Focus

The Real Estate & Finance Practice Group provides a broad range of legal proficiency, experience and practical knowledge in all facets related to real property transactions.  We represent a wide range of clients throughout the United States who are involved in an array of real estate transactions, such as development, construction, investment, leasing and operation of real estate. Our clients include lenders and borrowers in construction, permanent, and mezzanine loans, and act as Midwest counsel for many institutional real estate clients, particularly with regard to leasing projects. Types of projects we work on include office buildings, industrial facilities, hotels, golf courses, manufactured housing communities, retail shopping centers, complex condominium projects, and multifamily housing.

Overview

During the various stages of a real estate transaction, the counsel, guidance and assistance of our real estate attorneys helps clients protect their interests and understand the business, tax, and legal issues affected by the transaction.

Business issues are the driver behind every real estate transaction.  Our attorneys understand your business goals and protect your business needs.  At the end of the day, every legal issue is really a business issue.

We play a vital role in the negotiation, documentation preparation and closing phases of real estate transactions to ensure that the client's interests are at all times protected. Our understanding of our clients’ concerns and issues lends to our ability to find creative solutions to their most sophisticated business problems.  Decisions belong to the client, and every aspect of our legal counsel is focused on helping them make the best decisions possible. 

Tax planning is an integral part of what our real estate lawyers do. We are highly experienced in like-kind exchanges, and we represent more of Chicago's exchange intermediaries and exchange brokers than any other firm. In addition, we were structuring reverse exchanges for 10 years before the IRS approved the very structures that we use. Our attorneys were also first to develop transparent partnership/co-tenancy exchanges, developer exchanges, mass asset exchanges for leasing companies, sale-by-auction exchanges, synthetic lease exchanges and securitized finance exchanges. When other real estate lawyers are not sure about exchanges, they call us, and so do their clients.

Services

• Acquisitions and dispositions
• Leasing (tenant and landlord representation)
• Financings and loan document review
• Tax deferred exchanges (1031 exchanges)
• Development and construction transactions
• Condominium conversions
• Condominium and homeowners association formation and operation
• Environmental issues
• Title, survey, zoning and planning
• Residential, hotel, and office condominium development
• Conduit lending and mezzanine loans
• Joint ventures, syndications and other investment structuring and transactions
• TIC transactions
• Antenna network leasing and retail telecom leasing