Real Estate and Construction

Garfunkel Wild’s Real Estate and Construction Practice Group provides advice to a wide range of clients on transactions of all sizes and levels of complexity.  Our clients include hospitals and health care systems, senior living and skilled nursing facilities, colleges and universities, religious organizations, developers, hotel operators, physician practice groups, retail and warehouse operators, restaurants, and other corporate end-users.  We also represent property and business owners, construction managers, general contractors, subcontractors, and design professionals. The Real Estate and Construction team advises on all phases of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and sales, exchange, development, sale leaseback transactions, and complex ground leases for construction financing and refinancing, leasing, syndication, and federal and local regulation. Our Real Estate and Construction team advises our not-for-profit and religious clients in matters with the Attorney General or Supreme Court for approval of the sale, mortgaging, or disposition of their real property.

The Real Estate and Construction team advises our clients in the following representative areas:

• Purchase and sale of medical, office, mixed-use, warehouse, residential and other properties, with a special emphasis on the unique needs of health care and tax-exempt purchasers and sellers
• Development and construction, including medical offices, ambulatory surgery centers, diagnostic and therapeutic radiology facilities, cancer centers, diagnostic and treatment centers, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult homes, senior housing and other long term residential care facilities and operators
• All types of commercial and residential leasing, including health care, nursing and assisted living facilities, shopping center, restaurant and other store leasing, and landlord and tenant side office, industrial, residential and mixed-use building leasing
• Real property tax matters, including exemptions, abatements, and incentives for both tax-exempt and taxable owners
• Environmental matters, including testing and remediation projects
• Construction Contract enforcement issues, including: bid protests; scope of work issues; and insurance coverage disputes
• Municipal mechanics and construction lien enforcement  and waivers
• Project advice and regulatory counseling
• Construction warranty and defects litigation
• Disputes over cost overruns, construction delays, project management and budgeting
• Construction mediation and arbitration

We regularly prepare and negotiate construction-related contracts with a view toward managing risk and minimizing potential liability for our clients. Our approach is both proactive and preemptive in order to protect our clients’ interests. Whether it is before selection of a construction project or after a draft agreement has been prepared by another party, our team is able to assist clients in achieving their business objectives throughout the construction contracting process. We are experienced in handling a wide variety of construction projects that impact hospitals, diagnostic imaging facilities, nursing homes, ambulatory surgery centers, multi-unit residential developments, condominiums, high-rise apartment buildings, commercial and industrial buildings, daycare centers, fitness centers, retail, and warehouse facilities.

Our team is experienced in handling all types of construction agreements, including fixed price design-bid-build, construction manager at risk, construction manager as advisor, design-build, cost plus and cost plus with a guaranteed maximum price (GMP).  We are adept at drafting and reviewing all types of bid documentation, including invitations to bid, bid addenda and other procurement documentation, which occur at the early stages of a project. We are often requested to draft and review contracts between various configurations of these parties, each of whom has their own set of unique issues and goals that must be addressed in the contracting process.

Our team is familiar with standard industry contracting forms, such as those published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), ConsensusDocs, and the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA).

Depending on who we are representing, our team is critically focused on addressing the key risk-shifting clauses in construction contract documents, which include payment terms, permits and taxes, waiver of consequential damages, force majeure, change orders, indemnification, insurance and bonding, liquidated damages, no damages for delay, pay-if-paid/pay-when-paid, termination and suspension and dispute resolution.  Such provisions have serious ramifications, which is why it is important for our clients to have a clear understanding of the precise risks associated with each of them.

Our goal is to always help our clients avoid major disputes or resolve when necessary, with minimum expense.  When representing clients in construction litigation, mediations, arbitrations and appeals, we use Garfunkel Wild’s resources to promote our clients’ interests efficiently and in a cost-effective manner.

Our Real Estate and Construction team routinely calls upon the expertise of our Finance and Banking and Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Groups, and other Practice Groups in the firm, to coordinate the complete representation of our client throughout their transaction.