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As we say goodbye to 2020, we wanted to share our top five most-read articles of 2020 from Gravel2Gavel. The most-read blog posts covered real estate and construction industry trends ranging from proptech trends like blockchain tokenization to COVID-specific rent carveouts and management disclosures to trends and market updates. Our posts provided deep industry insight and summarized hot topics that addressed the legal implications and disruptions that affected the market.  Our 2020 roundup:

  1. Blockchain-Based Tokenization of Commercial Real Estate by Matt Olhausen. Matt discusses the increasing interest in technology applications for real estate assets, or “Proptech,” and tokenization’s potential.
  2. Real Estate Trends: Looking Ahead to 2021 by Adam Weaver. Adam discussed the pandemic’s influence and future trends for the real estate market.
  3. Management’s Duties and Responsibilities to Disclose COVID-19 Cases to Commercial and Residential Tenants While Also Protecting Privacy by Rebecca Carr Rizzo. Rebecca discussed how timely and accurate disclosures of positive COVID-19 results could reduce liability.
  4. Real Estate Market Update. Joel Simon discusses the current real estate market, the types of lenders active in the market, and popular transaction types that thrived in 2020.
  5. The Looming Housing Crisis and Limited Government Relief—An Examination of the CDC Eviction Moratorium Two Months In.  Zach discussed the federal eviction moratorium.

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We’ve been busy podcasting! Here are some of our recent episodes focused on real estate and hospitality (and hosted by Joel Simon).

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Episode #22: Real Estate Market Update: Listen in for an update on the current real estate market, which types of lenders are active in the market and the popular transaction types that are thriving in today’s environment.

Episode #17: Hotels & Hospitality: Opportunities, New Strategies and Future Transformation (Christian Salaman): Joel and Christian discuss the status of the hospitality industry, and provide an update on distressed projects, recovery forecasting and financing sources.

Episode #7: Real Estate and Financial Strategies during COVID-19 (Caroline Harcourt): Caroline and Joel discuss the impact of COVID-19 across the real estate sector, including forbearance requests to lenders, the impact on leasing and the opportunities and challenges down the road.

Don’t miss out, subscribe to our blog.

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Illinois Governor’s Executive Order prohibited sale of food or beverages for on-premises consumption held to partially excuse restaurant tenant’s rent payment obligations. In “Court Holds COVID-19 Executive Order Triggers Lease’s Force Majeure Clause, Excusing Some Rent Obligations,” colleagues David L. Miller, Patrick J. Potter, Jessica H. Lee, and Katherine Sauter examine the order in the sixth article in a series of alerts on insolvency topics affecting real estate.

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As COVID-19 reverberates through the real estate and construction industries, impacted companies should revisit their employee compensation programs to preserve cash and drive performance while maintaining legal compliance. This is particularly true for companies normally dependent on high rents in cities, where commercial tenants are trading brick-and-mortar office space for work-from-home arrangements, and freeing up employees—unshackled by any commuting concerns—to relocate in pursuit of lower housing costs.

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On June 15, 2020, the California Legislature passed Governor Newsom’s proposed tax legislation to raise additional income tax revenue to assist in balancing the California budget. (AB 85). The Senate and Assembly each achieved the two-thirds majority vote required for California tax increases (27-11 in the Senate and 56-20 in the Assembly), with Gov. Newsom expected to sign the legislation later this week. In “California Legislature Passes Governor Newsom’s Proposal to Suspend California Net Operating Loss Deductions and Limit Tax Credits during 2020 – 2022,” colleagues Jeffrey M. Vesely, Craig A. Becker, Carley Roberts and Breann E. Robowski discuss the tax legislation’s two principal components.

 

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As we kick off the new decade, we wanted to share the top five most-read articles of 2019 from Gravel2Gavel. The most-read blog posts covered 2019 real estate and construction industry trends ranging from affordable housing to the new State Bill 35 (SB 35) to sustainability in modern real estate. Our posts provided deep insight and detailed case studies, and summarized hot topics that addressed the legal implications and exciting disruptions that are affecting the industry. We hope you enjoy the roundup:

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768px-Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court-300x300As usual, the last month of the Supreme Court’s term generated significant rulings on all manner of cases, possibly presaging the new directions the Court will be taking in administrative and regulatory law. Here’s a brief roundup:

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Seal_of_the_Supreme_Court_of_Texas-300x300On May 3, 2019, the Texas Supreme Court issued a significant administrative law ruling in the case of Mosely v. Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The court held, unsurprisingly, that under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act (Texas APA), an appellant seeking review of an administrative action must first file a petition for rehearing with the Administrative Law Judge, “unless another statute plainly provides otherwise.” However, when the agency, as here, provided seriously incorrect information to the appellant about the proper procedures to follow to seek review of an adverse order, that action can, “under some circumstances,” violate the appellant’s constitutional right to due process.

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Whenever a claim is made that a state law has  been prempted by an analogous federal law, the courts will rigorously test the strength of the claim.  As as example, in a preemption case decided on September 15, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Association des Éleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Québec, et al., v. Becerra, the Ninth Circuit reversed the holding of the District Court that California’s statutory ban against the sale of products made from force-fed birds such as foie gras was preempted by the provisions of the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA).

As described, the practice of force-feeding these birds to enlarge their livers is especially brutal. The California Assembly found that the process is “so hard on the birds that they would die from the pathological damage it inflicts if they weren’t slaughtered first.” Nevertheless, the District Court held that California statutory ban imposes an “ingredient requirement,” which was the sole province of the federal law.

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The recent Spanish Peaks decision from the Ninth Circuit (covering Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) deepens the split in case law on the ability to strip off leases in a landlord/borrower bankruptcy. This decision, which joins the Qualitech decision from the Seventh Circuit (covering Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin), may significantly impact and complicate sales in bankruptcy of real property for lenders and non-debtor tenants alike.

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