Firm News

March 16, 2021

Firm’s Real Estate Practice Group Represents Sellers in Two Major Transactions

Firm shareholders Oscar R. Rivera and John Catalano represented our clients, PM Edgartown, LLC and PM Vineyard Haven, LLC in two separate sale transactions. The first transaction involved Prime Marina Vineyard Haven’s sale, a property located on Martha’s Vineyard. Prime Vineyard Haven has the largest set of seasonal private docks and slips available on the vineyard. It also houses a large on-site indoor and outdoor storage facility, as well as other amenities that are made available to its members.

Additionally, our team represented their sister company, PM Edgartown, LLC, on the sale of Edgartown Marine. Edgartown Marine is also located on Martha’s Vineyard and offers a full set of storage, launch, and haul services. The transactions involved the sale of all of the assets and dockage agreements of both operating marinas.

March 15, 2021

A Message from Our Managing Partner: One Year Post COVID-19 Closures

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

It is hard to believe that we are officially one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. As the entire world continues to battle the virus and adjusts to the daily changes in protocol and restrictions, our firm remains fully operational, staying up-to-date with the latest news and making decisions based on those developments.

With our staff’s, clients’, and families’ health and safety remaining of utmost importance, our firm continues to operate with a majority of our attorneys and support staff working remotely. We are happy to say that we have all remained safe during this time and the initial closures never caused any interruptions or delays in service. We have also pivoted in the way we serve our clients by upgrading our network’s infrastructure and making improvements to how we conduct business, such as enhancing our data security and offering digital document signature options as well as online notaries. Though we’ve all had to overcome our own set of challenges, we have conquered them together and have only become stronger.

February 11, 2021

Firm’s Real Estate Practice Group Represents Seller in Sale of Monty’s Coconut Grove

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Firm shareholders Oscar R. Rivera and John Catalano represented the sellers, Aligned Bayshore Marina and Aligned Bayshore Raw Bar, in the sale of Monty’s Bayshore located in Coconut Grove. This fully leased mixed-use property features offices, retail and restaurants, including the iconic Tiki Style waterfront restaurant Monty’s Raw Bar. The enormous property, which is pictured along the waterfront below, boasts over 30,000 square feet of retail and office space, a 111-slip marina, and a 750-seat restaurant that has been at the same location for 50 years. The notable transaction has been covered by publications such as the Miami Herald and CityBizList.

We are proud to have represented our clients in this transaction, and our firm would like to commend Oscar, John and the supporting real estate staff on all their hard work!

November 10, 2020

Oscar Rivera Co-Authors Article for ABA Probate & Property Magazine: “Navigating Early Termination Clauses in Commercial Leases”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Firm co-managing partner Oscar R. Rivera co-authored the lead front cover article for the November-December issue of the American Bar Association’s Probate & Property magazine together with Travis D. Hughes of Atlanta-based Hughes Investment Partners. The article, which is titled “Navigating Early Termination Clauses in Commercial Leases,” focuses on the tolls that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Spring 2020 protests have taken on many businesses and commercial landlords. It discusses important early termination provisions and the need to anticipate likely and unlikely future calamities in commercial leases.

Our firm salutes Oscar for sharing his insights into these timely issues impacting commercial leases with the readers of the ABA’s Probate & Property. Click below to read the complete article.

Probate & Property article

June 10, 2020

Oscar Rivera Quoted in Miami Herald Article: “The Pandemic Gave Franchisees Shopping South Florida Real Estate a Leg Up”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Oscar R. Rivera was quoted in an article that appeared in the Miami Herald‘s website today and is expected to appear in the print edition in the coming days. The article, which is titled “The Pandemic Gave Franchisees Shopping South Florida Real Estate a Leg Up,” focuses on opportunities that are now opening up for commercial real estate buyers and franchises catering to middle-market shoppers and diners. It reads:

. . . A variety of national and local franchisees want to buy: Dunkin’ Donuts, 7-Eleven and Mr. Gomas Tires. Categories include beauty, experiential retail, cloud kitchens — think: co-working facilities for individual professional chefs — and, yes, gyms. . .

. . . But buyers aren’t necessarily finding bargains. While some pre-COVID contracts have been re-negotiated, most prices remain steady, said Oscar Rivera, lawyer and partner at the Coral Gables-based firm Siegfried Rivera, a retail specialist.

Still, franchise owners are jumping into the market “There’s pent up demand to eat out. There will be a drop off in people’s buying power [due to the economy and job losses]. That will be felt across the board,” Rivera said. “But since the price point in these restaurants are not significantly high compared to other restaurants, it will be felt less so.”. . .

Our firm salutes Oscar for sharing his insights into one of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on commercial real estate in South Florida with the readers of the Miami Herald. Click here to read the complete article in the newspaper’s website.

June 2, 2020

Oscar Rivera Shares Insight on Residential and Commercial Evictions in Today’s Sun Sentinel

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Oscar R. Rivera was quoted in today’s South Florida Sun Sentinel in the newspaper’s article on the status of the residential evictions moratorium headlined “Gov. Ron DeSantis Extends Florida’s Evictions Ban for One More Month to July 1.” The article reads:

. . . The moratorium pertains only to residential properties and not to commercial real estate such as office buildings, warehouses, free-standing retail shops and shopping malls.

Oscar Rivera, an attorney at the South Florida law firm of Siegfried Rivera, said Monday that clients who operate apartment buildings have not seen an outpouring of delinquencies since the coronavirus pandemic upended the economy. He surmised that is probably a result of loans and grant money flowing from the public sector to help keep businesses afloat.

“On the residential side, a lot of our clients who are owners of residential properties have been collecting a large percentage of rents,” he said. Commercial landlords, Rivera added, have been working out delays in rent payments for those tenants who need them.

“We represent all sorts of landlords and across the board; we have not seen a significant uptick in any kinds of defaults,” he said. “People are trying to look through this situation in the most favorable way possible.” . . .

April 20, 2020

Article by John Catalano in Today’s Miami Herald: “Owners of Retail Properties, As Well As Tenants, Will Feel Pandemic’s Bite”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

An article authored by firm shareholder John Catalano is featured in the Business Monday section of today’s Miami Herald. The article, which is titled “Owners of Retail Properties, As Well As Tenants, Will Feel Pandemic’s Bite,” focuses on the prospects for rent deferrals and insurance claims for the owners of closed stores and the spaces they occupy. It reads:

. . . It has quickly become apparent that the outbreak of COVID-19 will take a massive toll not only on retail tenants, but also on the owners of retail properties. One of the first places that retailers will look for potential relief will be their lease agreements, which may include force majeure clauses and other provisions that are designed to cover business disruptions caused by catastrophes and acts of God.

These provisions will often list events such as floods, earthquakes, war, strikes, government regulations, civil disorder, etc., as triggers that would delay parties’ obligations under the contract. The applicability of the spread of COVID-19 as a force majeure triggering event may depend on the exact wording used in the lease. Some may generally stipulate “conditions beyond the parties’ control, including but not limited to Acts of God” as qualifying conditions, while others may specify circumstances such as “war, terrorist act, government regulation, disaster or strikes.” While leases widely differ in their form, modern leases for most major retail centers include a carve-out that the occurrence of a force majeure event does not permit late payment or nonpayment of rent by a tenant. Continue reading

March 11, 2020

Steven Siegfried Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Florida Bar Construction Law Committee

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Our firm’s founder and managing partner, Steven M. Siegfried was awarded the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Construction Law Committee of The Florida Bar. The award, which he received at the group’s annual awards reception in Orlando on Friday, March 6 (see photo below), recognizes one Florida construction law practitioner per year for their lifetime of exemplary dedication and mentoring, and their commitment to maintaining the very highest level of professional reputation and integrity.

Steven has focused on construction law in Florida since 1976. He has served as an adjunct professor of construction law at the University of Miami since 1984, and he has also conducted many seminars and presentations for construction law practitioners throughout Florida during his entire career. He is board certified by The Florida Bar as both a civil trial and construction law, having earned both designations in their year of inception from the state’s bar association. Steven is also a founding Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers, and he is the author of Florida Construction Law and The Florida Construction Lien Law, An Overview. He earned his undergraduate degree from Brooklyn College in 1971 and his law degree from American University, Washington College of Law in 1974.

All of the attorneys and professionals at our firm are very proud of the impact that our founder has had in teaching a generation of attorneys about the intricacies of construction law at the University of Miami while helping to build one of the state’s most respected practices in the field. We congratulate Steven and salute him for receiving this prestigious recognition from his peers in The Florida Bar’s Construction Law Committee.

November 4, 2019

Firm’s Real Estate Attorneys Finalize Transactions Totaling More Than $76 Million

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Three of the firm’s shareholders finalized several real estate transactions totaling more $76 million in Broward and Monroe counties. John Catalano represented Konover South and Master Development Partners in their purchase of vacant property in Miramar, Fla. owned by the Cleghorn Shoe Corporation. The purchase was part of a $41 million acquisition that will pave the way for a 30-acre mixed-use community with 650 apartments to be developed by Altman Cos., while Konover South and Master Development Partners plan to break ground on a 56,000-square-foot retail center. Click here to read additional information on the deal from the pages of the South Florida Business Journal.

Oscar R. Rivera represented the seller in the sale of Palm Square, a 77,621- square-foot shopping center in Broward County that sold for $20.475 million to Galim Capital. The retail strip, located on Pines Boulevard, is at the epicenter of a thriving Broward County submarket, which is in the midst of adding multifamily, retail and mixed-use development to the area. Click here to access PROFILE Miami’s article and read more on the deal.

August 29, 2019

Susan Odess Authors Article in Today’s Daily Business Review: “Court Opens Citizens Property Insurance to Claims for Consequential Damages”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Susan C. Odess authored an article that appeared as the featured guest commentary column in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article, which is titled “Court Opens Citizens Property Insurance to Claims for Consequential Damages,” focuses on a recent precedent-setting ruling with a certified question to the Florida Supreme Court by the state’s Fifth District Court of Appeal. It reads:

. . . The appellate panel overturned the trial court’s decision and remanded the case back to the lower court for hearings on whether the claimant is entitled to consequential damages for lost rental income caused by the insurer’s delays and denials.

The case began with an insurance claim by Manor House with Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which accepted responsibility for the loss and paid $1.93 million. The property owner later reopened the claim seeking $10 million, and the insurer subsequently made additional payments for approximately $345,000. However, Citizens’ adjuster estimated the actual cash value and replacement cost value of the policyholder’s loss to be in the $5.5 to $6.5 million range.

The property owner eventually sued in 2007 seeking prompt payment of the allegedly undisputed amount of $6.4 million and asking the court to compel Citizens to engage in the appraisal procedures called for under the policy.

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