Benesch’s Real Estate & Environmental Practice Group includes more than 40 real estate professionals and is a recognized leader in the Midwest and throughout the country.
We represent buyers, sellers, developers, business owners, landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers in a full range of services, from organizing and structuring the largest, most complex transactions throughout the country and around the globe to advising clients on their daily portfolio management issues and environmental compliance, regulatory and liability issues. We are lead counsel in large-scale mixed-use development projects in downtown Cleveland, as well as in cities including Boston, Los Angeles, Columbus, San Antonio, New York City and Washington DC.
In short, when our clients are involved in their most complex joint venture, acquisition/disposition, financing and development projects, they regularly engage Benesch to represent them on such matters due to our market knowledge and our reputation as dealmakers. One aspect of our practice that we think sets us apart from our peers in the real estate industry in Ohio is that we are frequently engaged very early in the planning process by our clients because we participate in the structuring of the deal and in the formation of the capital stack, by making strategic introductions between developer clients and debt and equity sources
Benesch has significant experience in providing counsel on property acquisitions and dispositions, as well as the acquisition of distressed debt and assets. Further, we counsel clients in all aspects of complex real estate transactions, including diligence, structure, negotiation and documentation. We have completed hundreds of purchase, sale, and joint venture transactions. We understand the importance of moving a deal forward. Each transaction has a pace to it that must be maintained to preserve the momentum of the deal and get it to closing.
Four of our partners are members of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (“ACREL”), which is a group whose purpose is to gather together lawyers distinguished for their skill, experience and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice of real estate law. Membership in ACREL is by invitation only. We are ranked by the 2020 edition U.S. News & World Report/Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” Rankings as a first-tier practice in Cleveland in Real Estate Law. Seven Benesch attorneys were named 2020 Best Lawyers® in the area of Real Estate Law.. Our real estate practice was nationally ranked by, and four of our partners were named Leading Lawyers in Chambers USA 2019. Many attorneys in Benesch’s Real Estate Practice Group are members of the International Council of Shopping Centers (“ICSC”) and regularly speak at the ICSC National Law Conference.
As noted above, our real estate practice is truly national in scope. While clients benefit from the lower rate structure that comes from working with a Midwest-based firm, our experience has no geographic limits in the U.S. Another benefit of the geographic scope of our practice is that we have a very strong network of local counsel who we are able to call upon when needed. The following are examples of recent matters that illustrate the legal capabilities of the attorneys in our Real Estate & Environmental Practice Group.
Real Estate Transactions
Sale-Leaseback Transactions
Benesch’s Real Estate & Environmental Practice Group works directly with owners, investors, lenders and other clients, to navigate the benefits and complexities of sale-leaseback transactions. Sale-leasebacks are often used when owners of real estate property need to raise capital in circumstances when conventional financing may not be available or appropriate. In today’s current tightening credit market, sale-leaseback transactions have re-emerged as an attractive vehicle for owners and investors of real estate to tap a readily available source of capital. Sale-leaseback transactions have become increasingly popular over the last two decades, but have experienced an accelerated growth over the past few years. Given the current economic climate, many companies are exploring the possibility of monetizing the increased value of their real estate holdings and the historically low interest rates, which allows the company to enhance liquidity, invest the proceeds back into their core business, finance acquisitions or growth strategy, or invest in other ventures. Our representative sale-leaseback experience includes:
Representing Lenders
Representing Owners/Developers