McGrath North's real estate group assists clients in all aspects of real estate law, including locally, across the United States and internationally. McGrath North has broad experience in the acquisition and disposition of real estate, whether for industrial, commercial or residential use, including title, survey, environmental, and zoning review, and handles drafting and negotiating related contracts for construction, architectural and engineering services. McGrath North has also developed extensive expertise in resolving a multitude of title, land use and environmental problems in connection with the development and operation of properties.

Commercial Acquisitions and Sales  McGrath North assists clients in acquisitions and sales of commercial real estate, including multi-property, multi-state transactions, tenant in common (TIC) interests, 1031 "like-kind" exchanges, sale/leasebacks and other arrangements for seller financing.  McGrath North can offer strategies to overcome common obstacles to completing commercial real estate transactions, such as allocating risk and the cost of environmental conditions, structuring the transaction for necessary tax treatment, containing risks from title defects, and creative financing alternatives.

Real Estate Development  McGrath North often provides strategic counsel for property development throughout the planning and zoning process, including assisting in applications for available tax increment financing (TIF) and other available tax incentives. McGrath North's planning assistance extends to other areas, such as drafting and negotiating development agreements and annexation agreements, procuring water rights, and assisting property owners with title claims, environmental issues and property tax valuation issues or other needs.  When appropriate we involve other McGrath North attorneys who have expertise in other practice areas, such as tax, environmental, marketing, securities, government regulation or litigation. The real estate group also helps clients structure transactions to accomplish the clients' tax, governance and risk objectives, whether through joint ventures, partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations or other vehicles.

Real Estate Finance   McGrath North is actively involved in real estate financing transactions on behalf of borrowers, lenders, and participants, using traditional mortgages, deeds of trust, letter of credit arrangements, synthetic leases and a variety of other vehicles tailored to the client's goals. McGrath North's role includes advising clients on loan issues from the initial lending commitment terms through documenting the transaction, perfecting any applicable liens and any subsequent litigation or bankruptcy proceedings.

Commercial Leasing, Disputes and Eviction   McGrath North's substantial leasing experience is as broad and varied as the needs and objectives of its different clients, whether a multi-national corporation, a family-owned operation, or an individual. We handle all aspects of leases and subleases for both landlords and tenants, including ground leases, and leases for industrial, commercial, retail, office and residential uses, working to achieve legitimate tax, accounting and other objectives of the client's business or personal plan.  McGrath North's landlord/tenant practice includes representing landlords and tenants in connection with lease disputes, whether centered on maintenance obligations, the condition of property, failure to pay rent or other failures to perform and initiating or contesting eviction and related proceedings.

Construction  McGrath North's real estate group has represented both builders and property owners in our construction practice, including drafting and negotiating construction agreements for various projects, including residences, office buildings, restaurants, warehouses and plant expansions; preparing architectural and engineering services agreements; drafting and negotiating design-build agreements; perfecting and foreclosing mechanic's liens where necessary; and litigating mechanic's liens or construction quality disputes in Nebraska and nationwide.  McGrath North is familiar with the steps that can be taken in the initial contracting process to minimize the risk of disputes during a project, but count as one of our strengths our litigation team members who have extensive experience with construction cases.

Representative Projects

• Represented clients in negotiating and drafting synthetic leases for various commercial buildings.
• Assisted a manufacturing company in the refinancing of its synthetic lease of the facility in which its headquarters is located and, subsequently, the termination of its synthetic lease financing, sale and leaseback of its headquarters facility.
• Represented developer of ethanol plant in procuring water rights for Nebraska ethanol plant.
• Represented developer in structure of limited liability company to achieve governance and income tax treatment objectives in connection with new 380 acre multi-use development.
• Represented developer in refinancing three Midwest credit-tenant properties with permanent financing through securitized mortgages.
• Represented merchant banking group in the purchase of a stake in a portfolio of sixty-eight commercial credit-tenant real estate properties and an additional mortgage loan portfolio.
• Represented owners of various types of properties, including office buildings, manufacturing facilities, food processing facilities, grain elevators, gravel quarries, apartment complexes, motels, restaurants, residences and others, in property tax appeals.
• Represented a food company in the sale of portions of its nationwide network of distribution centers to a national logistics provider and negotiated related warehousing services agreement.
• Represented a company in multiple design-build agreements for the construction and substantial expansion of processing plants.
• Assisted a local business owner with a TIF loan agreement and related documents for a new operating facility.
• Represented coalition of community entities in assembling, negotiating and acquiring large sites for commercial and industrial development and redevelopment.
• Represented developers and builders in connection with the drafting and enforcement of property owners' association covenants.
• Represented developers and builders in connection with plat and subdivision approvals, rezoning, special use permits and conditional use permits, and negotiating and drafting development and redevelopment agreements.