Stahl Cowen Crowley represents and advises property owners and investors in matters pertaining to all aspects of real estate transactions and real estate related businesses.
We represent investors on the buying and selling of all types of real estate assets. Our counsel includes structuring, documentation, due diligence, implementation and tax planning attendant to a real estate transaction. Our attorneys have handled an extraordinary number of transactions for clients, from the most basic to the extremely complex.
Our team of attorneys routinely represent developers and contractors involved in residential, commercial, industrial and entertainment-based real estate construction opportunities. Our real estate attorneys are highly accomplished in structuring land acquisition and preparing development documentation, construction contracts, design-build agreements, architect agreements and condominium conversion arrangements.
As a companion to our firm's construction and development counseling, we routinely assist in annexation, zoning and other entitlement efforts necessary to allow our clients to realize on their construction and development desires. We have extensive experience in negotiating with county and municipal governments with respect to annexation, development and redevelopment, recapture, and intergovernmental agreements, and have participated in negotiations with numerous agencies, boards and authorities.
Virtually all real estate efforts require financing of some type. Our lawyers are routinely involved in structuring, negotiating and documenting all types of financing for our real estate clientele, from traditional bank debt, to more complex Tax Increment Financing structures, to other public programs such as HUD 202 programs, Chicago Department of Housing and Illinois Housing Development Authority funding programs. We have successfully negotiated numerous forms of non-traditional financing arrangements, including sales and real estate tax incentives to joint venture structures blending equity and debt arrangements with institutional and private party investors.
Our firm also frequently acts as counsel to lenders in loan situations. We represent various lenders, both institutional and private, in connection with the documentation, analysis and due diligence attendant to real estate and commercial loans. We offer clients the opportunity to utilize our firms resources: (i) to structure and document loan transactions of all sizes and types, from the commitment through the closing; (ii) to provide a complete due diligence review regarding various collateral types and issues; and (iii) to analyze the structure and authority of the borrowing entity. Demonstrating our flexibility as legal counsel, we offer clients the opportunity to retain our firm for only certain portions of a lending transaction, such as to review bank form documentation, or to address specific issues for a particular loan. We also provide loan workout and foreclosure services.
Our firm has extensive experience representing both landlords and tenants in all manners of leases, from space leases to ground leases, office leases to industrial leases. We have negotiated with or on behalf of small private parties as well as large, strong credit national tenants. We are experienced in single tenant leases and leasing of properties involving multiple uses.
Our firm also handles a broad variety of real estate related transactions and documentation, such as covenants and restrictions agreements, easements, licenses, brokerage agreements, management agreements, conservation easements, master leases and loan participation agreements, just to name a few.
The below list of transactions provides a brief sampling our real estate group’s experience with complex, innovative and even day-to-day transactions:
- Acquisition, formation of TIF district and Village funding facility (multi-level debt and equity structures), for industrial park development in Chicago western suburbs. This innovative transaction structure was studied and then incorporated as a mandatory case-study for Harvard Business School students.
- Documentation and negotiation of $90 million expansion of Atlantic City casino and hotel.
- Acquisition and construction financing for numerous shopping centers throughout Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
- Sale of numerous retail centers to local developers as well as large national retailers (Target Corporation) throughout the U.S., including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Wisconsin.
- Acquisition and financing for redevelopment of upper bracket single family homes located in Chicago's Lake Front Protection District.
- Acquisition, land entitlement and construction financing for numerous single family and townhome developments throughout northeastern Illinois. Developments range in size from 48 units to more than 400 units.
- Long-term ground leases of sites for redevelopment as single-tenant pharmacy, both with Walgreens and CVS pharmacies, in several states.
- Life company non-recourse refinancing of a commercial and apartment complex in Chicago's central business district to a syndicated ownership group.
- Acquisition and financing of $16 million elderly housing development tax syndication deal incorporating tax syndicators, one private financing source and three public financing sources.
