Practice Areas

Howard Rice's Real Estate Group specializes in creating and maximizing opportunities for our clients and providing efficient, creative and interdisciplinary solutions to complex real estate problems. This approach often involves an analysis of tax, securities, financing, estate planning, environmental, bankruptcy and litigation issues, as well as a common sense business approach to specific transactions.

We advise clients in a wide range of industries, including commercial and residential development, retail, hospitality, technology, waste management and diversion, data centers, agriculture and mining. Our clients include public and private companies, developers, financial institutions, partnerships, limited liability companies and tenancies-in-common, family businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

Areas of Focus

• Restructurings and workouts 
• Acquisitions and dispositions 
• Financings 
• Commercial leasing (office, tech, industrial, retail and agricultural)
• Joint ventures and limited liability companies 
• Construction projects
• Environmental matters
• Agriculture, oil and gas and mining issues 
• Property tax and re-assessment issues

Recent Representative Engagements

Restructuring/Workouts

• Successful restructure of 12 loans (including 8 lenders) and 5 joint ventures, relating to a large residential/golf course project located in Reno, Nevada
• Office-condominium development loan in Phoenix
• Multiple loans involving large California residential/golf course development projects
• Hotel joint ventures in Santa Cruz and Los Angeles
• Pursuant to bankruptcy actions in Virginia and New York, we obtained the right to foreclose loan secured by a Houston shopping center owned by holder of collateralized mortgage debt on behalf of “B” piece owner of debt
• $300 million of securitized debts respecting apartments and mobile home parks

Acquisition and Disposition

• Acquisition of luxury hotel and private membership golf course located near Silicon Valley
• Acquisition of large multifamily apartment complex in Santa Clara County
• Acquisition of warehouse facility in El Segundo, California for conversion to a data center and related construction loan

Dispute Resolution

• Litigation regarding oil and gas lease and pipeline easements in Southern California involving first impression oil and gas issues, standing, and complex probate, estate, bankruptcy and title issues
• Litigation in California, Hong Kong and Barbados among residential developer and purported creditors and minority interest owners regarding investments in California residential developments
• Arbitration between contractor and owner regarding failed resort condominium development project
• Arbitration between owners of a hotel company

Lease Negotiations

• A large Union Square retailer
• Large office headquarters lease in San Francisco
• Restaurants in San Francisco

Industrial Projects

• Joint venture related to railroad project
• Joint venture for construction debris recycling project
• Acquisition and development of compost facility
• Lease for large urban recycling and shipping facility
• Landfill gas to energy projects

Government

• Negotiations with BLM and Army Corps of Engineers regarding complex title issues, leases, land swaps and endangered species issues
• Re-entitlement of property in Dogpatch area of San Francisco
• Licenses, leases and service agreements with San Francisco Port Authority

Environmental 

• We regularly negotiate with local, state and federal agencies concerning the scope of appropriate hazardous substance investigation and remedial activities, and focus on protecting buyers and sellers of environmentally impacted real property from environmental liability through indemnification, insurance and other legal mechanisms.