Real Estate, Construction & Infrastructure

On February 12, 2018, President Donald Trump released his fiscal year 2019 budget proposal entitled “An American Budget.” Though Congress will not implement the proposal in its entirety, it still demonstrates what the Trump Administration would like to see prioritized in the coming year, which does not include climate change research.

Previously on this blog, my colleagues posed the question to commercial landlords, “Do you know who’s working in your building?” In this post, I look at a different aspect of the sharing economy—residential short-term rentals (STRs, for short)—and ask, “Do you know who’s living in your apartment?”

On December 5, 2017, the Massachusetts Appeals Court issued an important decision in Berger v. 2 Wyndcliff, LLC, No. 16-P-336 (Mass. App. Ct. Dec. 5, 2017), clarifying the extent to which land owners in a common-scheme development may extend restrictive covenants.

Our colleagues Susan Phillips, Stephen Friedberg and Andrew Dean wrote an article recently published on CFO.com. “Sale-Leasebacks: Cash Out but Keep Control” advises on how to recover capital spent on property acquisition and improvements while continuing to occupy and operate the property. The article has been attached below.

Co-working centers and shared office space arrangements have exploded onto the commercial real estate scene recently and offer attractive alternatives for many small businesses, early stage start-ups, incubators and freelancers to more traditional long-term office leases or work-from-home arrangements.

Drone use in the real estate industry has exploded in recent months. The utility of drones in sales, marketing, construction, surveying, and inspection of real property is undeniable.

Recently, Law360 published our colleague Andrew A. Dean’s follow up to his previous article, “Negotiating Exclusive Use Provisions in Retail Leases.” This new article discusses how to address “rogue tenants,” the enforcement of an exclusive and whether continuous operation clauses should factor into the exclusive use provision when negotiating a retail lease on behalf of a tenant.

We are thrilled to announce that our colleague Andrew A. Dean was published in Law360. His article focuses on the more frequently discussed provisions in a retail lease – the tenant exclusive.

On September 15th, Mintz Levin, Cresa, and BDO will be hosting a Panel Discussion and Networking Reception in San Diego, California on the new changes to lease accounting rules.

On April 15, 2016, the IRS released a memorandum addressing the impact of so-called “bad boy” guarantees on the characterization of underlying partnership debt as recourse vs. nonrecourse under Section 752 of the Internal Revenue Code.

On April 15, 2016, the IRS released a generic legal advice memorandum (GLAM 2016-001) (the “April GLAM”) addressing the impact of so-called “bad boy” guarantees (also known as nonrecourse carve-out guarantees) on the characterization of underlying partnership debt as recourse vs. nonrecourse under Section 752 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Recently, our colleague Steve Friedberg published an article in AreaDevelopment on “Data Center Development and Financing Strategies”. Co-authored by Gregory Burkart and Laca Wong-Hammond from Duff & Phelps, the article discusses industry-specific factors to consider when evaluating data center locations including power needs/costs, scalability, and security; and carefully analyzes financing strategies for these capital-intensive endeavors as well.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is expected to finalize new lease accounting standards (“Standards”) within the coming months which will have very real consequences for owners and lessees alike.

As a follow up to my colleague Allan Caggiano’s post here on the new 2016 ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards, the Planning & Zoning Resource Company (PZR) has recently circulated an important advisory on the practical effects of the new survey standards and the interaction between the surveyor and the zoning report that is typically provided by a third party like PZR.

Leases often form the start of a long term relationship between a landlord and tenant. This dynamic is much more critical in the life sciences context, and the process of lease negotiation and implementation requires integration and cooperation between the landlord and tenant teams. The lease creates a roadmap for what can be a very long tenancy, and needs to be carefully thought through and negotiated.

Beginning on February 16 of this year, the rate of tax withholding required by the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) will increase from 10% to 15%.  FIRPTA imposes federal tax on the sale of an interest in real property located in the United States by a foreign seller.

Mintz Levin was a sponsor of IMN's 13th Annual Winter Forum on Real Estate Opportunity & Private Fund Investing held at the Montage resort in Laguna Beach.  The IMN conference is the premier West Coast conference on real estate investing and is attended by the most influential voices in the real estate industry.

On February 23, 2016, the 2016 Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys will become effective (superseding the 2011 ALTA/ACSM standards).

A sophisticated (and effective) wire-fraud scam targeting real estate (and other) transactions is on the rise, and mostly occurring in the United States.

Earlier today our colleagues in the Energy Technology practice posted an article regarding this morning's congressional agreement on a year-end spending and massive tax deal that will bring 5-year extensions to both the Investment Tax Credit and Production Tax Credit.