Our attorneys have closed billions of dollars of transactions in over 40 states, including low-income, historic rehabilitation and enterprise zone tax credit transactions, as well as public-private partnership agreements for student and manufactured housing projects. Focusing primarily on large-scale multifamily housing acquisition and development, our multifamily team helps clients evaluate risk, determine project eligibility, structure transactions and protect their investments.

We negotiate construction agreements, loan agreements and other transactional documents in a tactical, process-proficient manner. Equally instrumental, we counsel clients on navigating various compliance and permitting issues, environmental regulations and fair housing laws. Our team works collaboratively with stakeholders on all sides of the transaction—from lenders and borrowers to investors and contractors—to identify revenue-enhancing opportunities and respond strategically and decisively to unexpected challenges before, during and pursuant to the completion of a project.

Affordable Housing

Our team has intimate knowledge of how low-income and historic rehabilitation tax credit programs work, with proven efficiency helping tax credit syndicators, developers and lenders successfully negotiate and complete such transactions. We work with clients to determine project eligibility, evaluate risk, monitor program compliance and structure transactions to protect and maximize return on their investments.

Our experience and process-proficient approach allow us to confidently guide our clients through the steps required to realize the benefit of affordable housing and new markets tax credits. Further, we seek to minimize the risk of tax credit recapture through the development of, and adherence to, clear due diligence review guidelines.

Market Rate Housing

Our team has assisted in the acquisition and disposition of thousands of units totaling billions of dollars in transactions across the country. We have closed HUD-insured, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, life insurance company, CMBS and commercial bank loans for multifamily projects in over 30 states. With the wealth of experience and knowledge of our team, our clients can be confident that we are equipped to handle any financing, tax, regulatory and litigation-related issues that come their way.

Student Housing

Our team represents developers and lenders on a regular basis in connection with student housing projects across the country. We counsel clients on matters involving, among other things, land acquisition, equity and debt financing, construction and zoning/land use approvals. We also guide clients through the process of responding to requests for proposals, negotiating and finalizing affiliation agreements and fostering working relationships with universities for the development of affiliated student housing.

Our clients continue to see opportunities in the public-private partnership model for student housing, and we see to it they are well-informed with respect to emerging trends and strategies in the housing industry. Repeat business is a common theme in our multifamily housing team’s work — for example, we’ve closed student housing deals totaling over $1 billion for one repeat client. We are proud that our clients trust us to provide the type of high quality service they expect and rightfully demand.

Manufactured Housing

We represent investors, community owners, associations and lenders on a regular basis in connection with manufactured housing projects across the country. Our lawyers are experienced in all phases of the project lifecycle, having closed billions of dollars in manufactured housing transactions nationwide.

Our team has broad experience at the county, municipal and state levels of government helping regulators craft reasonable regulations and challenging local zoning laws that seek to limit access to manufactured housing. We also challenge legal interpretations and defend environmental actions related to water sub-metering and sewage treatment and transportation.

Our team works on a broad range of private and public financings and commercial contracting matters for long-term care, assisted and senior living facilities. We have represented both buyers and sellers in transactions encompassing multiple properties across different states, each with its own regulatory and licensing requirements. We are especially proud of our experience helping senior living provider entities design and implement innovative arrangements, such as clinically integrated networks and tax-exempt financings, in the pursuit of shared improvements in both costs and care.

Experience Highlights

• Represented the seller in the sale of a hospital-based SNF to an independent long-term care group, including resolution of civil monetary penalty issues.
• Represented the purchaser in a large, national home health acquisition in excess of $200 million, including local regulatory due diligence, licensure and certification issues.
• Represented a regional skilled nursing and senior living operator in six acquisitions, two sales, and five de novo campus developments with a deal value of over $400 million.
• Represented senior living private equity group in its purchase of multiple senior living facilities totaling over $175 million in facility acquisitions.
• Leveraged federal low-income housing tax credits and Medicaid reimbursement to help multiple developers finance, construct and operate affordable assisted living projects in three states.
• Represented borrowers in several jurisdictions in specialty financing for skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, including serving as lead or local counsel in approximately 50 HUD health care facility loan transactions.

Our team has done extensive work with retail and shopping center transactions, including financing, disposition and acquisition within every state in the country. We have extensive experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating retail leases from both the landlord and the tenant perspective, including tenant leases and ancillary lease agreements for major anchors, junior department stores, national in-line tenants and “mom and pop” operations. We thoroughly understand the issues facing our retail clients, particularly with regard to certain hot buttons in any retail transactions and leases, including:

• Co-tenancy and subleasing agreements
• Operating covenants (express and implied)
• Exclusives and radius restrictions
• Percentage rent and gross sales definitions
• Rent/CAM (exclusions and caps)
• Tenant allowance
• Subordination and default/landlord remedies
• ADA compliance
• Operating and minimum weekly hour requirements

Experience Highlights

• Represented landlords and tenants in leases of office spaces of all sizes, as well as anchor, mini-anchor, small shop and out parcel tenant leases across the U.S.
• Represented developer in multiple build-to-suit retail projects for a nonprofit retail tenant, including site acquisition, development, leasing and financing.
• Represented national car wash company as programmatic sale-leaseback counsel.
• Represented publicly traded private equity company as real estate due diligence acquisition counsel for national sale leaseback program for gas station and convenience store development partner.
• Represented developer in acquiring 20+ medium-sized shopping centers and strip malls nationwide (including Ohio and Kentucky sites), for an aggregate purchase price of over $100 million, in multiple portfolio sales by real estate investment trusts. FBT handled the real estate acquisition, due diligence, title insurance and survey review, some zoning and permitting and environmental work. Multi-State Title Insurance, Ltd., our title company affiliate, arranged for the issuance of title insurance on the acquired sites.
• Represented national bank in the negotiation of in-store space leases with grocery store operators in locations across the United States.
• Representation of shopping center developer in: (a) sale of pad site at regional open-air shopping center to major anchor, (b) negotiation of site development agreement between client and major anchor and issuance of letter of credit to secure developer’s obligations, (c) re-platting part of the project and amending project REA and (d) simultaneous amendment/extension of $60 million+ first mortgage financing for the project.

We represent developers, owners, equity investors and lenders in all aspects of industrial real estate ownership, finance, development, management and disposition. Our team has in-depth experience successfully counseling clients in all aspects of industrial property ownership, and, utilizing such practical experience, we work proactively to resolve issues and close transactions quickly.  We understand the competitive nature of the industrial real estate market and how to efficiently facilitate closing transactions while protecting our client’s interests.  Our expansive footprint allows our team to handle many national transactions without the need to engage local counsel, ensuring our clients receive the highest standard of legal services in an efficient and timely manner.

We help our clients negotiate and close the full range of industrial real estate transactions, acquisition, sale, development and leasing of real estate for manufacturing, industrial and warehouse uses, as well as the leasing of industrial building roofs for installation of solar panels.

Our team also regularly guides clients through adversarial matters, such as disputes with tenants and collections and default matters.

Experience Highlights

• Represented a publicly traded REIT in more than $1 billion of acquisitions of industrial properties, including related financing for certain of those properties.
• Represented public company in $65 million acquisition of warehouse portfolio.
• Represented privately held development company in the leasing of newly constructed industrial buildings.
• Represented a publicly traded REIT in connection with leasing industrial building roofs for the installation and operation of solar panels.
• Assisted a publicly traded company in the development of its standard form of industrial lease.
• Represented a publicly traded REIT in leasing more than 1,000,000 square feet of warehouse properties.
• Efficiently provide value-add services, such as abstracting leases for portfolio acquisitions and real estate tax analysis.

[Task Josh Brock and Michael Radcliff with creating.] We represent owners, developers, operators, and franchisors spanning all segments of the hospitality industry, from hotels and casinos to restaurants and recreational facilities. Our work is national in scope, covering all aspects of real estate finance, development and ownership, as well as equity financings, divestments and commercial contracts.

Experience Highlights

• Represented CMBS special servicer in taking a deed in lieu of foreclosure on a full-service hotel property in Louisville, Kentucky.  Negotiated a new franchise agreement with the replacement hotel operator.
• Represented developer in the sale of downtown Columbus, Ohio site to a casino operator. This site was the original casino gambling site for Columbus approved by Ohio voters in 2009.
• Represented a publicly traded REIT in the acquisition and financing of a full-service hotel in Houston.
• Represented a national developer in closing the financing of a luxury hotel in the Mid-South with a complicated combination of equity and debt financing exceeding $150 million.