Public-Private Partnerships and Economic Development

• Represents the master developer of a new NFL stadium and the mixed-use district around it. Nick’s work includes:
  • the Development Agreement with the city
  • the new community authority declaration
  • an income tax-sharing agreement and a related amendment to the team’s training facility lease
  • a master declaration of covenants, easements and assessments for the district
  • summaries of the transaction documents for the rating-agency presentation on the project’s bond financing
• Represents the stadium district developer in the sale of land to a publicly traded REIT for a new music venue. The venue will be leased to a national live entertainment operator.
• Analyzed how a $5 million federal earmark gets paid out to a county transportation improvement district for a replacement railroad bridge serving an industrial development. Prepared the transaction checklist and critical-path schedule.
• Drafted license agreements and temporary easements for the redevelopment of a public right-of-way and bridge on Cleveland’s riverfront.

Industrial, Manufacturing and Build-to-Suit Development

• Represents a global medical technology manufacturer buying land in a North Carolina advanced manufacturing park. Drafted the Development Agreement under which the seller builds the off-site infrastructure, including scope, completion security and warranty terms.
• Represents a national industrial developer in several land acquisitions in Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin. This covers LOIs, purchase agreements, title review and critical-dates lists, including an assignment structure for a development site of more than 160 acres.
• Represents a Fortune 500 HVAC manufacturer as tenant under a build-to-suit industrial net lease in Fort Worth, Texas, including negotiation of how capital expenditures are amortized.
• Represented the seller of an industrial property in the Cleveland area in purchase agreement negotiations.

Data Centers and Energy-Intensive Development

• Represents the owner of former integrated steel mill sites in Ohio in marketing them to data center and digital-infrastructure developers. His work includes NDA negotiations with prospective users and zoning confirmation letters for heavy-industrial parcels.
• Wrote land use and approvals memos for proposed data center sites in unzoned Ohio townships, including strategies for responding to local moratoriums.
• Analyzed a new municipal data center ordinance, pending Ohio data center legislation, and a FERC rulemaking on connecting large loads to the grid, and prepared related client alerts.

Institutional Portfolio Acquisitions and Diligence

• Represents a global alternative asset manager in acquiring a 70-plus-site industrial portfolio across many states. He handles title commitment and survey review, lease abstracts and the tenant and subtenant estoppel program.
• Checked lease abstracts, SNDA provisions and estoppel forms for the same asset manager’s acquisition of a national portfolio of logistics properties.
• Coordinated local counsel and legal opinions in multiple states for the same asset manager’s acquisition of a publicly traded REIT.
• Prepared title and survey review summaries for industrial acquisitions in California and Ohio.

Joint Ventures and Capital Structures

• Negotiated the LLC agreement for a joint venture between a developer and an institutional investor to buy an industrial property in Richmond, Virginia.
• Prepared comments on the joint venture LLC agreement for a retail town center development between an institutional investor and a developer.
• Advised on a proposed contribution of a commercial portfolio to a REIT’s operating partnership in exchange for OP units and cash.
• Advised developers acting as GP in joint ventures with institutional capital providers for new Class A student housing.
• Represented private equity firms as LP in student housing joint ventures involving land assembly and development.
• Closed acquisition financing for student housing portfolios in several states.

Commercial Leasing

• Represents a public media organization in transferring its broadcast tower and facility leases as part of a merger, including tenant estoppels, a right-of-first-offer waiver and landlord notices.
• Represented a national law firm as tenant in negotiating a suburban Cleveland office lease.
• Advised on a lease termination for a consumer food company’s Cleveland headquarters, and on surrender and restoration obligations under downtown grocery and West Coast industrial leases.
• Represented a landlord in a new lease with a national facilities services tenant.
• Advised a downtown development organization on restructuring the layered master and operator leases for a café in a public square.
• Negotiated SNDAs for a life insurance company lender and its borrower.