Real Estate Highlights
- Lead general counsel for a privately held, national industrial warehouse development and acquisition firm, worth in excess of $1 Billion Dollars.
- Lead counsel on the purchase and leasing of over $1 Billion Dollars in new industrial developments and acquisitions for this privately held firm since 2012.
- Represented local developer and real estate entrepreneur with the relocation of an auto dealership to new property that is subject to complex, long term ground leases. Such representation included assistance with city incentives, and subdivision requirements.
- Assisted with the redevelopment of a new commercial shopping center in the Champaign market. Services included the formation and negotiation of a new LLC, real estate purchase agreements, city incentives and subdivision requirements, and the drafting and negotiation of complicated covenants, conditions and restrictions.
- Negotiated and drafted the documentation for the expansion of an existing manufacturing plant in the Champaign area. Services included representation on the additional land purchase, city subdivision requirements, annexation issues, and leasing.
- Lead counsel on the purchase, leasing, financing and redevelopment of a 30+ acre tract in the Champaign area for the construction of a brand new 700,000 + square foot warehouse facility for one of Champaign’s largest employers and businesses.
- Lead counsel on the development of a student housing project in Peoria, IL. Services included assistance with the assembly and purchase of residential real estate, title / survey issues, and leasing.
- Represented a client on the successful purchase, redevelopment and leasing of a commercial shopping center in Peoria, Illinois, with leases to national, investment grade tenants. Obstacles worked through included complicated access easements and title / survey issues, and protracted lease negotiations.
- Assisted multiple farm clients over the last several years with successful auctions of hundreds of acres of local farmland, with prices typically in excess of $10,000 per acre.
- Co-lead counsel on a portfolio sale of 33 assets leased to over 50 tenants for a sale price in excess of $300,000,000 in the 4th quarter of 2019.
Estate Planning and Administration Highlights
- Since 2011, sophisticated estate planning for over a dozen local, high net worth families. Such services included the recapitalization of controlling and non-controlling business interests, trusts, insurance and Generation Skipping Trust planning.
- In 2013 we served as lead counsel on the administration of a complex estate which included numerous business interests. Services included the preparation and filing of a voluminous 706 Estate Tax Return within 9 months of the date of death.
Business Transaction Highlights
- Assisted with the expansion and merger of a local insurance company to include the purchase of several local insurance agencies.
- Represented a buyer in the purchase of the assets of a local furniture company.
- Formed, drafted and negotiated documentation for new LLC’s and partnerships owning and investing in various commercial endeavors in the Champaign / Urbana community.
- Provided legal services for the refinance of an out of state commercial building leased to a national drug store.
- Formed, drafted and negotiated organizational documentation for a new student housing development LLC in Peoria, IL, which included the negotiation of private offering documentation for the solicitation of investment funds from accredited investors under Regulation D of the Federal Securities laws.
- Represented the buyer of various local title insurance companies.
- Assisted and prepared documentation for a sibling’s buy out of the interests in an LLC that owned farmland inherited from their parents.
Business Litigation Highlights
- 6 year long litigation resulting in the settlement of nearly all a concrete contractor’s mechanic’s lien claim on a hotel in Lincoln, IL.
- Successfully defended a farm client against a conspiracy claim to interfere with 3rd party business relations.
- Lead counsel on the successful collection of over 75% of an obligation owed by guarantors under a commercial lease.
- Enforced implied warranties under the Uniform Commercial Code arising out of the sale of “goods” against a concrete manufacturer resulting in a mediated settlement of over $400,000.00 for the client.
- Lead counsel in a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit against an out-of-state design and developing contractor on behalf of a local business that lead to a private settlement of $500,000.00.
Successfully collected over $250,000.00 from contractor after a dispute with the property owner over “cost engineering” and the overall bid process for the project. - Enforced a contract against a local developer after it agreed to pay for a product specifically manufactured by another at the request of the developer bringing in nearly $100,000.00 for the client.
- Represented clients establishing the ordinary course of natural drainage under the Illinois Drainage Code to obtain access to dissenting property owner’s adjoining land on behalf of drainage district members.
- Successfully filed and foreclosed mechanic liens on behalf of construction clients in order to secure and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in monies due and owing to the claimant; also successfully defended unlawful liens recorded against property curing thousands of dollars in fraudulently claimed lien rights.
- Effectively evicted commercial and residential tenants for clients including collection of thousands in rent arrearage.
