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With 2021 now behind us, we wanted to share our top five most-read articles of 2021 from Gravel2Gavel. The most-read blog posts covered real estate and construction industry trends ranging from Proptech, smart construction, COVID-eviction moratoriums, and blockchain tokenization.

Throughout the year, G2G posts provided deep industry insight and summarized hot topics addressing the legal implications and disruptions that affected the market, and we will continue to expand on these insights in 2022. Our 2021 roundup:

  1. Blockchain Innovations and Real Estate: NFTs, DeFis and dApps by Craig A. de Ridder
  2. Washington, DC’s COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium Expires by Amanda G. Halter and Adam J. Weaver
  3. Operating an Adult-Use Cannabis Business in New York: Licensing and Considerations for Landlords and Tenants by Caroline A. HarcourtBrian H. Montgomery, and Adam J. Weaver
  4. Smart Construction and the Future of the Construction Industry by Caroline A. Harcourt and Adam J. Weaver
  5. Smart Technology in Commercial Real Estate by Rachel Newell

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Anne Austin recently joined Industry Insights host Joel Simon to discuss the key considerations and drivers of the Biden administration’s major regulatory initiatives.

White-house-159716644-300x200Our guest today is Anne Idsal Austin, a nationally recognized environmental lawyer who has held several high-profile federal and state regulatory roles. As a partner who recently joined Pillsbury’s environmental and natural resources practice, she provides strategic consulting and policy advice, helping clients navigate the dynamic regulatory and legal waters in an era of energy transition, decarbonization and an emphasis on ESG principles. Prior to joining Pillsbury, Anne was the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation, known as OAR or OAR, where she had primary oversight over United States clean air policy and regulation. Prior to that, she served as the EPA regional administrator for Region 6, overseeing all federal environmental programs in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Prior to joining EPA, Anne held several positions where she shaped environmental and energy policy at the highest levels of government in the state of Texas. Welcome to our podcast, Anne.

Anne Austin: Thanks so much. It’s great to be here today, Joel.

Continue Reading ›

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In July, several U.S. Senators introduced the Revitalizing Downtowns Act to Congress. In our previous post, we discuss how the bill is modeled after the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit, would provide a federal tax credit equal to 20 percent of “qualified conversion expenditures” with respect to a “qualified converted building.

As the pandemic continues, many office buildings may remain vacant and unused, leaving downtowns with fewer opportunities for investment and revenue generation. One potential impact of the bill would be the increased investment in affordable housing. With many cities large and small struggling to provide enough affordable housing, the act would create an opportunity to develop vacant buildings into much needed affordable housing developments.

In addition to creating jobs, the creation of affordable housing has the potential to slow down the gentrification affecting many large cities, said former U.S. Congressman Lacy Clay, now a  Senior Policy Advisor at Pillsbury.

Read more here.

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Smart-construction-vr-166065766-300x189“Smart Construction” is a loose term but generally refers to the development and use of processes and applications that improve construction planning and the management of projects (thereby potentially streamlining costs of construction).

The increased deployment of collaboration tools (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx) and other cloud-based technology solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic will invariably result in more efficient project management in construction going forward. These type of efficiencies are sorely needed, especially as the industry is trying to recover from supply chain issues, lockdown challenges and social distancing requirements resulting from the pandemic.

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Category 4 Hurricane Ida cut a destructive swath from Louisiana to New York, and Tropical Storm Nicholas bears down on the Gulf Coast. Those in the affected area should prepare for insurance recovery. As business and property owners begin to recover from the storms, they should also prepare for the aftermath of bringing these losses to their insurance companies. As they prepare to take stock of their losses, plan their response, and examine their insurance policies and their recovery options, they are going to face many questions. How are we going to pay to repair damaged property? What is the quickest way to resume our business? Can we recover any of the profits lost when our business was interrupted or our customers’ or suppliers’ businesses were interrupted? How do COVID-19 restrictions impact our losses and recovery? Are there any government funds, such as FEMA assistance, available to aid our recovery? Pillsbury colleagues Joseph D. Jean and Tamara D. Bruno provide insights to these questions in the recent alert, Hurricane Ida & Tropical Storm Nicholas: Insurance Implications.

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Texas and Louisiana are stepping up efforts to assume regulatory authority for an emerging wave of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects. Despite carbon sequestration being highly touted as a key tool to mitigate climate change, few commercial CCS projects have been permitted in the United States. Texas and Louisiana are moving towards regulating geological carbon sequestration by assuming “primacy” over wells built to sequester CO2. Louisiana’s primacy application is set for EPA review, while legislation in Texas recently simplified jurisdiction over carbon sequestration wells with an eye towards assuming regulatory control in the future. In State-Level Permitting Primacy May Boost Carbon Capture and Storage, colleague’s Anne Idsal Austin, Sheila McCafferty HarveyRobert A. JamesJorge MedinaAlex Peyton explain.

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“With little to no revenue at many locations, retail debtors have found it difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic to comply with Bankruptcy Code Section 365(d)(3)’s requirement that a debtor timely perform post-petition lease obligations while it decides whether to assume or reject a lease. However, given the pandemic’s lasting impact, and related governmental orders that have affected operations, revenues, and the ability to pay rent, retail debtors have considered legal strategies for obtaining, over the objections of landlords, extensions of the initial 60-day rent suspension already afforded by Section 365(d)(3). While a few retail debtors have been successful, one was not in In re CEC Entertainment.”

To read the full article written by colleagues Patrick J. PotterPatrick E. FitzmauriceBrian L. Beckerman, and Kwame O. Akuffo click here.

Source: Journal of Bankruptcy Law

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In “Uniwest And Virginia’s Anti-Indemnification Statute: The Trap For The Unwary Should Be Closed” in the pages of Virginia Lawyer, colleague Jamie Bobotek recently examined why it is time for Virginia’s General Assembly to correct the uncertainty created by its anti-indemnification statute’s ambiguous language.

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In the Spring 2021 issue of AFIRE Summit Journal, Pillsbury New York-based Real Estate partner Andrew Weiner discusses the Corporate Transparency Act and disclosure requirements for non-U.S. based investors. Summit Journal is the official publication of AFIRE, the national association for international real estate investors focused on commercial property in the U.S.

Read Andy’s full take here.

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on Tesoro Logistics Northwest Pipeline LLC v. Department of Revenue, the Oregon Tax Court, Regular Division, held that although a unit of property acquired by one centrally assessed company from another qualified as “new property” for purposes of Or. Const. Art. XI, § 11 (“Measure 50”), the unit of property’s existing maximum assessed value (“MAV”) was preserved in the hands of the new owner.  Tesoro Logistics Nw. Pipeline LLC v. Dep’t of Revenue, No. TC 5252, 2021 WL 6700471 (Or. Tax Ct., Reg. Div., Feb. 19, 2021).  As a result, the Oregon Department of Revenue was not entitled to redetermine the MAV on account of the acquisition. Continue reading on the SeeSALT blog.