable Housing Complex Sale
Marcus & Millichap announced Wednesday that the commercial real estate brokerage arranged the $71 million sale of a 160-unit affordable housing complex in San Jose, California.
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July 17, 2024
Fried Frank Guides Blackstone HQ Expansion In Manhattan
Blackstone will expand its Midtown Manhattan office headquarters and extend its lease in an agreement guided by Fried Frank, the building's property manager announced Wednesday.
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July 17, 2024
Rocket Mortgage Says Results Refute Investors' Fraud Claims
Rocket Mortgage is arguing that the company didn't mislead its shareholders when Rocket's former CEO claimed the company could grow its lending business in a rising interest rate environment because the firm's actual financial performance ended up proving that prediction true.
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July 17, 2024
Mo. Property Owners' Tax Challenge Time-Barred, Court Says
A group of Missouri property owners can't proceed with their appeal of assessments they claimed were unconstitutional taxes, a state appeals court ruled, finding the challenge was time-barred as an appeal of a special assessment.
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July 17, 2024
Fed. Gov't Can't Slip Suit Over Affordable Housing Loan
A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has refused to dismiss a company's suit alleging the federal government violated a loan agreement and now owes the company for the taking of its property.
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July 17, 2024
Tech Hub Looks To Capitalize On S. Fla.'s Climate Expertise
When the U.S. Economic Development Administration launched its Tech Hubs program across the country in October, South Florida's climate- and resilience-focused entry was one of 31 selected from more than 200 applications, and it made the cut again earlier this month, receiving $19.5 million when an initial funding round of $504 million was awarded to 12 of those hubs.
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July 17, 2024
U. Miami Climate Leader Sees Chance For Innovation
With Miami often called the "ground zero" of the climate change crisis, the University of Miami in 2022 launched a Climate Resilience Academy to coordinate an interdisciplinary response. Nearly a year into his tenure, its leader reflects on the opportunity for midsize city innovation in infrastructure in the face of climate challenges.
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July 17, 2024
Arizona Evictions Judge: Invitation Homes Should Apologize
As the largest owner of single-family rental properties in the Phoenix area, Invitation Homes continues to outpace the county average on eviction filings. In one case, a judge admonished the Wall Street landlord and said it should apologize for the “sleepless nights” it had caused two of its tenants.
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July 17, 2024
Phoenix Developers Nab $51M For Build-To-Rent Construction
Tower Capital arranged $51 million in construction financing for a 190-unit rental community under development in Phoenix's West Valley, after the developer received final approval for a requested rezoning from the city's Planning Commission.
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July 17, 2024
Do Real Estate Attorneys Ever Take Vacations?
Real estate attorneys looking to take a vacation must do a lot of legwork to ensure that their deals or cases sail smoothly in their absence. But things don't always go as planned.
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July 17, 2024
NYC Real Estate Week In Review
Fried Frank and Tarter Krinsky are among the law firms that guided the largest New York City real estate deals that hit public records last week, a period that saw three transactions north of the $100 million mark become public.
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July 17, 2024
Woman Can't Escape Suit Over Partner's $1.1M FBAR Debt
A woman whose late romantic partner owed $1.1 million in reporting penalties on hidden financial accounts in France and Switzerland can't stop the government from pursuing a suit against her for half the value of her home, a New York federal court ruled.
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July 16, 2024
Rocket Cos. Investors Drop CEO Retweet Claims From Suit
Investors in mortgage lender Rocket Companies have dropped certain proposed class action claims against the company's CEO, telling a Michigan federal judge that they would no longer accuse the executive of securities fraud over a March 2021 retweet.
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July 16, 2024
Cox Castle Guides $300M Gowanus Development Financing
Cox Castle & Nicholson LLP advised on $300 million in construction financing from Kennedy Wilson Capital, Affinius Capital and TYKO Capital for Tavros Capital's and Charney Cos.' major residential development in Brooklyn, New York, per county property records and a statement from the parties.
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July 16, 2024
'Excuse Me?': Judge Vexed By Defamation Claim In Ch. 7 Row
A Connecticut bankruptcy judge on Tuesday appeared skeptical of defamation and tortious interference claims New York-based real estate investor EasyKnock Inc. filed against a trustee handling the Chapter 7 estate of a onetime homeowner, forcing company attorneys to at times to admit they cited no authority to support their case.
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July 16, 2024
White House Proposes Rent Caps For Corporate Landlords
President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled a slate of proposals intended to lower housing costs, chief among them being a push for Congress to pass legislation capping corporate landlords' ability to raise rents by more than 5%.
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July 16, 2024
Florida Developer Pays $14M For Land For Gated Community
Florida-based developer and homebuilder 13th Floor Homes bought 270 acres of land in Tamarac, Florida, for $14 million and plans on building a 335-home, single-family luxury gated community, the company announced.
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July 16, 2024
Biden Admin. Awards $325M To Redevelop 'Distressed' Homes
The Biden administration awarded multiple public housing authorities, cities and Miami-Dade County with more than $325 million in grant funding that will be used to "redevelop distressed housing with high-quality mixed-income options," the administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
REIT Defends Financials After Reports Of Probe Emerge
Arbor Realty Trust said that it's standing by its accounting practices after a news outlet reported the company is under investigation in the wake of numerous short-seller reports alleging fraud in its books.
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July 16, 2024
County Says Pittsburgh Schools Can't Force Reassessment
As one taxing body out of many in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the School District of Pittsburgh lacks standing in its lawsuit seeking to force a countywide reassessment of property values, the county said in its preliminary objections to the suit.
Expert Analysis
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Colo. Eviction Case Could Transform Tenant Rights
The Colorado Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in a case that could open the door for tenants to assert allegations of discrimination and retaliation during eviction proceedings, and dramatically prolong the state's process, says Jacob Hollars at Spencer Fane.
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Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too
While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.
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Harsh 11th Circ. Rebuke Should Inspire Changes At CFPB
The Eleventh Circuit's recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Brown decision, which found the CFPB's conduct had been egregious in a debt collection enforcement action, should encourage some reflection at the bureau regarding its level of attention to the reasonable due process concerns of regulated institutions, says Eric Mogilnicki at Covington.
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Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions
As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.
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3 Alternatives To CRE Collateralized Loan Obligations
With current commercial real estate market conditions pushing issuers away from collateralized loan obligations, several Freddie Mac offerings should be considered as alternative exit strategies for mortgage loans secured by multifamily properties, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Fla. Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2
Florida financial institutions must now navigate minimum interest rates for attorney trust accounts, restrictions on property sales to prohibited foreigners, and a ban on weighing environmental, social and governance factors to determine a customer's creditworthiness — changes that will add to banks' compliance pressures, says Patricia Hernandez at Avila Rodriguez.
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NY Court Sends Mixed Signals On Contested Foreclosure Law
Although New York's Appellate Division, Second Department, has avoided addressing the constitutionality and retroactive application of the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act, its conflicting pattern of applying FAPA to existing cases is creating confusion regarding the future of the law, say Christopher Gorman and John Muldoon at Abrams Fensterman and litigation support analyst Robert Marx.
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Expect CFPB Scrutiny On AI In Lending
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau prioritizes regulatory oversight of the financial services industry's use of automated systems and artificial technology, it will need to balance regulation and innovation, and companies should prepare to mitigate any potential for bias or unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practices, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Level Up Lawyers' Business Development With Gamification
With employee engagement at a 10-year low in the U.S., there are several gamification techniques marketing and business development teams at law firms can use to make generating new clients and matters more appealing to lawyers, says Heather McCullough at Society 54.
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Texas Construction Statute Of Repose Leaves Open Questions
Texas' new significantly shorter statute of repose barring certain suits against construction contractors contains some ambiguous wording that will likely raise questions to be decided by courts, says Mason Hester at Munsch Hardt.
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5 Ways Firms Can Rethink Office Design In A Hybrid World
As workplaces across the country adapt to flexible work, law firms must prioritize individuality, amenities and technology in office design, says Kristin Cerutti at Nelson Worldwide.
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In The CFPB Playbook: Abuse Policy, PACE, Payment Apps
From defining "abusive" conduct to implementing green energy financing to policing payment apps, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was busy last quarter. Akerman's Nora Rigby discusses all this and more in the first installment of bureau activity recaps by former CFPB personnel.
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How To Avoid Flopping When Flipping Fla. Real Estate
As land prices rise, Florida real estate developers are increasingly contracting to flip property to other purchasers for a profit, and they should carefully consider the unique risks and issues associated with the different forms that the process can take, says Gary Kaleita at Lowndes.