The Property Line

It’s 5:00 PM on Monday, May 23, 2022. Do you know how interest is calculated on your loan? As the remaining settings for interest and swap payments based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) cease in June 2023, and as markets continue to get comfortable with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) as a LIBOR replacement, uncertainty insofar as interest and hedge payments are concerned...

The commercial real estate (CRE) executives who responded to Seyfarth’s recently released 7th annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey are optimistic about investment opportunities in 2022 despite inflation and rising costs. In this episode, real estate partners James O’Brien, Christa Dommers, and Ron Gart discuss key sentiments from this year’s survey, including: • a generally optimistic outloo...

A high-level understanding of opinion letters is a useful tool for anyone working in commercial real estate (CRE)—including businesspeople and next generation attorneys. Guest hosts Daniel Evans and Jay Wardlaw, co-chairs of Seyfarth’s Real Estate Finance practice, are joined by Cameron Weil, counsel in Seyfarth’s Real Estate department, to discuss the foundational basics of delivering opinion let...

The industrial real estate market has experienced high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to hold strong as the development of e-commerce, warehouse, and logistics facilities remains robust. While the accelerated buildout of industrial facilities is expected to alleviate supply pressure over the next year, markets remain tight and challenges with shortages of materials, supply c...

The COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020, but its impact was felt throughout 2021. The real estate industry faced unprecedented challenges this year, including rapid shifts in demand and changing expectations, but the real estate markets remained surprisingly buoyant with high levels of investment activity. In this episode of the Property Line, we examine key real estate trends that emerged in 2021,...

Despite dire predictions and a slowing of the return-to-work movement due to the delta variant, certain sectors of the office market remain strong—perhaps most notably (and understandably) life sciences spaces. These combination office/lab environments have proven to be more resilient than traditional office space due to (a) the vaccine push and (b) the need for physical proximity for the developm...

There are a variety of ways to structure an investment in commercial real estate, which might be held by a single bankruptcy remote entity, by a joint venture, or by an operating company. Cameron Weil, Real Estate counsel, joins host James O’Brien to discuss organizational structures for real estate transactions and the different types of legal entities that are used to implement those structures,...

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been in existence since 1975, but it was not until February 2020 that CFIUS adopted regulations specifically targeting the real estate industry. CFIUS now has the express power to review standalone real estate leases, purchases, sales, and other property transactions that are not part of a larger merger or acquisition. Under cert...

When construing lease obligations, courts generally attempt to enforce what the parties intended at the time of contract formation. Now that a pandemic like COVID-19 is foreseeable, landlords and tenants must carefully draft their leases to give effect to the business deal that the parties intend. Building on the last episode, Elizabeth Schrero returns alongside hosts Eric Greenberg and James O’Br...

As retailers and restaurants begin to open doors and welcome back customers, the lawsuits between landlords and tenants that started during the pandemic are still working their way through the court system. Although most decisions so far have skewed toward landlords, there have been a few tenant-friendly outliers. Elizabeth Schrero, co-chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate Litigation practice group, joi...

Business disruption was a common theme in 2020, particularly for franchisors in the retail/restaurant space. While these companies were forced to confront unprecedented challenges brought on by the pandemic, there’s a whole new set of hurdles ahead for the franchisor/franchisee relationship. As the economy reopens, consumer patterns and demographics have shifted and work from home trends have affe...

Building on the last episode’s look at recent federal relief, Paul Mattingly and Thomas Michaelides return alongside hosts James O’Brien and Eric Greenberg to discuss the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) residential eviction moratorium—which has recently come under fire in federal court, notably in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. They discuss the scope and eli...

Over the last few months, two large rescue packages—The Consolidated Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act—have been enacted by Congress in order to help the country push through the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, Paul Mattingly, partner and chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate department, and Thomas Michaelides, Real Estate associate, join hosts James O’Brien and Eric Greenberg to e...

In this extended episode, T5’s Tim Bright and David Horowitz join hosts Mike Rechtin and Michael Merar to share what sets T5 apart from other data center operators; how the pandemic has changed their business; how data center lease negotiations have changed over the years; and what guides their decisions when expanding into new markets. T5 provides comprehensive data center services, ranging from...

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is one of the most critical components of a data center lease. In this episode, Mike Rechtin and Michael Merar return to join host James O’Brien for a discussion of why this agreement is key, despite often being overlooked. They dig into what an SLA is, why it’s needed, and what it contains, and also offer tips on drafting and negotiating an SLA.

Old common law doctrines are not dormant and may enable tenants to avoid the payment of rent due to government shutdown orders during the pandemic. As more cases are tried, a jurisprudence regarding these doctrines and their applicability to the pandemic is being developed. In this episode, Mark Johnson, partner and co-chair of Seyfarth’s Real Estate Litigation practice, joins hosts James O’Brien...

Data centers are unique assets with specialized security, communications, cooling, and power needs. Data center leases are structured to address these needs and include rental and other provisions that differ from more conventional leases.    In this episode, Mike Rechtin, chair of Seyfarth’s Data Center Services practice, and Michael Merar, a Real Estate partner with significant data center exper...

Over the past few years, cloud-based data storage and data center development has grown rapidly. The current pandemic has further stimulated the demand for data storage as more and more tasks are being done virtually, rather than in-person. Mike Rechtin, chair of Seyfarth’s Data Center Services practice, and Michael Merar, a Real Estate partner with significant data center experience, join hosts J...

In Seyfarth’s recently released 6th annual Real Estate Market Sentiment Survey, commercial real estate executives weigh in on the outlook for the industry as it grapples with the lingering effects of the pandemic and a change in political power. James O’Brien, Christine Kim, and Ronald Gart discuss the survey and its methodology, as well as some of this year’s key findings. Topics covered in this...

The pandemic’s impact on real estate is well documented, but how have current events affected the less-publicized mezzanine loan market? How have courts addressed the New York mortgage foreclosure moratoria in the mezzanine loan context? What is clogging the equity of redemption and why is it important now? Seyfarth Real Estate partners Willard Moore and Megan Vallerie join to discuss all this and...

In today’s volatile market, commercial real estate loan modifications are an important tool to address loans that are, or may soon be, in default. They can also be valuable in connection with routine servicing requests. Seyfarth Real Estate partners Arren Goldman and Tobi Pinsky return to discuss: - Initial steps for loan modifications and the importance of pre-negotiation agreements - Obstacles t...

COVID-19 has impacted the world of commercial real estate finance in many unique ways. In this new environment, borrowers, guarantors, servicers, and lenders have been confronted with difficult decisions. Seyfarth Real Estate partners Arren Goldman and Tobi Pinsky join this episode for a discussion on: - What’s happening in the market with respect to requests for relief and loan modifications - Ho...

US dollar LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) has been one of the most widely utilized reference rates in floating rate commercial real estate lending for more than 30 years. Following concerns pertaining to possible LIBOR manipulation, various regulatory bodies have called for the replacement of LIBOR with a different reference rate, which will affect trillions of dollars of contracts when...

Federal and state governments have stepped in to help mitigate the economic damage caused by the pandemic, changing the ways in which lenders operate and their ability to enforce remedies. This episode discusses: - Government responses to date, including foreclosure and eviction moratoriums, and the impact they have had on lenders - Oregon House Bill 4204 and why it has sparked so much interest

While uncertainty due to COVID-19 continues to reverberate throughout the markets, certain sectors are on a path back to stability and a “new normal.” Jay Wardlaw and Daniel Evans, the co-chairs of Seyfarth’s Real Estate Finance practice, join to kick-off our next season and, in this episode, reflect on: - Repercussions due to the pandemic’s effect on leasing - Current state of the real estate fin...