On March 31, 2023, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York declared New York City’s Guaranty Bill unconstitutional, finding it violates the United States Constitution’s Contracts Clause. New York City landlords may now be able to seek previously unenforceable arrears from commercial lease guarantors owed from March 7, 2020 through … Continue Reading
The federal opportunity zone program (26 U.S.C. Sec. 1400Z et seq., the “OZ Program”) provides tax benefits to encourage private investment in economically distressed areas. More than 8,700 census tracts, located in every state, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories, were designated as opportunity zones. Proponents hoped that investments in these communities would spur economic … Continue Reading
In an article that appears on Law360.com, Joe Marger of our New York office is quoted in an article titled "Developers Reaching Deep for Rights to Build Sky-High." The demand for sky-high condos and penthouse apartment has changed how property owners look at air rights. They are now valuable real estate assets. In an interview … Continue Reading
In an exclusive two-part interview with commercial real estate website GlobeSt.com, Joseph Marger of Reed Smith’s New York office offers his views on sale-leasebacks and the opportunities they represent to free substantial real estate value for companies. Part One of the Interview is concerned with the state of the sale-leaseback market. Part Two addresses when … Continue Reading
This post was written by Joe Marger and Leah Speckhard The Supreme Court’s refusal in February 2014 to hear the real estate driven Ninth Circuit case, Salameh v. Tarsadia, provided Condo-hotel owners and developers with relatively clear guidelines on how to avoid securities issues and/or litigation when selling Condominium units. The determination of what constitutes … Continue Reading
A recent opinion by New York’s highest court (J. D’Addario & Co. v. Embassy Indus., Inc. Slip Op 07850, Court of Appeals) held that a seller’s "sole remedy" of retaining the purchaser’s deposit as "liquidated damages" means just that – that’s all you get (i.e., no court-imposed interest unless you expressly say so). In the … Continue Reading
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder recently signed into law the Nonrecourse Mortgage Loan Act, MCL Sec. 445.1591, et seq., the purpose of which was to overturn the effect of two Michigan court decisions that interpreted and applied certain special purpose entity (SPE) and nonrecourse "carve-out" loan provisions in a way that seemed to favor lenders, and … Continue Reading
