Big-Firm Deal Lawyers, Boutique Attention
Every deal turns on the details: what the land can actually be used for, what the lease really costs over twenty years, how the venture splits the upside when the financing shifts. Suder's transactional lawyers spent decades as partners at global and national firms, and now bring that experience to your acquisition, lease, joint venture, or financing without the big-firm overhead.
Real Estate Transactions
Our transactional team combines two careers' worth of large-firm deal work. Sean Suder was a partner in the commercial real estate practices of two major Ohio firms and has closed nine-figure sale-leasebacks, hotel and tower acquisitions, and millions of square feet of retail, office, and industrial leases. Josh Bernstein, of counsel, spent more than twenty years at Skadden, Norton Rose Fulbright, Greenberg Traurig, and Armbrust & Brown, Austin's go-to firm for land use and development work, advising developers, investors, lenders, and operators on development-driven transactions (acquisitions, dispositions, and leasing) and on real estate finance and private equity (joint ventures, debt and equity financing, and fund formation) across every asset class, from single-family and multifamily to industrial, office, retail, and hotel, with particular depth in senior housing. He is a recognized authority on structuring complex condominiums for the financing and sale of commercial, residential, and mixed-use projects, including the W Austin Hotel & Residences and Austin's marquee master-planned communities. Because we also practice land use law every day, we catch the entitlement and zoning issues in a deal that purely transactional lawyers miss, and Sean is a licensed Ohio title agent.
How we help
- Acquisitions, dispositions, and financings across all asset classes: single-family and multifamily, office, retail, industrial, hospitality and timeshare, and senior and age-restricted housing
- Retail, office, industrial, and ground leasing for landlords and tenants
- Joint ventures, private equity and fund structures, and debt and equity financing for investors and operating partners
- Condominium formation and governance, including commercial and mixed-use condominium regimes, condominium structures as a density and land-planning tool, and master-planned communities
- Development agreements, covenants (CC&Rs), easements, licenses, and sale-leaseback and other financings
- Lender and borrower representation on commercial real estate loans, workouts, foreclosures, and distressed-asset resales; entity formation and M&A for real estate companies
Representative matters.
Grocery-anchored downtown tower
Lead transactional counsel on the sale-leaseback financing for a new 18-story downtown apartment tower anchored by a new multi-level Kroger store.
Convention hotel acquisition
Lead transactional counsel on the acquisition of the 32-story Millennium Hotel across from the Duke Energy Convention Center.
$100 million assisted living portfolio
Lead real estate counsel on the sale-leaseback financing of a $100,000,000 assisted living portfolio spanning three states.
Retail leasing program for a growing orthodontics group
Lead leasing counsel for locations in several of the region's top retail centers, including Kenwood Towne Centre.
Playhouse Square residential tower
Counsel on matters related to a portion of the public financing for a new 34-story apartment tower on Cleveland's historic Playhouse Square.
W Austin Hotel & Residences condominium
Josh Bernstein prepared the condominium documents for the W Austin Hotel & Residences, the mixed-use tower combining a hotel, private residences, and commercial space, using the condominium regime to allocate ownership, control, and cost among very different uses in one building.
The Grove: 75 acres of state land into a walkable mixed-use community
Josh Bernstein represented the private equity-backed developer in acquiring 75 acres of state-owned land in central Austin through a public bid process, including leaseback agreements with multiple state agencies, public procurement requirements, and affordable housing commitments, followed by the ongoing development, leasing, and parcel sales for the community.
Austin's marquee master-planned communities
Josh Bernstein was heavily involved in the development, condominium, and covenant work for several of the projects that shaped Austin's growth, including Barton Creek and the Mueller redevelopment.
Age-restricted communities structured as condominiums
For a master-planned community developer, Josh Bernstein built a condominium structure for subdividing all of the land in multiple 55+ communities, unlocking significantly more density than a traditional platted subdivision would allow, and handled sales of improved and unimproved parcels to sub-developers, homebuilders, and individuals.
First-of-its-kind timeshare conversion
Josh Bernstein represented a national hospitality company in acquiring a Class A apartment building and converting it to timeshare use, securing a first-of-its-kind approval from local authorities, then structuring multiple condominium regimes to support a multi-club timeshare program and state timeshare registrations.
Land acquisition program for a publicly traded homebuilder
Josh Bernstein advised a public homebuilder on the simultaneous acquisition of dozens of unimproved parcels, negotiating entitlement and development agreements and utility and shared-facility agreements with sellers and neighbors, with a tracking system built to keep the volume on schedule.
Joint venture for a major commercial and mixed-use project
Josh Bernstein represented an institutional developer in structuring and negotiating the joint venture for a large commercial and mixed-use development in San Diego.
Commercial lender representation, including a distressed Houston project
Josh Bernstein has represented a commercial real estate lender across multiple loans nationwide, including a Houston development where the borrower's deal collapsed and the lender foreclosed and resold the asset.
Everything real property.
Land Use & Zoning
Rezonings, variances, PUDs, appeals, and zoning opinions. At Suder, zoning is not another practice area; it is the practice area.
ExploreReal Property Litigation & Appeals
Trial and appellate counsel in real property disputes, with published decisions in Ohio's courts of appeals.
ExploreEminent Domain & Takings
More than 100 property owners represented in appropriation, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings matters.
ExploreHistoric Preservation
Certificates of appropriateness, landmark designations, and the fight to keep the buildings worth keeping.
ExploreReal Estate Taxation
Valuation challenges before boards of revision and the Board of Tax Appeals, and abatements that make projects pencil.
ExploreLocal Counsel & Co-Counsel
Ohio and Northern Kentucky local counsel for national firms, plus Texas and New York transactional counsel.
ExploreTalk to us about real estate transactions.
Tell us what you are trying to build, buy, keep, or defend. We will tell you plainly how we can help.