Monthly Archives: November 2014

The purchase of a Manhattan skyscraper by an American-Canadian partnership may be the capstone for a record year of Canadian investment in U.S. commercial properties. Reuters reports that Canadian investors purchased more than $8 billion worth of commercial real estate south of its border in the first three quarters of 2014, putting the country on target to beat last year’s record of $11.86 billion in purchases.

Philadelphia officials want to reestablish the city as an industrial hub, even though that’s not something that many developers or building owners are very interested in. Most industries left Philadelphia many years ago, and in turn, most people assumed that Philadelphia’s industries were a thing of the past.

Developer Glenn Straub may have much to be thankful for this holiday season: His company is next in line to purchase Atlantic City’s Revel casino. Revel AC Inc. sought bankruptcy protection in June. The casino closed on Sept. 2, and less than a month later, a bankruptcy auction ended with Brookfield US Holdings LLC winning the property. Straub objected to the sale, complaining that Revel’s representatives were not open and honest in their negotiations with prospective buyers.

For many Americans, an empty room is simply a space that has yet to be rented to someone who can put it to good use. If you share this sentiment, you may be a landlord to many tenants or you may simply aspire to rent out a single room in your home to someone who can use it more fully than you can. And for someone in need of a place to sleep or to engage in creative work, that space may be uniquely valuable.

From the planning phase to contract disputes to employment issues, costly obstacles can arise at any point in the construction process. No matter what your role is in the project, it is crucial that you have sound legal counsel to help keep costs down, protect against liability and resolve disputes.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, followed closely by 2015. While it is not quite time for critics’ and pundits’ top 10 lists to come out, commercial real estate brokers are already gathering to discuss how Philadelphia’s market is doing and what the city should expect next year.

Even an experienced developer can become frustrated with the numerous rules and regulations surrounding Philadelphia’s complex zoning laws. It is not uncommon for developers or contractors to be involved in various stages of completion on a number of different projects at any given time. Even with scheduling technology and a staff of dedicated professionals, it can be easy to lose track of a timeline and find yourself facing a variety of unnecessary delays.

Over the past few years, city planners have more and more frequently turned to the charrette as a way to develop consensus and buy-in for community redevelopment. That is why city planners included charrettes in the Philadelphia 2035 plan.

We are finishing up our discussion of a case that’s headed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court is asked to figure out who owns the mineral rights of a parcel of land.

We are finishing up our discussion of a Pennsylvania case involving mineral rights. The facts of the case look unusual at first. The more we dig into it, though, the clearer it is that this kind of situation could come up again and again. Some of the state’s property laws are centuries old, and some practices that seem rare in other parts of the country are actually quite common here. The case is about one piece of land and the two parties that claim to own it. The heirs of a 19th Century landowner claim t