Real Estate
Laying a sound foundation for real estate deals
Real estate development—that’s what happens between the groundbreaking and the ribbon cutting, right? Seasoned real estate professionals know otherwise. A lot of issues have to be successfully managed to prepare the groundwork for that moment when the first shovel hits the dirt.
Structuring a real estate project has become increasingly complex, especially in a changing economy. The challenges facing the world’s top developers, owners, investors, financial institutions and funds demand experienced and intelligent legal representation.
Experience built from the ground up
Manatt has one of the largest real estate practices in the United States, and our lawyers individually are among the top real estate and development advisors in the nation. We offer, at every stage of the development process—from acquisition and financing to entitlement, construction and disposition—the transactional know-how, market insight and relationships crucial to a project’s success.
Manatt’s Real Estate Practice Group includes legal and nonlegal professionals who have been commercial property owners, developers and mortgage banking executives; served as city attorneys, planning board members and local government regulators; worked in state governments; and served in federal agencies. This wealth of real-world experience better positions us to understand and help solve our clients’ greatest challenges.
Our experience handling complex and cutting-edge matters and strong ties with investors, lenders, developers, regulators and government officials keep us at the forefront of current industry developments. We are particularly adept at helping clients navigate the political and government landscape—the complex network of laws and regulations seeking to minimize environmental impacts.
A panoramic view of the real estate landscape
With a practice as large and diverse as ours, our lawyers have counseled clients on virtually every type of real estate transaction, including acquisitions and dispositions; development; joint ventures; secured loans; mezzanine financing and preferred equity structures; leasing; property management and construction; workouts and foreclosures; reorganization transactions; real estate fund formations; public and private offerings of real estate debt and equity securities; and real estate litigation. Our land use practice is nationally known for its ability to tackle complex land use issues and to address the challenges and opportunities for green development.
Many of our lawyers were active players during the real estate recession of the early 1990s. Thus, we are able to bring real-world experience to the advice we provide regarding distressed assets—from foreclosures and deeds in lieu to workout structures and loan-portfolio sales to the repositioning and disposition of REO assets.
Our client roster is as diverse as the matters we handle and includes domestic and foreign lenders, investors, landlords and tenants, developers, contractors, not-for-profits, and others in connection with the acquisition, planning, financing, development, leasing, lease auditing, syndication and disposition of real property.
Our development work spans every product type and has taken our lawyers to every corner of the United States as well as a number of foreign countries. The projects have included hotel and resort developments, office buildings, single-family residential tracts and multifamily buildings (from luxury to affordable), shopping centers and power malls, industrial parks and mixed-use developments, dormitories, hospitals, community centers, and museums.
As part of a large, full-service firm, our real estate lawyers have frequent contact and often work closely with lawyers in such real estate-related practice areas as banking, corporate, environmental, securities, bankruptcy, litigation, eminent domain and government.
Recognized for our handling of complex land use matters
Both our land use practice and the attorneys who have made this an area of focus have been nationally recognized for our firm’s handling of many of California’s most challenging and sensitive entitlement matters.
Land use matters can also raise some challenging environmental issues, such as protecting habitat and coastal resources, conservation and preservation of open space, and protection of endangered species. Our land use professionals have confronted and successfully addressed these challenges, securing the necessary entitlements and approvals by, first, anticipating the hurdles (and recognizing the opportunities) and then strategically securing the support of staff, community activists and elected officials.
At the forefront of green development
These days, there’s no shortage of incentives for sustainable, environmentally friendly building projects—just as there’s no question that green development requirements aren’t going away anytime soon.
Manatt has demonstrated its commitment to green development by building one of the nation’s leading practices in this area. With several LEED-certified lawyers on our team, our knowledge of jurisdictional, legislative, and code requirements and standards has helped our clients maximize their projects’ full profit potential. When it comes to green development, we’re anything but “green.” Our experience has included projects as diverse as “greening the big box” for an international retailer, creating a green power plant for an international energy company and developing sustainable communities.