Real Estate New York: Meet the Lawyer: Thorny Paths for Real Estate Attorneys

Jay Neveloff, Paul Selver and Michael Sillerman were featured in the July/August 2008 issue of Real Estate New York’s “Meet the Lawyers” special section. In an article entitled “Thorny Paths for Real Estate Attorneys” they were among only 22 lawyers who were asked to comment about managing client expectations in a down market.

Jay Neveloff: “Given the increased sophistication of real estate transactions and the structuring of debt and equity, the oncoming iteration of restructurings will be vastly different. It is no longer simply a negotiation between borrower and lender. Rather, much of the tension on the lender’s side will be between different tranches of debt.”

Paul Selver: “Development has occurred at a frenetic pace during the past five years. At the same time, the city has taken steps to bring its planning policies and land use controls into the 21st century. If these land use initiatives are to be successful in an increasingly challenging economic environment, the city will need to look closely at incentives and investments that encourage the production of housing, while maintaining the city’s attraction to financial service firms and to businesses and institutions that contribute to its intellectual and cultural resources.”

Michael Sillerman: “From the zoning perspective, the greatest concern in the current weakening economic climate is to avoid having the regulatory sector place too many costly burdens on new development. Many of the locations for future development are in former waterfront or manufacturing areas which require rezonings or other public approvals. The combination of affordable housing, lower site density, reduced parking, required waterfront and open space improvements, and site cleanup may make development of these emerging areas unrealistic.”