Retail & Shopping Center Finance

As the past few years have shown, stakeholders in the retail and shopping center industry need to be ready for anything. Our retail team has substantial experience representing retailers, landlords and tenants, big and small, in commercial leasing matters involving outparcel lots, standalone structures, strip centers, shopping centers, traditional malls, and outlet malls. We provide a unique perspective when negotiating and documenting short, intermediate, and long-term leases with local tenants, national anchor tenants, and everything in between. As a result, we are able to help minimize risks and get landlords the flexibility needed to profitably operate for 10, 15, and 20 years.

We also assist clients in connection with lease disputes, lease workouts and terminations, negotiating subordination and non-disturbance agreements and estoppels, and complex lease purchases and assignments, both in and out of chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. Additionally, our team has substantial experience assisting clients with general litigation issues and employment matters. We understand our clients’ financial and strategic goals, and our subject-matter knowledge and experience allow us to help our clients achieve them.

Our retail team likewise has significant experience representing national anchor tenants, including grocery stores and general merchandise stores with grocery components. We understand the unique challenges that arise when grocery tenants enter a new market and the substantial considerations that go into the site selection process. Our team is well-seasoned when it comes to conducting due diligence reviews and negotiating leases (including exclusive use provisions, go dark provisions, and tenant improvement allowances).

Our team has deep expertise in all facets of the acquisition, development, financing, and disposition of shopping center assets across the country. We represent tenants, landlords, operators, and lenders of shopping center assets in connection with leasing disputes, negotiating and preparing equity documents and loan documents, slip and fall claims, employment discrimination claims, and bankruptcy proceedings.

Our shopping center team routinely handles all types of sale-leaseback structures, from simple single-site sale-leasebacks and reverse-build-to-suit transactions to complex multi-state and national portfolio transactions. We have extensive experience and expertise, from both the landlord’s and tenant’s perspectives, supporting our clients in sale-leaseback transactions. Our team also provides full-service support for clients engaged in the acquisition and divesture of retail assets, financing for sale-leaseback and reverse-build-to-suit transactions, and any other services needed to help them achieve their strategic goals. Additionally, we bring significant expertise to negotiating ground leases and shopping center declarations for single-tenant outparcels. Our aim at every stage is to help maximize financial returns for our clients and to minimize unforeseen complications when selling outparcels to buyers in the market for triple-net, single-tenant properties.

Finally, dealing with a tenant’s bankruptcy is inevitable for most landlords, and the process can be rigid and unforgiving. Our shopping center team works closely with landlords, tenants, committees of unsecured creditors and lenders in connection with negotiating lease-workouts, filing proofs of claim, negotiating executory contracts, protecting landlords’ rights in financing and sales, and restructuring leases. We also have substantial experience representing landlords in connection with the liquidation of tenant assets (including Section 363 sales) and lease guaranty enforcement actions.