Features

Foreclosure Statute of Limitations
In a set of foreclosure cases decided in late February, the Court of Appeals resolved some of the questions that have plagued New York's court system in the aftermath of last decade's mortgage crisis.
Features

Open Space and the Conundrum of High Stakes Zoning Disputes
The New York Court of Appeals' recent decision in Peyton v. BSA held, in the context of a zoning lot containing several residential buildings, that the Zoning Resolution of the City of New York does not require an area to be accessible to all residents of the zoning lot for the area to qualify as "open space."
Features

NY Court of Appeals Rules on Damages Clauses In Commercial Leases
In The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York v. D'Agostino Supermarkets, the NY Court of Appeals split on the issue of whether the relevant damages clause in a commercial lease was unenforceable as a matter of law because it was so grossly disproportionate to the ascertainable amount due upon full performance.
Features

The Small Business Reorganization Act: How It Started. How it's Going. Where to Next?
This article provides a brief overview of the SBRA and these first several months of its use — especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic — concluding that in 2021, Congress should permanently adopt the CARES Act's expanded definition of a "small business debtor" as including businesses with up to $7.5 million in aggregate non-contingent liquidated debts.
Features

Challenges for Real Estate Lenders When Borrowers Default
During periods of distress in the real estate industry, if a lender is not going to enter into a consensual workout or loan restructuring with their defaulted borrower, the lender will be presented with the choice of either enforcing rights under its loan documents or marketing and selling the distressed loan.
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Law Firms Renegotiating Leases to Reflect 'New Normal'
As their commercial leases approach expiration and renewal, law firms are renegotiating the future of in-office legal work. For many, the "new normal" will feature an efficient floor plan that deemphasizes personal offices while paradoxically accommodating a growing attorney headcount.
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Floor Area Bonuses Allowed for Mixed-Used Properties Under the Philadelphia Zoning Code
Part Two In a Series In this part of the series on "zoning" bonuses in the city of Philadelphia, we explore Floor Area Bonuses provided under the Mixed Incoming Housing, Green Building, and Underground Accessory Parking & Loading Bonuses.
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Commercial Real Estate Lenders Face Remedy or Relief Decision In COVID-19
Lenders in default scenarios face a choice of whether to exercise remedies and take over their collateral, or offer relief measures to their borrowers, either in the form of short-term forbearance or a permanent loan modification.
Features

Lease Default Provisions Face Scrutiny During COVID-19
As rent defaults skyrocket in 2020, practitioners reviewing the default provisions in their clients' commercial leases must ask themselves a crucial question: Does the provision set out a conditional limitation or a condition subsequent?
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Possible Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19 on Commercial Real Estate
While it is likely that the long-term impact of COVID-19 on commercial real estate will be significant, the short-term effect may be to accelerate sector and geographic trends that were already prevalent before the pandemic emerged.
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