Retail

Our Retail industry team is one of the largest legal teams of its kind in the nation, consisting of more than 40 lawyers with various specialties which are relevant to the retail industry. Our attorneys have deep retail industry recognition and respect and bring comprehensive and proven solutions to our clients’ most complex legal issues.

Overview

Our Retail industry team is one of the largest and most respected groups of retail real estate attorneys in the United States. We provide actionable, practical legal advice and business guidance to landlords, tenants, retailers, property owners and managers, franchisors and franchisees, as well as developers, lenders, and investors. We also represent the real estate divisions of large private equity companies and inbound foreign investors.

One of our core strengths is our collaborative approach and the inclusion of our team of a variety of extremely experienced retail attorneys who practice in legal disciplines that impact the industry. This multidisciplinary team works closely together with our clients to achieve optimal results relating to acquisitions, financings, leasing, franchising, dispute resolution, tax, bankruptcy, workouts, and environmental due diligence. The breadth of our practice and expertise, coupled with our decades of industry experience, enables us to offer deep market insights that achieve successful outcomes for our clients’ most challenging deals and disputes.

Our clients include institutional investors, family businesses, construction companies, national retailers and restaurants, franchised brands, and brokerage firms. We welcome deals and clients of all shapes and sizes. As such, our variety of clients mirrors the wide variety of personalities, transactions, and perspectives within the retail industry itself. Our retail industry team welcomes the opportunity to work on transactions of all sizes, ranging from high-profile, multi-block redevelopments to single-parcel developments in rural America. Our brand representation ranges from the largest, most recognizable brands in the U.S. to start-up businesses and local entrepreneurs.

Team members frequently write about key issues that are important to retail clients, present to select groups, conduct training sessions, and are quoted in business publications. Each year, a large contingent of our retail industry team attends the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) RECon and U.S. Shopping Center Law conferences. Our team is also actively involved in leading real estate organizations, including Urban Land Institute, the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), and Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).

Experience

  • Represents the largest owner of retail real estate in the United States, handling leasing needs for various projects nationally.
  • Represents multiple fast growing restaurant chains within the United States, including five that have been recognized in national industry publications for their growth.
  • Serves as outside leasing counsel for large acclaimed mixed-use redevelopment projects in downtown Nashville, Tennessee; Eatontown, New Jersey; Orange Village, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida; and Austin, Texas.
  • Serves as real estate counsel for over 20 nationally recognized operating companies and franchised concepts in various capacities, including business in the fast casual restaurant, QSR restaurant, childcare, fitness, personal hygiene, children’s exercise and entertainment, and healthcare/retail medical industries.
  • Assists existing developer clients of all sizes in addressing daily property management matters, including overseeing landlord/tenant matters, vendor and brokerage contracts, and providing strategic guidance on co-tenancy, exclusive, and other issues.
  • Represents multiple regional/national developers and private equity funds in handling acquisition and disposition matters, many of such developments being “value add” transactions where clients have acquired, leased, enhanced, and disposed of assets over a short time frame.
  • Assists largest franchisee of a major QSR restaurant brand in purchasing operating store units from other franchisees in order to increase market share, including coordinating with landlords and the franchisor to accomplish such goals.
  • Assists multiple franchisors in acquiring operating store units from franchisees to further brand development and financial objectives.
  • Assists operating companies in “pruning” under-performing locations by establishing and negotiating exit strategies in avoidance of litigation.
  • Represents New York-based family investment company in expanding retail and office portfolio in the Atlanta, Georgia, marketing and environs.
  • Represents family business in acquisition, development, and disposition of triple-net investments throughout the Southeastern and Mid-South regions of the United States.
  • Represents the real estate divisions of several of the ten largest private equity companies in the United States in ongoing shopping mall acquisitions, redevelopment, leasing, and property management matters.
  • Represents borrowers in the refinancing of raw land and operating retail and mixed-use assets, including negotiation of securitized loan documents.
  • Represented a publicly traded REIT in connection with the acquisition and financing of 8 grocery-anchored shopping centers located across Georgia, Florida, Texas, and North Carolina, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $210 million.
  • Won summary judgment for Atlanta Retailers Association of more than 800 stores in defense of a class action in which plaintiffs alleged that the group’s membership criteria and contracts with vendors discriminated on the basis of race and, therefore, violated 42 U.S.C. Section 1981.
  • Serves as lead counsel for a national warehouse retailer in negotiating acquisitions, ground leases, and site development agreements for store sites in shopping centers throughout the United States.
  • Serves as lead counsel for various investment and syndication firms in the acquisition and financing of big box and/or grocery-anchored, multi-tenant shopping centers throughout the United States.
  • Represents landlords and tenants in the negotiation of AIA construction contracts for the construction of national retailers build-to-suit buildings and space build-outs and remodels.
  • Led due diligence team in the representation of an Australian-based, vertically integrated fund manager in the acquisition of a 49% interest in a portfolio of 8 super-regional malls throughout the United States.
  • Represented regional developer in acquisition, redevelopment, leasing, and re-financing of neighborhood shopping centers in Georgia and Alabama, including negotiation of big-box anchor leases and restaurant ground leases.
  • Represented the largest MBE in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport with various concessionaire disputes.
  • Represented various retailers on their distribution facility leases, including one of over 1,000,000 square feet.
  • Worked with a major retailer regarding its data breach, particularly with regard to Congressional investigations and hearings.
  • Works with the National Retail Federation, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and other retail trade associations to support important data security and data breach policies.
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