Real Estate
FLB Law’s Real Estate Practice represents prominent developers, national hospitality groups, local property owners, local businesses, municipalities, lenders, and individuals in real estate acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, and financing. We partner with you to learn your objectives and deliver practical, creative solutions to structure and close your deal to advance your short-term and long-term goals.
Our team of seasoned Connecticut real estate lawyers have a depth and breadth of experience on a broad range of commercial and residential real estate matters. We understand the intricacies of how state and local laws impact your business and the value of your real estate assets, and we are responsive to market changes and trends, allowing us to provide cutting-edge counsel on all aspects of your transaction.
Because we represent various sides of a real estate matter – landlords, tenants, sellers, purchasers, lenders, and municipalities – we bring a comprehensive perspective to your transaction
Commercial Real Estate
FLB Law attorneys are well-versed in nearly every aspect of commercial real estate in Connecticut, and we are widely recognized for our acute ability to understand the broader implications of any given project. We are often hired to handle multiple phases throughout the lifecycle of a commercial real estate asset, from acquisition and financing to refinancing, entitlements, leasing, and disposition. Our team is renowned for our success in helping our clients stabilize their assets, maximize their value, and leverage this value when it is time to sell.
We represent, negotiate, and prepare contracts and all related legal documents for buyers, sellers, tenants, landlords, municipalities, and lenders in acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, and financing of restaurant, retail, office, industrial, multifamily, and mixed-use properties. We handle CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) and HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) deals and coordinate with 1031 exchange providers to help our clients meet their business objectives. We work with our clients to perform due diligence to uncover whether there are problems with a property that would be costly to mitigate, such as hazardous conditions requiring abatement or an encumbered title that would require litigation for clearance. We work closely with our firm’s other practice areas as applicable – including our Land Use & Zoning and Tax Law practices – to deliver practical solutions to the most complex real estate challenges.
Restaurant Representation
FLB Law has a concentration in representing restaurants in property leases, purchases, sales, and financing. We work with a broad range of clients, from single-location mom-and-pop restaurants up to regional and national hospitality groups. We assist our clients with due diligence; prepare leases, sale, and purchase agreements, along with ancillary documents; and we help our clients assert their rights to support their business goals over the course of their commercial lease. Our expanding restaurant groups build a comprehensive lease portfolio with consistent terms across all of their locations, allowing them to standardize their operations and position their assets for sale as one unit. We negotiate with landlords at all levels in the marketplace, from local landowners up to some of the country’s most sophisticated national landlords. Our broad perspective and thorough market knowledge provide us with a keen understanding of what concessions we can demand from landlords in achieving fair, operable, and marketable leases for our restaurant clients.
Lease Documents
FLB Law prepares and negotiates leases that will support clients’ business objectives over the life of the lease. We also prepare and negotiate a variety of related documents, including letters of intent (LOI), estoppel certificates, and SNDA (subordination, non-disturbance, and attornment) agreements, to help our clients assert their rights.
Financing
FLB Law’s real estate attorneys help both borrowers and lenders navigate the commercial real estate finance market. We structure and close a broad range of loans, including construction, permanent, and mezzanine loans, and lines of credit.
Our longstanding relationships with lenders throughout Connecticut enable us to facilitate the financing process for borrowers, allowing them to efficiently advance their projects and corporate goals. When representing borrowers, we liaise with their lenders and provide all the necessary documents to get them through the underwriting process to the closing table. When representing lenders, we review due diligence documents provided by the buyer’s counsel, negotiate loan documents, and represent the lender at closing.
Residential Real Estate
FLB Law also represents buyers and sellers of residential real estate in Connecticut. We negotiate and prepare purchase and sale agreements and provide required documents for the buyer’s lender. We also review title searches and work to resolve any title issues. We prepare or review closing documents and facilitate closings, whether for a purchase, sale, or refinancing.
We understand that buying and selling a home can be an emotional process, and we work closely with our clients to communicate clearly at each phase of the transaction to minimize any surprises that may delay closing. We have created streamlined processes to simplify even the most complex residential transactions, and we work closely with our Land Use & Zoning Practice to help our clients overcome any land use issues that will impact their purchase, sale, or property renovations.