According to walkscore.com a walkable neighborhood has:

1)  A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a center, whether it’s a main street or a public space.

2)  People:  Enough people for businesses to flourish and for public transit to run frequently

3)  Mixed income, mixed use:  Affordable housing located near businesses.

4)  Parks and public space:  Plenty of public places to gather and play.

5)  Pedestrian design:  Buildings are close to the street, parking lots relegated to the back.

6)  Schools and workplaces:  Close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.

7)  Complete streets:  Streets designed for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit.

As we wrote previously in our post titled "Trends We Are Watching", car dependency costs dearly and households which eliminate one car can increase their mortgage carry capacity by approximately $100,000. In order to shed a car in a typical two car family, public transportation options must be practical and convenient. Walkable neighborhoods have more density than typical suburbs and are usually closer to the urban core of a city or region. Cottage homes and neighborhoods which are built on in fill sites in mature neighborhoods can bring residents into or retain existing residents as they transition between phases of their lives. Businesses locate where their customers are located. 

 

Check out walkscore.com to see what your project’s walk score. 

            As the filing of Chapter 11 cases continues to be rare, state court alternatives for liquidation of assets continue to grow in popularity. State court alternatives typically provide a more expeditious and less expensive forum for secured lenders to direct the liquidation of their collateral—for example, state court receivership sales avoid the United States Trustee fees and unsecured creditors’ committees that add layers of expense to bankruptcy asset sales. In the past, secured creditors frequently sought the bankruptcy court as a forum for debtors to sell their assets, in large part because Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code offered a powerful incentive: the sale of assets free and clear of liens and encumbrances. The sale of assets free and clear is critical for the efficient liquidation of collateral, because it attracts buyers who know with certainty that they are buying unencumbered assets. Until fairly recently, secured creditors in Ohio cases have been concerned whether state courts can provide similar assurances, because there is no statutory law in Ohio expressly authorizing the sale of assets free and clear.

 

            Nevertheless, the current trend is that a receiver can sell assets free and clear of liens and encumbrances. In recent cases, the Ohio state courts have been upholding a receiver’s right to sell assets free and clear. At least one case, decided in 2010, even authorized such a sale in the face of the objection of a junior lienholder. We are aware of only one cited case in which the receiver was not authorized to sell the assets free and clear, but the receiver in that case never sent the holder of a judicial lien notice of the sale. Accordingly, Ohio courts are not providing an impediment to sales of assets free and clear outside the realm of the bankruptcy courts.

 

            Equally important, however, is whether a title company will issue a title policy, even with the comfort of a sale order signed by an Ohio state court judge. There are title companies in Ohio that are still not convinced that title can be washed clean outside of bankruptcy unless there is a foreclosure. Certain title companies will wait to write an owner’s policy until the time for appealing the sale order has lapsed. Other title companies want assurance that all the lienholders agree to the sale. Obtaining the agreement from the title companies is critical to a successful free and clear sale, because no buyer will agree to buy assets free and clear in a receivership if the buyer cannot obtain an owner’s policy insuring title.

 

            Accordingly, while the trend in Ohio strongly supports receivership sales free and clear of liens, the willingness of title companies in Ohio to write an owner’s title policy for the buyer is less clear. A buyer considering buying assets from an Ohio receivership should make sure to line up a title company willing to write an owner’s title policy before the buyer seeks to buy the assets.  

Technology has revolutionized our practice.  Faxes used to be the greatest thing ever, and we have moved way past faxes in the last 10 years.  Technology will continue to evolve. My wish list:

1.    Phones as we know them are eliminated. All phone calls will be video calls over the computer, screen to screen (or tablet to tablet, or PDA to PDA, or any one of these to another.)

2.    The keyboard will be eliminated.  Instead, we can just dictate what we want and the computer will print it.
 
3.    Similarly, the mouse will be eliminated. Again, verbal commands replace point and click.
 
4.    Security concerns are eliminated. So remote access from any type of device can be used without concern.
 
5.    Passwords are eliminated.  Through fingerprint, voice or eye ball, users can be authenticated without having to supply (and remember) passwords.
 
Luckily, I do not think technology will in my lifetime advance to such an extent that a computer can replace the attorney completely.  There is no computer able to utilize the judgment required of a good attorney. It is not impossible to imagine though. 
 
Genesis, by Bernard Beckett, is a very interesting, creative, well written book which is based on that very premise. I think that it is an individual’s unique judgment and the ability to apply it to unique circumstances and personalities and express conclusions in a meaningful and understandable way that make a good attorney. The job of technology is to make it easier and quicker to analyze a situation, reach conclusions and express them.
 
So at least for the time being, it is the job of technology to support us, not replace us.

As more workers and entrepreneurs are requiring space to hold meetings and appointments outside the company office, there is a growing need for locations away from homes in which to "plug in", make phone calls without the background music and noise of a Starbucks or other such cafe. The industry which addresses this need is referred to as the "co-working office space industry."

 

Two companies on the west coast are now meeting this need: NextSpace and Blankspaces. Both offer a table, chair, phone and Internet, coffee, conference rooms, private offices all for a daily, weekly or monthly fee. 

 

The benefits of "co-working office space" is that the working space is quieter, easy to plug in computers and cell phones, meet and collaborate with colleagues and clients. This is another way to take our over abundance of retail and suburban office space and adaptively reuse it. 

 

So, whether you are managing a work force and need space for them to operate from outside the company’s offices or you are a property owner looking to turn empty space into income producing space, this is an idea worth considering!

As the movement to increase energy efficiency and create sustainable operations has swept across the real estate industry, more and more commercial tenants and property owners are expressing interest in “green leasing.”

What, exactly, is a “green lease?” 

 

To be sure there is no form green lease; rather the term describes the evolution from a traditional, split incentive triple-net commercial lease to a lease that aligns incentives so that landlord and tenant are collectively pursuing goals of energy efficiency and sustainable practices. Typically, a green lease will include measuring criteria or rules that implement all or portions of ratings systems such as Energy Star® and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED™ program. 

 

This post is the first in a series examining in detail some of the changes one may see when using a green lease. Today’s topics: Lease term and operating expenses.

 


Continue Reading Green Leasing Unveiled – Part 1

 Walmart has opened its supercenters in many if not most urban and rural communities.  Where do they go next ?  With the over abundance of strip store space just about everywhere Walmart has many options.  Walmart is embracing the concept of ‘in-flll" with three concept store formats with which they are experimenting:

 

  1. Walmart Express:  15,000 square foot small store concept with a variety of product assortment;
  2. Walmart Market:     25,000-70,000 square foot grocery and home goods focused stores;
  3. Walmart on Campus:  3,300 square foot stores with product assortments geared to the needs of students (cross between a Walgreen’s and a Staple’s).

Expect to see Walmart and its competitors rolling out stores as they fine tune these concepts.  Will communities embrace these stores or tighten zoning and use rules and regulations ?  As we have written in prior posts, retail is going to re-tool and re-define itself;  developers and lenders take note.  

 

 

Earlier this month, the US Congress voted to repeal certain new 1099 reporting requirements that had many smaller landlords in this country crying foul. In essence, expanded 1099 reporting requirements were to take place under the health care reform laws in an effort to raise underreported income. The net effect would have been to impose upon all taxpayers receiving rental income (i.e., all landlords) an obligation to issue a 1099 to the IRS and to any contractor who provided in excess of $600 of service to the taxpayer relative to the rental income. While this may not have been a burden for a commercial landlord, everyone with a two-family, vacation rental, or college student renting a spare bedroom had reason for concern. Elimination of this burdensome reporting requirement comes as some good news in an otherwise still rebounding segment of our economy.

 

Internet/mobile advertising company, Adzookie, is offering to paint your home and pay your mortgage if you keep your house wrapped in their ad.  Not a new idea, but this one will get much more attention for less marketing dollars than the cost of a traditional advertising campaign.  

Any reason this concept will not work for your business or enterprise ?  Wrap a car, a house, the bottom of an airplane.  The possibilities are limitless. (But check the local zoning rules and regulations first !)

A recent off hand statement by a Landlord’s attorney got me thinking. I was representing a national retailer in a lease negotiation. We got to an issue that sophisticated landlords typically ask for and most retailers typically concede.  Our client, however, does not typically concede the issue.  The issue has unique meaning for our client because of their specific line of business.  When I told Landlord’s attorney that we do not ever agree to it, his response was “Boy, I wish I was a tenant attorney these days.”

I then tried to explain to him that this was not a case of the Tenant trying to take advantage of a down market, or exploiting some perception of leverage. Rather, this retailer was different from other retailers when considering their product mix and customer base.  And so it was a special business issue, not trying to take advantage; and I meant it !

 

Taking advantage of a superior bargaining position is not always the best thing for anyone. If you take undue advantage, you can be sure the other side will remember it. Then, in the next deal where you may not have the advantage, issues that should be conceded in your favor may not get conceded. Or during the relationship you might find you need a favor or just cooperation.  If you have soured the relationship because of taking undue advantage, the other side may not be so quick to help out. 

 

So the point is to negotiate for what you really need.  Do not demand more than you need or refuse to give what you can.  Protect your client’s real concern.  Anything more may harm the client more than it helps.

 The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is consuming a lot of bandwith in everyone’s offices.  Perhaps even slowing down the speed of emailing all of those contracts, leases and loan documents around the country.  Have you ever wondered if there is a connection between the real estate industry and the NCAA Tournament ?  

We found this article on line in The Orange County Register  which describes how the Jones Lang LaSalle (Irvine, CA office) has come up with a correlation between a college’s office market vacancy rates and the likelihood of that college to succeed in the NCAA Tournament.  Check it out and see if your bracket compares.