Real Estate Tax

Our Work

• The RLJ Companies: Represented affiliates of The RLJ Companies in connection with the $58,500,000 purchase of the Homewood Suites by Hilton Washington, located in the Thomas Circle area of Washington, DC.
• Goldman Sachs: ArentFox Schiff represents affiliates of Goldman Sachs in connection with hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate acquisitions and sales and joint venture work across the country, including projects for the Whitehall Street Real Estate Partnerships, the Archon Group, and Goldman’s own balance sheet.
• WRIT: Represented Rockville, Maryland-based Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (WRIT) in the acquisition of two office buildings located in the Quantico Corporate Center, Quantico, Virginia. WRIT paid $68 million for the newly constructed, four-story Class A office buildings. The development includes room to develop up to one million square feet of office, research, hotel, and retail space.
• Revolution LLC: ArentFox Schiff represented Revolution LLC in its acquisition of land on the Northwest coast of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, for the development of a luxury resort community including a One&Only Resort, a Tom Doak 18-hole golf course, and approximately 300 for-sale residential units.
• Horizon Bay Retirement Living: For more than a decade, ArentFox Schiff has represented affiliates of Horizon Bay Retirement Living in the structuring of ventures which own senior living facilities. We routinely advise on these complex ownership interest structures, including the structuring of ownership vehicles and advising on matters pertinent to taxable and tax exempt investors.
• The Artery Group LLC: ArentFox Schiff represented the Artery Group in a joint venture involving development of the Washington Dulles Marriott Hotel. We counseled the client and advised on joint venture structuring, including both lender and equity financing and owner incentive planning in the ownership vehicles.
• DLC Management Corp.: ArentFox Schiff represents DLC in the structuring of its nationwide equity transactions designed to purchase, operate and manage shopping centers.
• National Capital Property Trust II: ArentFox Schiff provided counsel to National Capital Property Trust II, a private REIT affiliate of Quadrangle Development Corporation, in connection with the acquisition of the National Press Building in Washington, DC.
• Getty Realty Corp.: A publicly traded REIT, turned to ArentFox Schiff for advice in connection with a sale and leaseback transaction involving 37 gasoline stations located in Prince Georges County, Maryland.
• Quadrangle Development Corporation: ArentFox Schiff represented REITs sponsored by Quadrangle Development Corporation in connection with restructuring the construction and refinancing of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC.
• Sunrise Senior Living, Inc.: Sunrise sought counsel from ArentFox Schiff in negotiating joint ventures with REITs as co-investors, requiring analysis of the REIT compliance rules.
• Quadrangle Development Corporation: ArentFox Schiff advised private REITs sponsored by Quadrangle Development Corporation in the negotiation of a joint venture and through the construction and financing stages in the acquisition of the Towers Crescent Building in Vienna, Virginia.

Historic Preservation & Investment Tax Credits

ArentFox Schiff’s tax professionals have extensive experience identifying tax-funded resources to finance real estate development. We routinely advise clients on the use and availability of New Markets Tax Credits, Charitable Contributions for Historic Preservation purposes, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, and Rehabilitation Credits to help our clients achieve their business goals. ArentFox Schiff represents both lenders and borrowers in real estate structures designed to utilize tax credits.

Representative Transactions

• Borrower’s Counsel: Represented the Borrowers in renovation of Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, DC, the Brexton Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland, and the KIPP DC Charter School in Washington, DC by means of New Markets Tax Credits.
• Borrower’s Counsel: Represented the Borrowers in financing Mary’s Center for Maternal Care and Barbara Chambers Children’s Center, both in Washington, D.C., using New Markets Tax Credits.
• Lender’s Counsel: Represented the leveraged lender in renovation of elder care facilities and office buildings in Virginia, using New Markets Tax Credits.
• So Others Might Eat: Represented DC-based So Others Might Eat in complex $36,000,000 financing with a combination of tax-exempt bonds and low income housing tax credits for the acquisition and rehabilitation of multifamily sites in Washington, DC.

Real Estate Structuring

Getting a real estate deal closed requires the cooperation and involvement of many different parties. Developers, financiers, property managers, land owners, and leaseholders routinely engage in joint ventures, alliances, and other contractual arrangements in organizing their project. ArentFox Schiff advises clients on the business and tax-efficient methods of structuring their arrangements. We understand the tax implications of joint venture and other equity arrangements, sale-leaseback arrangements, ground leases, mezzanine loans, credit syndication, and preferred-equity transactions.

ArentFox Schiff enables its clients to make informed decisions regarding the principal tax risks and opportunities involved in a real estate transaction, including strategies to minimize a particular tax risk, such as state or local property tax, or to seize a particular opportunity. We work with our clients to evaluate and implement ownership arrangements tailored to a specific transaction or asset, and to minimize the impact of an unplanned or unforeseen venture exit.  We assist our clients with the identification, evaluation and implementation of structures including investment funds, joint ventures, REITs, and other upper-tier vehicles designed to implement new financing and equity investment mechanisms, or to form longer-term, multi-property relationships with third party partners. In other cases, a change in market conditions, a change in the parties’ economic needs or other circumstances not anticipated at the outset might change a client’s tax risk, exposure, or opportunity. In whatever context the need arises, our focus is always on addressing our clients’ tax concerns while preserving the underlying economic arrangement and allowing our clients the maximum possible flexibility.

Representative Transactions

• Quadrangle Development Corporation: ArentFox Schiff advised private REITs sponsored by Quadrangle Development Corporation in the negotiation of a joint venture and through the construction and financing stages in the acquisition of the Towers Crescent Building in Vienna, Virginia.
• Horizon Bay Retirement Living: For more than a decade, ArentFox Schiff has represented affiliates of Horizon Bay Retirement Living in the structuring of ventures which own senior living facilities. We routinely advise on these complex ownership interest structures, including the structuring of ownership vehicles and advising on matters pertinent to taxable and tax exempt investors.
• The Artery Group LLC: ArentFox Schiff represented the Artery Group in a joint venture involving development of the Washington Dulles Marriott Hotel. We counseled the client and advised on joint venture structuring, including both lender and equity financing and owner incentive planning in the ownership vehicles.
• DLC Management Corp.: ArentFox Schiff represents DLC in the structuring of its nationwide equity transactions designed to purchase, operate and manage shopping centers.
• Forest City Washington: ArentFox Schiff has served as lead counsel in connection with a joint venture between Forest City Washington and Gould Property Company involving the development of a 119-acre town center in Prince Georges County, Maryland, which will include a major retail center, residences, offices, hotels, and other uses.
• Sunrise Senior Living, Inc: ArentFox Schiff counseled Sunrise in the negotiation of joint venture agreements with six separate joint venture partners for eight portfolios, consisting of over 100 properties located in 21 states valued at more than $1 billion.
• Fundamental Long Term Care: ArentFox Schiff represented Fundamental Long Term Care in a joint venture with a Texas owner/operator for the operation of 14 skilled nursing facilities.  We assisted in all aspects of the negotiation of the joint venture relationship.
• Revolution LLC: ArentFox Schiff represented Revolution LLC in its acquisition of land on the Northwest coast of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, for the development of a luxury resort community including a One&Only Resort, a Tom Doak 18-hole golf course, and approximately 300 for-sale residential units.
• ArentFox Schiff provided tax planning and structuring to private REITs involved in the development of the Washington, DC downtown Convention Center Hotel.
• Quadrangle Development Corporation: ArentFox Schiff represented REITs sponsored by Quadrangle Development Corporation in connection with restructuring the construction and refinancing of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC.

Real Estate Workouts

Distressed real estate loans raise a multitude of legal issues and ArentFox Schiff’s tax professionals are an integral part of the firm’s real estate workout team. Structuring the most favorable solution to a troubled loan requires an understanding of the potential income tax consequences of a workout. We understand the tax consequences of debt forgiveness and the impact of nonrecourse vs. recourse debt forgiveness on taxpayers; we have counseled clients on the exceptions to cancellation of indebtedness income and the potential deferral of losses pursuant to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Tax-Exempt Financing

ArentFox Schiff provides the highest level of tax experience in the area of municipal finance. We advise municipalities, underwriters, credit enhancers, and borrowers on every aspect of tax law relating to municipal finance, including compliance with the private activity bond limitations. ArentFox Schiff has served as special tax counsel for the California State University System, District of Columbia, and numerous conduit issuers.

Our lawyers have advised clients on obtaining private letter rulings and determination letters from the Internal Revenue Service relating to municipal finance and tax-exempt organizations. We have drafted federal legislation relating to changes to Section 103 of the tax code and successfully lobbied Congress for the passage of such legislation. Our experience includes Section 103 of the tax code and extends to low-income housing tax credits, including tax controversy and private business use reporting protocols.

Representative Transactions

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute: ArentFox Schiff represented Howard Hughes Medical Institute over the last two decades in numerous financing and derivative transactions, including, a $600 million taxable bond financing, a $500 million tax-exempt bond financing, an $83.5 million tax-exempt bond financing, and a $23 million tax-exempt bond financing.
• Georgetown University: ArentFox Schiff represented Georgetown University (including Georgetown University Medical Center) in more than $1.275 billion tax-exempt and taxable financings, including new construction, refundings, interest rate conversions, and derivative transactions, using auction rate securities, fixed rate bonds, and variable rate demand bonds.
• Metropolitan Washington, DC tax-exempt bond issues for which our attorneys have been approving bond counsel include, through the District of Columbia, Georgetown University, National Children’s Center, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, and, through local municipalities, Providence Hospitals.
• Outside of the local area, our attorneys have acted as approving bond counsel for tax-exempt issues on behalf of hospitals, nursing homes, and other elder care facilities and other nonprofit and commercial entities in Massachusetts, California, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, Delaware, and Tennessee, among other states.
• ArentFox Schiff has substantial experience in project financings for nonprofit organizations. We have served as borrower’s counsel in tax-exempt and/or taxable borrowings for many clients, including The Phillips Collection, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Geophysical Union, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Association of American Medical Colleges, American Type Culture Collection, St. Andrews, and the Maret School.