|
The Community, Condominium and Resort Development Group of Carlton Fields has played a major role in structuring, negotiating, and documenting some of the most successful and complex real estate and resort developments throughout Florida and numerous other states, including those involving master planned and mixed-use communities, condominiums, subdivisions, other types of common interest ownership communities, timeshares, country clubs and golf courses, hotels and resort developments and destinations.
From the concept phase of a project to its financing, construction, marketing, sales and management phases, we have represented and worked closely with developers, foreign and domestic sources of capital, architects, contractors, brokers, marketers, managers, and governmental authorities. Our lawyers provide an extensive working knowledge of the governmental requirements in the development and operation of these projects.
With regard to Florida projects, these governmental requirements include the Florida Condominium Act, the Florida Vacation Plan and Timesharing Act, Florida statutes pertaining to corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies, and Florida statutes pertaining to homeowners associations. With regard to projects states other than Florida, while we work with local counsel in states where members of our Group are not licensed to practice, we are intimately involved in the structuring of these projects and are or become intimately familiar with that state’s governing statutes and regulations as are necessary for the development and operation of the project.
Our lawyers have an intimate familiarity with and have practiced under the terms and provisions of the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act and the Uniform Condominium Act, which are employed, in whole or in part, and in many jurisdictions throughout the country. Our lawyers also are thoroughly involved with and have tremendous experience with the numerous federal laws and regulations (including the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Truth-in-Lending Act and various consumer protection statutes) which impact land sales, financing and sales and marketing activities and prospects.
Our lawyers have a tremendous degree of knowledge of the numerous substantive laws applicable to community, condominium and resort developments. At the same time, our lawyers also focus upon the interplay of those legal considerations with the critical business decisions that must be made by developers and owners of master planned projects.
Land developers and owners of master planned projects seek our advice regarding environmental concerns affecting land use control, zoning, subdivision ordinances and noise abatement regulations. Our attorneys routinely work with financial institutions on real estate transactions, environmental audits and environmental policies designed to minimize the client’s exposure to environmental liability.
The Community, Condominium and Resort Development Group has represented and continues to represent clients in the development and operation of a wide variety of projects, which have been located in both resort and urban settings. Included among those projects are:
- all types of condominium regimes, employing any number of specific development strategies for either new construction or conversion of existing improvements, including:
- residential;
- hotels;
- resorts;
- office;
- commercial/retail;
- mixed-use;
- land;
- dock/boating/drystorage; and
- industrial;
- subdivisions and homeowners associations;
- master planned and mixed-use communities and projects;
- master associations;
- commercial owners associations;
- other types of common interest ownership communities;
- timesharing, fractionals, vacation clubs, exchange companies, and private residence clubs;
- equity and nonequity membership clubs;
- community development and special taxing districts;
- amenities structuring and ownership; and
- country clubs and golf courses.
With regard to each of these types of projects, we have the experience to advise as to the potential options for legal structuring so that our clients can make informed and appropriate decisions in the legal aspects of their projects. The legal services which we can offer to our clients are varied and extensive, including:
- the necessary structuring of the project and its various components and aspects, including the provision of potential options for consideration by our clients;
- analysis of legal title to the underlying lands and determining rights to be granted at the present or in the future to provide the greatest flexibility for our clients;
- determination of necessary easements, use rights and public dedications as required for the development (including representation in platting and subdivision issues);
- representation before federal, state and local governmental agencies on issues related to the drafting of documents necessary to satisfy the applicable governmental and regulatory requirements;
- consultation with our clients and our clients’ experts on legal entity structuring, tax planning and avoidance (where possible), surveying, platting, association
- budgeting and sales and marketing issues;
representation before state and federal regulatory bodies to obtain approval of the documentation necessary to offer interests for sale to third parties (including land sales registrations before the Department of Housing and Urban Development and securities matters before the Securities and Exchange Commission);
- negotiation and preparation of management and affiliation agreements in connection with hotels, hotel condominiums and timesharing/fractional ownership regimes;
- representation in connection with financing transactions to permit the desired development and any receivables financing related to purchase money financing;
- negotiation with contractors and preparation of appropriate construction contracts;
- training of our client’s employees and contracted sales and marketing professionals in connection with the offering of a project for sale to individual third parties;
- training of our client’s employees and contracted third parties on the management and operation of owners associations created in connection with the various aspects of a community; and
- representation of developers seeking to purchase distressed entities or assets through a workout, or foreclosure process or bankruptcy proceeding.
A general sampling of the representative matters of the Community, Condominium and Resort Development Group is provided below:
- Represented numerous developers throughout the country in the structuring, development, creation and formation of multiple master-planned communities each containing in excess of 400 acres (each community containing at least one master association, amenities (either in terms of equity relationships or via deed restrictions), and multiple condominium and subdivision regimes).
- Represented a national developer in multiple locations in the state of Florida and other states in the development, creation and formation of more than 15 high-rise condominium communities (each of which contained a total purchase price for the units in excess of $90 million), as well as the developer's homebuilding projects encompassing both single-family lots and condominium units.
- Represented numerous national residential community developers throughout the country in extensive and varied types of condominium and subdivision communities and developments, including those containing single-family lots, duplexes, townhomes, stacked flats, multi-unit structures, and mid-rise and high-rise buildings.
- Represented various resort developers in the legal structuring, sale and leasing of resort properties (including ski resorts and beach communities) throughout the country.
- Represented the developer of multiple timeshare and interval uses regimes that have generated in excess of $500 million in sales.
- Represented developers in both large-scale and small-scale condominium conversion projects.
- Represented numerous commercial developers in the development, creation and formation of commercial condominium regimes serving general office, medical office, retail and industrial uses.
- Represented numerous clients in the creation and submission of land sales registrations to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, ranging from single-family projects to condominium regimes.
We would be pleased to discuss your needs as they arise.
|