Real Estate and Financing
Folger Levin & Kahn LLP's Real Estate and Financing Practice spans the entire range of activities arising out of the acquisition, financing, development, ownership, management, leasing and disposition of commercial and residential real estate. Our real estate clients are diverse, including lenders and borrowers, buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants, owners, investors, developers, brokers, architects, contractors and property managers. Our practice includes transactional work; financing, foreclosures and workouts; land use and regulatory compliance; litigation; construction-related matters; and environmental issues.
- We have represented large commercial and residential real estate developers in the acquisition, financing, development, and disposition of their real estate assets, including Prudential, Menlo Equities, Calfox, First Nationwide Bank, and related entities.
- We have represented HCP, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT) and S&P 500 company with over 700 properties in its portfolio, and various predecessor entities in the acquisition, development and leasing of more than 2.5 million square feet of R&D, office, technology, warehouse and industrial buildings (including at least twenty substantial build-to-suit projects for biotech, medical device and information services tenants), and in the structuring of joint ventures for ownership and financing for these projects.
- We represented KQED, Inc. (now known as NCPB, Inc.), San Francisco's public television station, in the sale of its offices and studio, in the acquisition of a new studio and headquarters facility, and in financing of the new facility with a conventional mortgage loan subsequently taken out by long-term financing through an issuance of tax-free nonprofit municipal bonds.
- We represent the owners of a diversified portfolio of approximately 25 office, industrial and retail properties in Northern and Southern California, in connection with leasing activities, institutional financing, disposition of properties and negotiation of joint venture agreements for property development.
- We represented the Handyman Corporation Liquidating Trust in the disposition of owned and leased properties throughout California, Arizona and Oregon, through sales, lease assignments and negotiated lease surrenders. We also represented the Trust in numerous lawsuits with landlords, suppliers and others arising out of the same liquidation.
- We represented a Japanese company in the acquisition of winery property in the Napa Valley of California, including compliance with federal statutes and regulations applicable to foreign owners of U.S. agricultural lands.
- We have represented numerous tenants in their leasing of office, industrial, retail and R&D space aggregating many millions of square feet, including Elephant Pharmacy, Goodwill Industries, Gump's, Edison Brothers Stores, First Nationwide Bank and Handyman Corporation.
Financing, Foreclosures and Workouts
- We represented The Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank of America and other
members of a seven-bank lending group in environmental matters, real
estate collateral matters and other California law aspects of a series
of complex, ESOP-based credit facilities to the two San Francisco waste
disposal firms (including the successor entity resulting from the merger
of those two firms).
- We acted as co-counsel for a New York financial institution acting
as lender/lessor in three complex synthetic leasing transactions providing
off-balance sheet financing for California industrial properties.
- We have represented both lenders and borrowers in negotiated loan
restructurings and foreclosure actions, as well as purchasers of property
in foreclosure.
- We have been counsel for the borrower in the issuance of tax-exempt
bonds for the financing of real estate projects undertaken by nonprofit
organizations, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for
the de Young Museum, Northern California Public Broadcasting, Inc.,
The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, The Hamlin School, The
Drew School, and San Francisco University High School.
Land Use and Regulatory Compliance
- We have advised and negotiated with regulators on behalf of clients concerning permits and entitlements, environmental impact reports and CEQA compliance issues, wetlands restrictions, seismic safety requirements, facade and parapet ordinances, ADA and handicapped access requirements, parking requirements, minimum lot size ordinances, and other land use and regulatory compliance issues.
- We represented
HCP, Inc./HCP Life Science Estates and affiliates and predecessors in the negotiation of development agreements and the obtaining of entitlements for substantial biotech/R&D parks in South San Francisco.
- We represented affiliates of Ford Motor Company in connection with a 419-unit, single-family residential project in a location previously used as a U.S. Army arsenal. We assisted our client in preserving its land use entitlements and in all aspects of the cleanup of the site, which was the first defense site of this nature to be cleaned of ordnance and explosives and approved for unrestricted residential development. We were also actively involved in the drafting of the City of Benicia's inclusionary housing ordinance and in negotiations that led to the City's approval of a 52-unit multifamily housing development off-site to satisfy affordable housing requirements.
- We have represented national retail tenants, including Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, The Gap and Limited Brands, in the successful resolution of disputes over operating cost allocations affecting hundreds of leases in dozens of shopping centers across the United States.
- We represented a Citibank joint venture as landlord in complex proceedings against a tenant operating executive office suites on three floors of a major San Francisco Financial District office building. These proceedings included eviction proceedings against the tenant, renegotiation of arrangements with approximately 140 subtenants occupying the premises, and re-leasing of the space to a successor operator of the office suite business.
- We represented Post-Newsweek Cable, Inc. (now known as Cable One) and its predecessor, Capital Cities Cable, Inc., in one of the leading property tax appeal proceedings in California.
- We represented Fluor Corporation in connection with construction and lender liability issues arising out of the development of an agricultural waste-fired power plant in Madera County, California.
- We have represented joint ventures of The Prudential Insurance Company of America and the San Francisco Hilton Hotel and Towers and the Embarcadero Center West property, respectively, as owners, in complex litigation arising out of substantial construction defects.
- We represent KB Home and other prominent contractors in substantial litigation matters arising out of contract disputes and/or alleged construction defects.
- FLK has extensive experience representing clients involved in environmental audits and analysis of site assessments, allocation of liability risk, cleanup proceedings and cost allocation proceedings, including property owners, buyers, sellers, lessors, lessees, lenders and others.
- Our firm has represented both sellers and buyers of Brownfields sites and other contaminated properties in connection with the allocation of liability risks and cleanup costs upon sale.
Representative Clients: Ford Motor Company; Barnes & Noble Inc.; Foot Locker, Inc.; Gap Inc.; Northern California Public Broadcasting, Inc.; Chase Manhattan Bank; The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; HCP, Inc./HCP Life Science Estates; Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; KSW Properties/Montgomery Capital Corporation.
For more information, contact:
Donald E. Kelley, Jr., dkelley@flk.com
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