The Real Estate Department offers an extended range of legal services as well as practical business advice in every facet of the real estate business on both a local and national basis, including:
Real estate law has been at the heart of the Honigman's practice since its inception and continues to be one of the Firm's many strengths. We are one of the nation's largest real estate groups and our attorneys are distinguished as the recognized leaders in their respective areas of expertise.
The Chambers USA Guide, published by the London-based publishing firm of Chambers and Partners, ranked Honigman's Real Estate practice number one in the state of Michigan for the last eight consecutive years, stating "Honigman is widely considered to be the number-one real estate firm in Michigan."
We are privileged to include among our clients the premier companies and entrepreneurs in their respective fields including those specializing in real estate development and finance and those in other businesses with collateral real estate needs.
Our Services
Honigman offers an extended range of legal services as well as practical business advice in every facet of the real estate business on both a local and national basis. We have a long-standing reputation of providing business counseling, structuring, orchestration and problem solving skills that transcend traditional real estate practices. Our clients rely on us for these services for their day to day business as well as for their sophisticated and major transactions.
We have provided legal services in connection with virtually every major project in the Detroit Metropolitan Area including the initial development of the Renaissance Center and its later acquisition and redevelopment by General Motors, the General Motors "Poletown" Assembly Plant, Galleria Officentre, Millender Center, Riverfront Apartments, the Ritz Carlton Hotel, One Detroit Center, Troy Place, Comerica Park, Campus Martius, Compuware's new corporate headquarters, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit Branch Headquarters, Detroit Metropolitan Airport Midfield Terminal, the General Motors Building, Lakeside Mall, Twelve Oaks Mall, Great Lakes Crossing, Somerset Collection and Laurel Park just to name a few.
Our practice, however, is not limited to Michigan projects as we represent many national clients and have provided legal services in connection with projects located throughout the United States including E-Walk on 42nd Street, New York, New York; over twenty five regional shopping centers including Short Hills Mall, Short Hills, New Jersey; Cherry Creek, Denver, Colorado; MacArthur Center, Norfolk, Virginia; Beverly Center, Los Angeles California; International Plaza, Tampa, Florida; The Gardens, Palm Beach, Florida; Tallahassee Mall, Tallahassee, Florida; over one hundred neighborhood centers; numerous General Motors facilities; numerous Steelcase, Inc. facilities; Ford Motor Land Development PAG Headquarters, Irvine, California; and many health care projects.
Specific practice areas include:
Acquisition, Development and Management (national practice)
- Shopping Center development, acquisition and sale
- Office development, acquisition and sale
- Portfolio acquisitions and exchanges, including REIT, UPREIT and downREIT transactions
- Development, acquisition and sale of entertainment, hotel, health care, multi-family, single family, industrial, airport, power plant and mixed-use facilities
- Residential and commercial condominiums and site condominiums
- Zoning and land use
- Leasing
- Brokerage and management agreements
- Real estate tax appeals for all types of projects
Financing (national practice)
- Conventional construction, interim and permanent mortgage financing
- Mezzanine financing
- Private equity
- REITS, UPREITS and downREITS
- Sale/leasebacks
- Synthetic leases
- Securitized financing and CMBS
- Tax increment, industrial revenue bond financing, and other special governmental programs
- Low income housing financing
- Structured finance
- Workouts and restructures
- Leasing
- Specialized lender remedies, including federal and state receiverships, cash collateral controls and deed-in-lieu arrangements
Ownership and Tax Structuring (national practice)
- Formation of partnerships, limited partnerships, joint ventures and limited liability companies
- Syndications
- Formation of REITS, UPREITS and downREITS, including statutory and regulatory compliance
- Advising potential investors in, and underwriters for, REIT transactions
- Federal and state tax structuring for individual transactions and portfolio management
Public/Private Partnerships (national practice)
- Development Agreements
- Land assemblage and condemnation
- Infrastructure development and financing
- Tax abatement
- Tax increment financing
- Brownfield credits
- Renaissance zones and Enterprise zones
- Other governmental inducements and incentives
- Challenges and opposition to entitlements to competitors
Construction Planning (national practice)
- Structuring and negotiation of design and construction agreements
- Specialized construction delivery mechanisms such as pre-construction services arrangements, design-build, multi-prime, turn-key and other hybrids
- Experience with all types of projects including multi-family residential, office, retail, entertainment, mixed use, health care, industrial, road and bridge work, tunnel work and power plants
- Construction liens and bonding
- Construction lending and draw administration
- Customized in-house training in contract administration
- Dispute resolution and construction litigation
Land Use and Regulatory
- Zoning, including administrative practice and litigation
- Subdivision and platting
- Wetlands and woodlands regulation
- Enforcement of restrictive covenants
- Liquor licensing
Our Clients
Our clients include developers, owners and operators of shopping centers, retail facilities, entertainment facilities, office buildings, multi-family housing, residential single family communities, hotels, hospitals, airport terminals, warehouses, industrial parks, industrial facilities, power plants and pollution control and solid waste management facilities; banks, institutional and individual lenders, insurance companies, pension funds, and securitization underwriters; REITs and UPREITS; contractors and design professionals; and cities and other governmental agencies.
Representative clients include:
- Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation
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- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit Branch
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- Ford Motor Land Development Corporation
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- Friedman Real Estate Group, Inc.
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- Midland Mortgage Investment Corporation
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- Phillips Edison & Company
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- Ramco-Gershenson Properties, L.P.
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- Sears Holdings Corporation
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- Schostak Brothers & Company, Inc.
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- Slavik Enterprises, L.L.C.
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Our Attorneys and Staff
Our attorneys are the recognized leaders in their areas of expertise.
Eighteen members of the Real Estate Department are listed in the current edition of
The Best Lawyers in America; six are elected members of the prestigious American College of Real Estate Lawyers; and two are past chairs of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of Michigan and many more are active in that Section. Our attorneys are active, many with leadership roles, in the following organizations: CREW Network, Commercial Real Estate Women–Detroit, Construction Management Financial Association, International Council of Shopping Centers, Michigan Construction Users Council, Michigan Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Michigan State Bar Land Title Standards Committee, Michigan Women's Foundation, National Association of Women Business Owners, National Realty Committee, Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, University of Michigan Law School Board of Visitors, Urban Land Institute, Wayne State University Board of Governors and Women's Economic Club. Our attorneys are highly sought after for writing and speaking engagements and do both on a regular basis.
There are more than 30 attorneys devoting their full time to the practice of real estate in the department and five full-time legal assistants. There are also more than ten attorneys in other departments (Environmental, Investment Incentives and Tax Savings, Litigation, Tax Appeals, Tax, and Trusts and Estates) who devote a substantial part of their time to real estate related matters.
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