Real Estate Office/Industrial

With significant real estate experience nationwide, the attorneys of Seyfarth Shaw’s Real Estate Practice have represented many of the country’s largest developers, builders, landlords and tenants in virtually every facet of industrial and office real estate transactions and investments. 

Our clients range from small company tenants to large national and international tenants with industrial, warehouse, distribution-center and office needs of all types and sizes.  On behalf of developers, REITs and other institutional landowners, we help negotiate virtually every kind of sale, disposition, lease and investment deal.  We also work regularly with industry and trade organizations, helping promote understanding and application of emerging regulatory, financial and other issues.

Our broad client base enables our attorneys to understand the concerns of parties on both sides of the negotiating table.  In conjunction with our national resources, breadth of experience and depth of knowledge, we help clients manage and maximize the return on their real estate assets, whether as purchasers, lessors, lessees or investors.

Seyfarth Shaw Service Capabilities

With our national breadth and depth of legal experience, Seyfarth Shaw’s Real Estate attorneys have the resources and knowledge to help our clients in every area of industrial and office projects. We provide legal guidance with regard to:

Leasing:

• Credit tenant leases;
• Electrical, utility and telecommunications arrangements;
• Ground leases;
• Leases of partial interest;
• Master leases;
• Parking facility leases;
• Sale and lease-backs; and
• Traditional leases.

Development:

• Construction contracts;
• Construction/permanent financing;
• General property management agreements;
• Joint ventures;
• Property owner association, and operating agreements;
• Service contracts;
• Site acquisition; and
• Zoning.

Our Real Estate Practice

The attorneys of Seyfarth Shaw’s Real Estate Practice have long been recognized by their peers and industry counterparts for their legal excellence and commitment to client service.  As individuals, and as a group, we have unparalleled, real-world experience — not only in the practice of real estate law, but also in the practical, day-to-day concerns of our clients.

Many of our attorneys have been trained as architects and engineers, and understand the details of construction and design issues.  Others have worked as in-house counsel to private investment firms and publicly held financial institutions with significant real estate lending units.  Still others have direct experience with zoning, regulatory and environmental agencies.  As a group, our attorneys have the broad experience and legal expertise to help our clients achieve real results.

We are committed to the concept of cost-effective staffing, assigning attorneys to cases on the basis of experience, regional and local knowledge and areas of legal concentration.  In doing so, we believe that we are able to help clients reach their objectives faster, with fewer risks, and at lower expense.

Significant Representations:

Seyfarth Shaw attorneys have represented, and continue to represent, hundreds of the country’s largest and best-known investors, developers, tenants and landlords of industrial and office space.  Significant recent transactions include:

Landlord Representations

• We represented the landlord of a 1.1 million square foot building in New York City, leasing over 400,000 square feet of vacant space in less than a six-month period, including a 105,000 square foot lese with a publicly traded Internet company in four days, and an 83,000 square foot lese with the Internet subsidiary of a publicly traded publishing company.
• We represented a New York City-based developer in a series of acquisitions leading up to that company’s initial public offering, including the purchase buildings on Wall Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City, and a portfolio of office buildings in New York City, Orlando and Tucson.  We subsequently represented the company, after its merger, in the leasing program for its Seventh Avenue property in New York City, an approximately 700,000 square foot office building, in transactions that included a 100,000 rentable square foot lease with a leading law institute.
• We represented an Austria-based cinemas company in ground lease financing projects secured by interests in three northeastern United States movie theatres in conjunction with a leading U.S. investment company.
• We represented a private investment company in connection with all leasing matters at its 300,000 square foot office building in Skokie, Illinois.
• We represented an owner/manager in connection with its acquisition of a 40-story office building in New Orleans.
• We represented a major REIT in connection with the acquisition, financing, refinancing, and disposition of a portfolio of eight medical office buildings located in suburban Chicago.
• We represented the real-estate subsidiary of a major insurance company in connection with leasing and development issues for three office/industrial parks in the Atlanta area.
• We represented a major REIT and its joint-venture partner in connection with the $50 million financing of an office building in San Francisco.

Tenant Representations

• We represent the largest leading international accounting and consulting firm in major leasing transactions throughout the eastern United States and Puerto Rico, including an 800,000 square foot lease for its U.S. headquarters and a simultaneous 300,000 square foot sublease to a major New York City law firm.
• We represented Europe’s largest retailer in several large warehouse leasing transactions throughout the United States ranging from 50,000 to 300,000 square feet.
• We represent the world’s largest home-improvement retailer in connection with its industrial, distribution-center and warehouse needs, nationally, including the acquisition, construction and leasing of existing and new buildings.