Nan Aron on Huffington Post: The 111th Congress wrapped up its business last night, and a last-minute flurry of action resulted in some important victories for the Administration and its allies, especially the long-overdue repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Discrimination and hate should never be enshrined in our laws and it is heartening to see our nation move one step closer to the day when all Americans are treated fairly and equally.But in spite of this wonderful victory, and the passage of other important legislation, one very important thing was left undone as a result of unrelenting...
Now you tell us, Senator Specter!
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chief justice john roberts
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justice alito
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senator specter
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supreme court
Senate Confirms Two District Court Nominees
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judicial nominations
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judicial selection
Sears was even a lousy dirt play?
The New York Times had a good piece on the five year anniversary of Kmart buying Sears and becoming Sears Holdings. At the time, I said that Edward Lampert's acquisition of the retailing icon was as much a real estate acquisition as it was a retail deal.Unfortunately on the retail side, the attitude of many people is, as the last sentence of the piece states succinctly, “Honestly, I’d rather go to Target.” Sears and Kmart are still doing poorly, and many think the future -- if there is one -- lies in the Sears strategy of trying to become an Amazon.com style retailer. (Go it...
Senate Confirms Eight Nominees Over Weekend
This weekend the Senate confirmed 8 judicial nominees: Albert Diaz to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (voice vote) Raymond Lohier to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals (92-0) Ellen Lipton Hollander to the District of Maryland (95-0) Edmond E-Min Chang to the Northern District of Illinois (voice vote) Leslie E. Kobayashi to the District of Hawaii (voice vote) Carlton W. Reeves to the Southern District of Mississippi (voice vote) Denise Jefferson Casper to the District of Massachusetts (voice vote) Susan Richard Nelson to the District of Minnesota (voice vote) With the...
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judicial nominations
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judicial selection
Alliance for Justice Hails "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Vote and Calls for Swift Implementation
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement on the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that has prevented gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the military: The long-overdue repeal of the military’s reprehensible “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is a heartening step forward in our nation’s progress toward a society unequivocally rooted in fairness and equality for every citizen. There must never be a place in our laws for officially sanctioned discrimination, and this action will help wipe away the stain of a policy that has done so much damage...
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don't ask don't tell
New York Times Reports on the Corporate Court
The New York Times this weekend reported on the Roberts Court’s corporate favoritism, noting that the Chamber of Commerce enjoys significantly disproportionate influence in business cases before the Court. The article details the concerted effort that the conservative big business group has undertaken over the past 40 years to gain influence before the Court – an idea initially propounded by Justice Lewis Powell. Robin Conrad, executive vice-president of the Chamber, touted the Court’s pro-corporate bias noting that “[t]here has been a return on investment, not to sound too crass.” The article...
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roberts court
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the corporate court
Senate confirms four judicial nominees
Last night the Senate confirmed four of the 38 judicial nominees pending on the senate floor: Kimberly Mueller, nominee to the Eastern District of California, James Bredar, nominee to the District of Maryland, Catherine Eagles, nominee to the Middle District of North Carolina, and John Gibney, nominee to the Eastern District of Virginia.Politico reports:'Regan Lachapelle, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the four confirmations Thursday are "just a start" to clearing the backlog during this session."We are still working through the list and are committed to confirming...
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judicial nominees
E-ticket deals in a B-ticket market?
I could not resist the old Disneyland ticket system analogy in thinking about the Chicago market right now. (For you younger folks, search the term and you will understand.)The great news in Chicago? Two trophy properties are trading. The Hyatt Center is under contract to The Irvine Company (Billionaire Donald Bren is the long time head of TIC) at what is understood to be just over a 6-cap, or $625 million/$419 per square foot. I suppose that is not a B-ticket price for that great property. Then you have 353 North Clark trading from a Mesirow/Friedman Properties...
Nan Aron Joins Senator Tom Harkin to Call for Senate Rules Reform
“We’ve all been involved in fights over judicial appointments, but what’s happening now is well beyond anything we’ve ever encountered. There is nothing that can possibly justify this abuse of the process and the traditions of the Senate,” Nan Aron said today at a panel on Senate rules reform organized by Common Cause. The panel, “Shackled Senate: How the Filibuster is Holding Hostage our Congress, A Case for Senate Rules Reform,” took place this morning at the National Press Club and featured remarks from Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), who expressed his frustration at the misuse of the filibuster...
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judicial nominations
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senate rules reform
AFJ Opposes Blanket Ban on Transfer of Guantanamo Detainees for Criminal Prosecution
This morning the Senate introduced an omnibus spending bill for 2011 which includes a provision preventing Guantanamo detainees from being transferred to the U.S. – even for purposes of prosecution. This blanket ban would override the executive branch’s prerogative to decide the best forum to try suspected terrorists and prevent the Obama Administration from obtaining criminal prosecutions in federal courts. Under current law, Guantanamo detainees cannot be transferred to the United States, except for purposes of criminal prosecution.Alliance for Justice recently joined a broad coalition of...
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guantanamo
AFJ Decries District Court Ruling on the Constitutionality of Health Care Law
Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement today on the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson that portions of the health care law passed by Congress earlier this year are unconstitutional:If anyone needed proof that judges matter and that the current battle in the Senate over judicial nominations is a fight worth having, they need look no farther than today’s ruling by Judge Henry Hudson, a former conservative Republican politician from Virginia, on a lawsuit filed by a current conservative Republican politician from Virginia, state Attorney General...
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health care
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judges
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judicial nominations
Liquidated damages
In my first year Contracts class in law school, we learned about liquidated damages; i.e. a clause stating that a certain amount of money is a reasonable estimate of a party's damages in the event of a default and that, in lieu of litigating the question of damages, the stipulated amount will serve as actual damages and not as a penalty. Liquidated damages play an important role in many real estate contracts. I like them for both sides. It can limit the buyer's downside and quantify the seller's compensation if a deal goes bust. Most every big deal I run across has...
House Judiciary Committee Calls For Torture Accountability
Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) yesterday called on President Obama to investigate and prosecute Bush officials who authorized torture. Conyers, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, presided over a hearing on “Civil Liberties and National Security.” Conyers noted that President Obama has made some positive steps, such as banning torture and the use of secret “black sites,” but called on the President to investigate those who approved or ordered crimes such as torture and waterboarding.Representative Conyers noted that such an investigation should include those who were responsible...
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torture accountability
Activists organize screenings of Crude Justice throughout the country
Last Tuesday was the deadline for Gulf Coast residents impacted by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to file claims for emergency payments from the BP compensation fund administered by Kenneth Feinberg. More than 400,000 claims were filed before the deadline, and approximately 150,000 individuals and businesses have received an estimated $2.2 billion. The next phase in this process is the negotiation of lump-sum final settlements for those affected by the spill, a process which will play out over the course of three years. This fall, AFJ released Crude Justice, a short documentary...
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crude justice
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deepwater horizon
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kenneth feinberg
A quick note of thanks....
If you look at the blog regularly but do not follow me on Twitter, you will see my updates here on the right of your screen. I use Twitter for short thoughts (duh) and quick information about what is going on in real estate that interests me. Long form writing, of course, will remain here.I just wanted to take a moment to thank one of the better bloggers and Twitter folks out there, Duke Long, for including me in his list of the Top 50 Commercial Real Estate People You Must Follow on Twitter. I appreciate the recognition and will try to live up to those standard...
Judicial Obstruction During President Obama's First Two Years: Updated Reports
As a service to those writing about the crisis of judicial nominations during the final weeks of the 2010 lame-duck Congress, Alliance for Justice is reissuing and updating several recent reports on the record of Republican obstruction and the increasingly dire number of judicial emergencies plaguing the federal courts. * * *Judicial Obstruction During President Obama’s First Two Years:A Compilation of Alliance for Justice Reports During the Obama Administration’s first two years, Republicans in the Senate have implemented a strategy to delay and obstruct his judicial nominations to the Courts...
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judicial nominations
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judicial vacancies
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reports
A quick thought on pop up stores
Pop up stores by national chains is supposedly the latest "phenomenon" in retail. Of course, this has been going on in a smaller scale by small tenants and even national retailers such as Hickory Farms for many years. The leases, being short term, are figured out and conformed and done. But what about the long term?Some say this trend will continue over the long term. I tend to agree. Unfortunately I think it will depress prices unless lenders and buyers figure out a way to quantify and underwriter the pop ups, or pops enter into long term seasonal leases as a compromise,...
Want to make money? Get out of New York and DC!
This Globest.com piece might be the best I have read in a while. Why? Because it makes sense:“Everybody got so burned by the downturn that they want safety and liquidity,” said Jonathan Gray of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, during New York University Schack Institute’s 43rd Annual Conference on Capital Markets in Real Estate. Partly because everybody is chasing those same few deals in New York City, Washington, DC and a few other key markets, that means more opportunities in properties that are high-quality yet impaired....Bingo. If you want to make good money, get...
A borrower hit from both sides
This was published in Crain's a week ago, but it bears writing about, however briefly:The long and short? Mega Chicago restaurateur Phil Stefani guaranteed a $7 million construction loan used to renovate the building where his office is located, and which is owned in part by Stefani and others, including the well-known local developer Keith Lord.. The loan is past-due and the lender, Harris Bank, is pushing what he described as tough new terms for an extension, including new equity and prepaid interest.Why is the project under water? In large part, because its anchor tenant, Amcore...
AFJ signs letter with over 50 groups calling for immediate votes on judicial nominees
AFJ today joined with over 50 other organizations in sending a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for immediate action on President Obama’s stalled judicial nominations. With the clock running out on the 111th Congress, the groups demanded an end to the Republican tactic of blocking all nominees, even those with bipartisan support, and that votes are called on all of the two dozen pending nominees.The letter reminded the leadership that, “The obstruction of many of President Obama’s nominees through filibuster threats and anonymous ‘holds’...
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judicial emergencies
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judicial nominations
Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit calls on Senate to "Act on Judicial Nominees Without Delay"
The Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit has drafted a powerful letter calling on the Senate to "act on judicial nominees without delay." The signatories include the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit, five other prominent circuit judges, and the Chief Judges of the district courts in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. These leading jurists, appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents, wrote "to emphasize [their] desperate need for judges," stating that courts "cannot do their work if authorized judicial positions remain vacant." Two nominees...
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judicial emergencies
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judicial nominations
Dramatic Disparity in Record of Senate Action on Judicial Nominees for Clinton, Bush, and Obama in First Two Years
As we reach the two-year mark of his presidency, President Barack Obama has faced unprecedented obstruction of his judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate and has fared far worse than his immediate predecessors both in having nominees approved and in relieving the federal courts of the burden of “judicial emergencies.”With the clock ticking in the current lame-duck session of Congress, AFJ has released a report entitled, Judicial Nominations in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Administrations: Which One of These is Not Like the Others? The conclusions are stark:The number of vacancies in the federal...
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judicial emergencies
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judicial nominations
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reports
Alliance for Justice presents “Forced Arbitration and the Roberts Court: How Hidden Clauses in Everyday Contracts Can Take Away Your Rights”
On November 10, 2010, Alliance for Justice hosted a panel in San Francisco to discuss the importance and potential ramifications of the U.S. Supreme Court case, AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion.The panel comprised three distinguished attorneys who practice in the fields of consumer and employee rights: Arthur Bryant of Public Justice, Cliff Palefsky of McGuinn, Hillsman & Palefsky, and James Sturdevant, AFJ board member and Principal of The Sturdevant Law Firm.This event was held just one day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in AT&T v. Concepcion, which may have the effect...
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access to justice
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consumer rights
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employee rights
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supreme court
Nan Aron on Huffington Post: Rule of Law Takes a Holiday While Bush Admits Torture and CIA Gets Off the Hook
This week, along with the spectacle of former President George W. Bush bragging on national television about authorizing torture, federal prosecutor John H. Durham allowed the statute of limitations to expire without pressing charges against C.I.A. agents and attorneys who participated in the destruction of videotapes chronicling the interrogations and mistreatment of Abu Zubaydah and Abd a-Rahim al-Nashiri.Alliance for Justice is extremely disappointed that once again no one in the United States government is being held accountable for criminal acts undertaken as part of the Bush Administration's...
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department of justice
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nan aron
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torture accountability
Holiday Inn -- a great F&B idea or another darn upgrade?
According to this WSJ article Holiday Inn has just completed " a sweeping, global overhaul that upgraded their hotels' bedding, signs, lobbies and showers, among other things, at an average cost to [franchisees] of $300,000 a property."In the industry this is called a PIP. So now what? On to the next one? The next idea is to incorporate breakfast buffets (a la Embassy Suites?), socialize the meal process and streamline food and beverage service to cut back on labor costs. This will, however, be implemented gradually, starting with some test markets to see if the idea works. ...
Completely OT: an immigration and tourist visa proposal
Okay, I'm taking a risk here, especially after the whole "I think Sarah Palin is a lousy speaker" debacle at ICSC. And I know this has almost nothing to do with commercial real estate. But what the heck.I am a firm believer in common sense when it comes to immigration. As the husband of a legal immigrant, I believe in open borders -- to an extent. If someone, for instance, is most likely going to make a significant contribution to our country, why not let that person in? Take my wife, for instance. She jumped through years and years of hoops to obtain a green card and...
Why I'm skipping ICSC Chicago Deal Making
Several people have asked whether I would be at the Chicago ICSC Deal Making conference tomorrow and Friday. I'm going to pass on this one, but will probably be at one or more in the future. I am also skipping the legal conference this year as it is in Florida, but I do plan to attend next year's law conference as it will probably be somewhere in the west, where I prefer to travel. I also have some personal and business commitments that would limit my ability to be there anyway.The ICSC conferences are great. I love meeting people with whom I have been in touch, be they lawyers,...
Filling in the GAAPs?
Let me preface this post by saying I am NOT a CPA or tax lawyer (see the Disclamer for that) and no expert on matters pertaining to accounting. But that said, I run across issues related to accounting all the time. Many times in leases or loan agreements or other real estate documents you will encounter language requiring that financial matters be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP.Some of my clients hate this language. Why? Because they believe that while they are often close to GAAP reporting, it isn't "quite" GAAP and it rarely is...
Capital Expenses, Laws and Cost Savings
When I saw a piece captioned "Building Owners Toss Equipment for New Technology" it reminded me of a lease I negotiated recently.When negotiating a net lease, tenants will often request that a building's operating expenses will not include capital expenditures. That makes sense. But when I am representing the landlord and that is the business deal, I try to add two carveouts. The first is legal compliance costs. If you are saying, "Huh?" let me explain. Say a new law comes into effect after the lease is signed requiring landlord to install a widget in the building and that...
An Interesting Poll
I'd be very interested in having all my readers participate in this poll at NREI Online:What outcome in the midterm elections Nov. 2 would be best for the U.S. commercial real estate industry and the economy? A GOP takeover of the House and SenateDemocrats retain control of both the House and the SenateA GOP takeover of the House, while Democrats retain control of the SenateA purge of ineffective incumbents, Democrat or RepublicanThis is all a sideshow. Only time will heal the ailing real estate market and economy.Take a minute and answer the question at their website. If you have...
On the CRE Podcast
I had a great time with Jason Sandquist and Duke Long yesterday recording the CRE Podcast with some thoughts on legal issues and real estate in Chicago. You can find the podcast here. Enjo...
The October 7, 2010 Post Lacking a Title
Creative, huh?Lots going on but I will just touch on a couple quick items for now. If there are ever any topics about which you'd like me to write, just let me know.There has been a lot of commentary lately about the new GGP board(s). It is a good bunch of people; almost a Who's Who. And what about no Bucksbaums on the board -- is that fair in that they still own 7% of the company? It isn't shocking in light of the turn of events that occurred. That said, however, the company did turn out doing better in bankruptcy than many pundits expected and -- perhaps...
A lease is just a lease? Yeah, right.
This is a story of knowing your client. Here's why.I love it when people -- usually ones not too experienced in the industry -- tell me, "Oh, leases are all pretty much the same. You have a landlord, a tenant, a building and a term. Just plug in the magic words and off you go."In a word, wrong. In fact, this is wrong on so many levels that I felt I needed to write about it.First of all, who is the tenant and what is the building? Different buildings and different tenants require completely different types of leases. Yes, some of the language can be the same but the...
A Tale of Two Loans
Today's Wall Street Journal profiled two big Larry Freed projects that have had problems discussed here before: Block 37 and the old Carson Pirie Scott building, which some people might actually call Sullivan Center. They are probably the same folks who call Sears Tower the Willis Tower.Before I go further: it isn't just the same developer we are talking about here. Both properties are in the same city, Chicago. And they are on the same street, State Street. Indeed, the two projects are what -- a whopping one block apart from each other.Bank of America, as successor to...