Real Estate & Land Use Law

Real estate clients need attorneys to not only be exceptional counsel, but real-world problem solvers. This requires a unique combination of negotiating skills, political awareness, and legal prowess – all measured against the two levers of value + results.

Our real estate attorneys represent clients throughout the full cycle of a real estate transaction, taking a holistic approach to real estate matters. We get deals done.

Our approach is client-centric, personal, creative and effective. We learn your business, your tolerance to risk, your needs and goals in the short and long terms. Our clients benefit from direct access to senior counsel, and our business model promotes a collaborative approach to ensure we drive value to each touchpoint of the real estate life cycle.

Buying and Selling

Value + Results

Commercial real estate is a small community of lenders, buyers and sellers. This is true whether it is an international market such as NYC, or a smaller town in Long Island. Having the right relationships, providing the right expertise at the right time to the right people matters: this is the value of relationships and experience.

Our senior attorneys’ complementary areas of expertise, combined with our firm’s collaborative approach to service, enables remarkable depth to our representation. We successfully represent clients in the purchase and sale of property, commercial leasing, borrowing, lending, syndications, private placements, real estate construction, development, zoning, subdivision approval and related environmental matters.

We represent numerous developers and investors in the acquisition of commercial property and multifamily housing, and actively negotiate associated institutional financing to protect our clients’ real estate interests. The firm also helps developers come together with investors through private placements and syndications.

Leasing and Financing

Creative + Effective

Creativity takes your real estate project the last mile – and it’s all about the last mile.  The attorneys of Smith, Buss & Jacobs are responsible for more than one first-of-kind project financing, including the $600 million refinancing of Co-Op City in the Bronx through HUD for which the firm created a new set of documentation to enable the mortgage.

This is the power of effecting creative solutions and tailoring lease or loan documents to match the needs of each client. We represent both landlords and tenants in the negotiation and execution of commercial lease terms for office and long and short-term retail spaces, as well as financing involving securitized lending, mezzanine loans and bridge loans.

We counsel commercial borrowers in negotiating financing commitments with institutional lenders for both portfolio and conduit loans. We handle major construction loans, acquisition loans, and major sales and purchases of all types of commercial real estate, multi-family shopping centers and industrial buildings.

Development

Local Strategy

We know how local governments work and how to move a development effectively through the process. Our representation as developers’ attorneys encompasses due diligence investigations; site plan approval and rezoning applications; special permits, variances, and designations and alterations of landmarked buildings; public and private financing; land use appraisals and entitlements and construction financing and permitting; and air rights and utilities transactions.

If situations result in litigation, our attorneys have broad litigation experience, including civil litigation in state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate levels, on behalf of clients facing potential liability for complex land use issues.

Construction

Experienced, Comprehensive Counsel

Construction projects can be complex and costly regardless of their size. Owners and contractors need expert guidance to draft and negotiate contracts that incorporate the necessary legal and practical requirements to protect clients’ interests. Experienced representation is essential when disputes arise.

At Smith, Buss & Jacobs, we offer comprehensive construction contract and litigation representation. Our construction attorneys negotiate contracts that help owners, property managers, architects/engineers, contractors, and developers plan and manage projects efficiently and effectively – with clear pathways to completion with a minimum of legal disputes. We provide guidance and counsel at every stage of a construction project, from the initial planning, bidding and contracting stages through construction administration to project close-out. We also maintain an active construction litigation and arbitration practice to protect our clients’ interests in construction-related disputes.

Construction Agreements

A Pro-Active Approach

When embarking on a construction project, owners may retain construction professionals and sign contracts without consulting their legal team, only to reach out when problems arise. In many cases, the issues could have been resolved efficiently – or avoided altogether – if clients had sought counsel early on in the construction process.

Just as the best defense is a good offense, good planning is the best way to avoid disputes and costly delays. Our attorneys provide counsel and direction in negotiating, drafting, and reviewing various construction proposals and contracts between owners, project managers, architects, contractors, and sub-contractors. Our goal is to advise clients against potential risks while keeping the goal in sight and maintaining a project’s viability.

We review and negotiate architect’s agreements (AIA forms), construction contracts (A101, A104, A201, etc.) for both large and small residential and commercial projects. We can assist with riders and amendments to proposals and agreements for small projects, or prepare and negotiate complex and large-scale contracts ranging from Stipulated Sum to Cost of Work Plus Contractor’s Fee to Guaranteed Maximum Price agreements.

• We prepare and review ancillary agreements for Owner’s Representative, Construction Manager and related services to protect our client’s interests and assure that they are consistent with the other project agreements.
• We prepare and negotiate Access Agreements with neighboring properties for access during construction projects, pursuant to RPL Section 881, and will review requests from our client’s neighbor to access their property and assure that the agreement properly protects the client. Where the neighbor is unresponsive or unreasonable, we regularly shift gears and go to court to obtain access.

In addition, many building insurance carriers are increasingly requesting involvement in reviewing the coverage required for contractors. We can assist with coordinating the contract terms to the insurance carrier’s requirements.

Construction Advice

Diverse Experience

Clients turn to our attorneys for counsel on day-to day-matters in all phases of their construction projects. Whether it’s the initial planning or interfacing directly with engineers, architects, and contractors until the project is completed, clients appreciate our practical perspective and cost-conscious approach.

Our experience is rooted in a diverse client base, which includes not only hundreds of condominiums, co-ops, and homeowners’ associations, but also property owners, developers, architects and engineers, general contractors, construction managers, subcontractors, suppliers, and lenders. We see construction issues from all sides which helps us fully understand our clients’ needs and how best to address them without losing sight of the goal of project completion. With well over 50 years of combined construction law experience, our attorneys also bring in-depth knowledge of case law and legislative updates on related construction matters.

Construction Disputes and Litigation

Efficient Resolutions

Construction projects often involve a number of parties providing a variety of services. This leaves ample room for miscommunication and disagreements. When disputes arise, we make every effort to resolve them without disruption to the project. However, sometimes disputes cannot be resolved and the parties must turn to their contractual remedies, culminating in litigation or arbitration. Because we have a fully-staffed and integrated litigation team, we can shift seamlessly from negotiation to litigation, and back again if needed. We can also offer analysis of potential litigation at any stage in the process so our clients are well-informed about all of their options.

Our litigators have significant experience that has allowed them to achieve success for clients in a wide range of construction litigation, including everything from obtaining court-ordered access under RPAPL 881 from neighboring property owners who were obstructing or delaying projects; to obtaining money damages for owners whose contractors failed to complete work properly (or at all); obtaining adjustments in contract pricing to accurately reflect work performed; and winning the opportunity for wrongfully terminated contractors to complete the project and receive all payments to which it was entitled, among many others.

Land Use & Zoning

The Power of Relationships

Land use regulation is always local in nature, highly process-dependent, and highly contingent upon the particular laws, nuances and political climate where the project is located. Our exceptional strengths in municipal law delivers tremendous value to our land use & zoning clients. Our land use attorneys regularly collaborate with our local governments in Westchester and Bronx counties to achieve our clients’ goals. Our local knowledge, coupled with established working relationships with local regulators, is backed by decades of proven experience.

This unmatched background in municipal law enables our attorneys to provide a remarkable degree of foresight, allowing our advisory to anticipate scenarios and set up the projects for success – better. We provide property owners with a thorough understanding of all regulatory issues affecting their use of property and of the opportunities available to enhance a site’s development potential, and guide clients through the requisite legal processes needed to achieve those enhancements.