Florida Real Estate Lawyer Blog

September 21, 2021

Firm Updates from the Managing Partner

by Steven M. Siegfried

Steven M. Siegfried

As we approach the last quarter of 2021, I wanted to check in with our readers to provide some updates from our firm.

While many of us expected the pandemic to be in our rearview mirror, COVID-19 continues to affect our community, creating challenges for how we all live and work. As a business, we have felt the importance of our mission to be a reliable resource for our clients more than ever. We continue to publish articles and offer webinars to provide you with real-time updates and helpful information to help you make better decisions for your business/community.

Our firm has also hit some significant milestones this year. We’ve added new members to our team and hope to continue growing our Siegfried work family in the coming months. Together, we’ve been able to showcase our expertise both in the media and virtually, sharing our insights with thousands of people on several important topics.

June 9, 2021

Florida Governor Signs HB 337: Impact Fees

by Oscar R. Rivera

Oscar R. Rivera

Florida’s governor recently signed a new bill into law, House Bill 337, limiting a local government’s ability to impose impact fees on builders and developers embarking on new residential and commercial construction projects. The law, which took effect immediately and whose limits will be applied retroactively for increases in impact fees made since January 1, 2021, aims to prevent counties from hiking up costs associated with new builds.

An impact fee is a one-time fee assessed by local governments to developers and builders to offset a new development’s impact on existing infrastructure. The rationale behind the assessment is to essentially charge a tax on new construction to defray its costs on existing vital services such as schools, parks, roads and emergency services. Think: An increase in residents and users equals more of a burden on existing infrastructure.

Unfortunately, for years developers have complained that the impact fees collected by local governments are not actually used by the municipalities for remediating the impact the new growth has on the infrastructure at all. Oftentimes, developers argue that instead of investing the impact fee funds on improvements to the existing infrastructure affected by a new project, the impact fee funds are diverted to areas not remotely impacted by the new construction and are actually squandered away on other pet projects of local governments.

May 19, 2021

Article by Oscar Rivera in Today’s Daily Business Review: “Caveat Emptor Still Dictates in Florida’s Courts for Real Estate Buyers”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Oscar Rivera authored an article that was featured as the “Board of Contributors” guest commentary column on the homepage of the website of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper, and will soon be appearing in the newspaper’s print edition. The article, which is titled “Caveat Emptor Still Dictates in Florida’s Courts for Real Estate Buyers,” focuses on a recent ruling by Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal on the doctrine of caveat emptor, which holds that buyers are solely responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before purchase. The decision reaffirmed that the principle still holds true in the state for real estate buyers who seek to have their property acquisitions nullified by the courts due to alleged misrepresentations and hidden defects. Oscar’s article reads:

. . . In Florida Holding 4800 v. Lauderhill Mall Investment, Florida Holding purchased a commercial property from Lauderhill Mall, then sued the seller for alleged misrepresentations and concealments of its physical condition. The trial court entered final summary judgment in favor of the seller, concluding that the buyer’s claims were all expressly contradicted by the purchase and sale agreement that the parties had executed.

In the buyer’s subsequent appeal, the Fourth DCA panel found that the sale agreement stipulated it was an “as is” sale, using language that is standard for the industry. It noted that the seller made absolutely no warranties, representations or covenants to the buyer regarding the condition of the property, and the buyer acknowledged that it was purchasing the property in its “as is” condition and based solely on its own inspection, investigation and evaluation.

May 13, 2021

The Future of Parking Areas

by Oscar R. Rivera

Oscar R. Rivera

In a world where ride services such as Uber and Lyft have become widespread, and electric cars are becoming extremely popular, many are asking themselves what that means for parking lots going into the future. In the past, office and retail tenants relied on serious negotiations and a series of analyses to figure out acceptable parking ratios for their stores and offices. But can we expect the same parking concerns from commercial real estate tenants in the future, or will their focus shift to other interests such as charging stations and drop-off/pick-up zones?

Parking ratios are generally established by local zoning codes. The parking ratio is a statistic commonly used to determine the number of parking spaces available for use by each commercial tenant. The total parking spaces available are divided by the property’s entire gross leasable area, with the ratio most commonly expressed per every 1,000 sq. ft. of property.

Most retail stores require four spaces per 1,000 sq. ft., while restaurants are typically allocated more parking spaces for every 1,000 sq. ft. These numbers can vary depending on the property type.

Besides ensuring that the correct number of parking spots are assigned, big box stores like Marshalls, Old Navy, Best Buy, and grocery stores such as Publix, serving as anchor stores, also require specific parking fields in front of their stores and demand certain parking ratio minimums. It is not uncommon for these tenants to designate protected parking areas, prohibiting landlords from ever changing, rearranging or reassigning their parking spaces, and to maintain architectural control over their parking areas.

March 24, 2021

Real Estate Team Represents Buyer in Multimillion Dollar Purchase

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Firm shareholders Oscar R. Rivera and John Catalano successfully concluded work recently on a $79 million purchase by client Bar Invest Residential 4 LLC, a Bar Invest Group division.

The transaction involved the purchase of an apartment complex known as The Landings at Pembroke Lakes, a large community located in Pembroke Pines, Florida (pictured below). The multifamily residential rental complex houses 358 units, as well as a clubhouse with resort-style amenities. REIT counsel at Greenberg Traurig assisted our team in the acquisition of this project, and our client obtained financing through BankUnited.

Our firm congratulates and salutes Oscar, John and their support staff for all of the hard work they put forth in completing this transaction for our client.

March 16, 2021

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

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

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 16, 2021

Reports in New York Times, Other Major News Outlets Document Miami’s Post-Pandemic Surge in Business Relocations

by Oscar R. Rivera

Oscar R. Rivera

“America’s business leaders, freed from the office, looked around the country, taking note of its coronavirus lockdowns, taxes and rabble rousers. And many said as if in unison: Miami!”

That’s how a major article on the cover of the Technology section of the Jan. 29 edition of The New York Times begins. It goes on to note that several finance and technology titans as well as Silicon Valley venture capitalists are relocating to Miami, where Mayor Francis X. Suarez has rolled out the red carpet.

The article reads:

“Dozens of big names have arrived. There was a tech contingent: Keith Rabois, a PayPal co-founder and investor, and his husband. Then their friend Peter Thiel, the tech investor and prominent conservative. Jon Oringer, founder of the stock-photography provider Shutterstock, and the media mogul Bryan Goldberg. Steven Galanis, the head of the celebrity-video product Cameo, is here. Elon Musk is talking about building car tunnels under Miami.

“There are also hedge funds and private equity funds. Paul Singer’s Elliott Management is moving its headquarters to the Miami area, as is Carl Icahn’s firm, Icahn Enterprises. Others are opening major Miami offices: Kenneth Griffin’s Citadel as well as Blackstone Group. Goldman Sachs is weighing moving parts of its operation to Miami.”

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