Real Estate

We represent buyers and sellers from all types of commercial real property and, when necessary, work closely with the firm’s Environmental Law attorneys to identify and quantify environmental risks that could be related to real estate acquisitions.

Our Real Estate lawyers are fully equipped to assist with a wide range of real estate acquisitions and sale agreements. Our work can often encompass land use, joint ventures in real estate investments, the preparation and negotiation of purchase and sale agreements, and ground leases. The Real Estate attorneys at Phillips Lytle will also review and advise on title and zoning issues, and advise on Tenants-in-Common (TIC) transactions and 1031 tax-deferred exchanges. Further, the Real Estate Team consistently works to protect our clients when moving matters to expeditious closings.

Our Real Estate Team reviews, drafts and negotiates commercial leases for property owners and tenants at companies of all sizes. We have the skills to draft and successfully negotiate agreements that achieve your business goals.

Phillips Lytle’s Real Estate attorneys draft and negotiate purchase and sale agreements for buyers and sellers of all types of commercial real estate. Our experience in commercial real estate extends to navigating title and zoning issues which may affect an acquisition. In addition, we utilize the expertise of our Environmental Law attorneys if a transaction is threatened by environmental risks.

Our Real Estate Team provides legal counsel to hundreds of condominium and homeowners’ associations, regardless of size, utilizing our experience to address any legal issues a community association may face. Our attorneys are members of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and offer clients the most up-to-date information on current practices and requirements needed for this complex aspect of real estate law.

We draft, review and negotiate a broad array of construction-related contracts including agreements with general contractors, construction managers, architects, engineers and designers. We have experience representing owner-developers as well as construction professionals across a spectrum of industries for both large and small projects. These projects may relate to new construction or renovations to existing structures. We adapt our agreements to serve our client’s specific legal and business needs, which we always hold at the forefront. For some transactions, we utilize form agreements prepared by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which we modify to serve our client’s interests and to conform to the business terms of the transaction. In other cases, it is more beneficial to our client to start the drafting process with a contract that is tailored to fit the specific requirements of the project.

We are recognized for our leading Land Use, Permitting and Zoning Practice. Our attorneys have appeared before hundreds of agencies for important land use approval and litigation matters. We have assisted a variety of clients, from local business owners and developers to Fortune 500 companies, with site plan reviews; special, restricted and conditional use permits; area and use variances; rezoning; and cluster and planned unit developments. We expedite complex development matters involving numerous permits or approvals from many regulatory agencies and, when necessary, responsibly address community opposition.

Our nationally recognized Real Estate attorneys represent real estate developers at every stage of the real estate development process. We know how important time, budget and momentum are to the success of a project. Our project development lawyers drive projects and developments to completion as soon as possible, helping to maximize the success of our clients. Whether you’re in need of guidance on entity formation, land use, project finance assistance, construction contracts, site leasing agreements, or even real estate litigation, we craft a team to suit your needs. We look at your venture from start to finish and map out the most efficient route to completion. We then identify potential obstacles and ways to overcome them.

The Real Estate Team, in collaboration with the firm’s Banking and Financial Services Practice, has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating and closing complex financing transactions on behalf of borrowers and lenders. Our representation in Real Estate Finance includes all types of commercial and residential lending. We work with large corporations, REITs, private developers, public utilities, municipalities, individuals and others in connection with projects of all sizes, from large industrial projects to small residential construction.

Phillips Lytle LLP has significant experience representing public REITs. We have been actively involved in this area for decades. Our multidisciplinary practice combines knowledge and in-depth experience in real estate, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and tax.

We represent clients in a number of matters tied to litigation and workouts. Our Real Estate attorneys work closely with our Litigation Practice Team to provide comprehensive support and guidance to clients such as developers, lessees, buyers, sellers, investors, lenders and title insurance companies.

Phillips Lytle has a long history of providing successful legal services to municipalities and investors with respect to the enforcement of delinquent real property tax liens. Municipalities that have benefited from our tax lien foreclosure services range from upstate counties to the City of New York.

Over the years, we have successfully prosecuted thousands of in rem and tax lien foreclosure actions in all counties of the State of New York, as well as each of the boroughs of New York City. We believe our experience with these tax lien foreclosures is unique within the State of New York.

When New York adopted the Uniform Delinquent Tax Enforcement Act in 1995, we designed an in rem enforcement program that relieved municipalities of the burdens and costs of the enhanced enforcement requirements. This program has been tremendously successful and has allowed our municipal clients to achieve exemplary performance results while devoting vital resources to other needs. Our extensive experience managing the in rem and tax lien foreclosure enforcement processes for multiple municipalities provides us with the ability to understand and identify the issues and procedures unique to tax lien enforcement, and allows our clients to benefit from our proven approaches and solutions.

For many years, the firm has represented investors in the purchase, servicing, enforcement and sale of New York tax liens, and our level of experience and expertise in such matters is unmatched in New York State.

Representing tenants and landlords alike, our experience in retail real estate includes representing owners, developers, REITs, brokers and lenders. Our counsel extends to national and local retailers, restaurants, financial institutions, medical users, franchisees and many other tenants seeking retail space in every type of property, such as open-air shopping centers, town centers, enclosed shopping malls and other urban and suburban retail projects.

Phillips Lytle has handled thousands of Environmental Impact Reviews for a wide variety of clients in the public and private space. Our Real Estate and Environmental Law attorneys have assisted state and local governments and numerous private project developers with Environmental Impact Reviews. Our experience encompasses all matters of unique and challenging situations where our expertise in executing the review process was vital to the project it affected.

In collaboration with our Litigation Practice Team, we represent property owners and municipalities in various real estate disputes involving the determination of the fair market value of real property for ad valorem tax purposes, eminent domain, tax certiorari and condemnation proceedings. In tax assessment challenges, we represent owners of large industrial properties, commercial properties, apartment buildings and parking garages, as well as individual homeowners.

Phillips Lytle maintains agency and examining counsel relationships with national title insurance companies to facilitate the timely closing of real estate transactions for our clients. Our expertise in this area includes examining titles; reviewing title searches, title insurance reports and surveys; and identifying and solving title problems.

We are licensed as a title insurance agent by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS).