Grobart Law Firm, LLC

06/16/2022

Retail property transactions reached almost $82 billion last year, up 24% compared with 2019, and private investors have helped drive recent market activity.

The prices of retail properties are looking attractive to wealthy individuals and small private firms after years of weak growth. REITs and other big players remain cautious.

01/07/2021

Commercial landlords and tenants should be aware of the impact of three recent and temporary bankruptcy code amendments. First, Section 365(d)(3) of the bankruptcy code has been amended to allow additional time for a party filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy to assume or reject a lease; this amendment provides an additional 90 days (from 120 days to 210 days) to elect whether to assume or reject a lease. Second, Section 365(d)(4) of the bankruptcy code has been amended to allow small business debtors the right defer rent for the first 120 days from the date of the bankruptcy filing. Third, Section 547 of the bankruptcy code has been amended to exempt from bankruptcy preference laws, rent deferral concession payments made within 90 days of the bankruptcy filing. These three changes to the bankruptcy code are in effect for two years, through December 27, 2022.

05/01/2020

Most commercial lease business interruption (force majeure) provisions do not specifically address a pandemic. These provisions commonly state that the tenant is not entitled to withhold or abate rent or other payments are a result of a business interruption (force majeure) event. Many commercial tenants are pushing back on this in a variety of ways and with any number of new lease clauses. Landlord's understandably oppose these measures. Like many (most) issues, negotiating strength at the end of the day will likely govern the end result. However, if necessary, a carefully crafted, limited, reasonable provision, may need to be negotiated in order to accommodate both positions.

04/23/2020

Back to basics for the CRE NNN retail market. Essential service retail providers are expected to lead the NNN market coming out of the pandemic, including drugstores, dollar stores, grocery stores, convenience and gas stations, quick-service restaurants with a drive-thru, automotive, home improvement and medical retail facilities.

For assets leased by essential service providers, the cap rates haven’t changed, says one market insider. “But if there’s any kind of hair on the deal… it’s not doing well.”

04/23/2020

As a commercial real estate and business counsel for over thirty years, I have worked through good times and difficult times: the savings and loan crisis, the dotcom bubble, earthquakes, floods, fires, September 11th, the Great Recession, to name a few. We now face a global pandemic. Many businesses have closed or substantially curtailed operations and have requested relief.

Commercial agreements may contain provisions to consider, such as force majeure, insurance, casualty or condemnation. State law doctrines may apply, such as impossibility or frustration of purpose. A party may be subject to a moratorium or face state and federal courts that have very limited operations.

I could advise a client as to the particulars of each provision or legal doctrine. However, most business people want to avoid unnecessary litigation and find a reasonable way to resolve a dispute with the least cost and in the shortest time.
From a practical stand point, we may or may not agree whether the above-mentioned provisions or theories apply. We should however agree that these issues taken together, and the resulting uncertainty, time, delay and cost of litigation, overwhelmingly favors that each party engage in difficult discussions and work to craft a reasonable negotiated settlement.”

04/21/2020

This is not surprising. Like all lease provisions, the interesting part will be to determine how narrow or broadly the clause will apply, whether a time limit will be included, whether the use is “essential”, whether “other charges” besides rent are impacted, just to mention a few related issues.

If coronavirus comes back landlords may have to repay rent

04/16/2020

Not that there is a shortage of things to worry about. The pandemic is causing a spike in commercial mortgage delinquencies in the hotel and retail sectors, raising fears of a mortgage crisis larger than the mortgage crisis in 2008.

The spike in loan payments not accounted for serves as an early indicator for just how bad things could get for retail and lodging real estate, according to Trepp.

04/08/2020

The economic decline resulting from the coronavirus may be a greater opportunity to buy distressed assets than even the Great Recession.

The sharp economic decline resulting from the spread of the coronavirus may be a greater opportunity to buy distressed assets than even the Great Recession.

04/07/2020

Although working remotely, please contact me if you need assistance to negotiate reasonable rent relief terms until we come through the current pandemic. In the meantime, stay safe.

Taking a hardball attitude with a landlord could backfire on the tenant.

02/01/2019

Dental services offered at Walgreens and CVS demonstrates the convergence of healthcare services and the delivery of prescriptions. It is also an interesting evolution of the traditional retail drug store, using physical locations to ward off internet competition from Amazon and others.

CVS and Walgreens have both forged collaborations in the space in hopes that consumers will bite.

11/28/2018

Real estate companies experienced more cyber security and email fraud attacks than nearly any other industry, because high-value transactions occur frequently and take place digitally. Also, the large amount of public information about real estate enables criminals to identify targets and insert themselves into digital transactions. Let me know if you need more information on how to protect your business.

The real estate industry, both residential and commercial, experienced an 1100% increase in the number of victims that reported attacks between 2015 and 2017.

10/18/2018

Changes in retail and retail real estate are driven by more than e commerce. Amazon has over 600 stores and counting. Retail stores’ e commerce sales are booming. Whether e commerce or brick n mortar: offer quality goods, thoughtful service at reasonable prices.

The American retail landscape is different now: malls are losing anchors and big boxes are in decline. But e-commerce is hardly the only reason.