Features

Hospitality Performance Tests In the Real World
Hotel management agreements often contain language permitting a hotel owner to terminate if the hotel’s performance fails to meet certain financial metrics. This provision, colloquially referred to as the “performance test,” is touted as a form of protection for owners by providing a right to terminate (or to receive a “cure payment”) if the hotel underperforms. But the reality is performance tests are generally structured to make them difficult, if not impossible, to fail, leaving hotel owners without the financial protection they thought they bargained for — or worse.
Columns & Departments
Co-ops and Condominiums
Limited Warranty Establishes Defense to Consequential Damages Claim Against Sponsor
Features

The Risks of Office-to-Residential Conversions
Office-to-residential conversions present significant challenges to owners and developers that arise from the interrelationship among the regulatory regime, the legal restrictions and requirements of the site and the physical requirements of conversion; the resulting incremental cost of conversions mean that many potential conversions just do not pencil out.
Columns & Departments
Development
Department of Environmental Conservation Misapplied Statute
Features

High National Debt Is Bad for CRE
The federal debt is a huge number at $36 trillion. That has major implications for the government and the economy. Debt numbers this large automatically send out ripples the size of tsunamis. Some of them could wash over long-term Treasury yields and then flood the cost of commercial real estate capital.
Features

'Melendez/Bochner': No Guarantee the Guaranty Law Survives Constitutional Scrutiny
After nearly four years of litigation, the Second Circuit held recently that a small commercial landlord lacked standing to seek declaratory relief against the City of New York challenging the Guaranty Law under the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Features

Individual Liability of Condominium Sponsor's Principals
When are the principals of a condominium sponsor individually liable for harms suffered by purchasers? In Board of Managers of 570 Broome Condominium, the First Department declined to dismiss a condominium board's fraud and breach of fiduciary claims against individual defendants.
Features

Slight Decrease In Commercial Foreclosures Hints at Market Stabilization
While the commercial real estate market faced significant headwinds in 2024, recent data suggests that the tide may be turning. The combination of lower interest rates, a decline in foreclosures, and improving market conditions offers a glimmer of hope for property owners and investors alike.
Columns & Departments
Real Property Law
Scouting Organization's Adverse Possession Claim Against County Land Fails Easement Not Subject to Termination Under RPAPL 1951 Doctrine of Emblements Might Sustain Former Tenant's Claim to Crops Church Property Tax Exempt Because Town Did Not Establish Zoning Violation
Features

Law Firm Real Estate: Attorney Offices Are Out, Conference Rooms Are In
Law firms are navigating a paradigm shift in how they approach office space. With the rise of flexible workplaces, firms are finding that when their attorneys do come into the office, the main goal is to connect and collaborate with peers — and this shift has transformed how law firms address their real estate needs.
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