The chairs of the Real Estate Committee thank all the committee members for their support during this past year. COVID has had quite an impact on real estate lending and real estate bankruptcies. A major (and obvious) theme was the force majeure provision in contracts, and whether the COVID pandemic triggers the clause to, inter alia, excuse rental payments. Many governors’ emergency orders affected real estate as well, from construction permit tolling to foreclosure and eviction moratoriums. Just recently, the Real Estate Committee presented A Catch-22: Dilemmas for Landlords in the Era of COVID-19 (with the Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee) at the 2020 Winter Leadership Virtual Conference. Discussion points included landlord rights to assumption/rejection and timing, the ability of debtors to defer rent payments to landlords for lengthy periods of time, and the impact of force majeure clauses in these disputes (a common and recurring theme this year). We heard from boots-on-the-ground operators like Brookfield Properties and Simon Property Group.
The committee issued its post-pandemic newsletter in September 2020 with the following articles:
- Comparing Apples to Oranges: What Does “Similar to” Mean Under § 365(b)(3)(A)? (Samantha Ruben, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, M.D.N.C.)
- Reevaluating Retail REIT Restructurings (Gary Marsh, Troutman Pepper; Sarah Banda, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Ga.)
- Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy Court Applies Force Majeure Provision to Illinois Restaurant’s Nonpayment of Rent During Government-Mandated Business Closures (Amy M Kerlin, Reed Smith LLP; Victoria A. Sanford, Reed Smith LLP)
Previously in the year, our very own David Levy put on a series of “couch conferences” discussing real estate and distressed lending during the pandemic, and the success of those webinars led to ABI webinars addressing post-pandemic lending from Wall Street to Main Street, which can be found in ABI’s e-learning section. Watch the webinar.
This year’s committee co-chairs, Michael Rosow (Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A.) and Megan Murray (Underwood Murray, P.A.), assisted with pandemic learning and coordination of the committee.
This year’s committee co-chairs, Michael Rosow (Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A.) and Megan Murray (Underwood Murray, P.A.), assisted with pandemic learning and coordination of the committee.
David Levy (NRC Realty & Captial Advisors, LLC) served as Communications Manager, and his insight and foresight kept this committee on the front lines of pandemic learning. He was instrumental in organizing the early couch conferences and webinars for ABI and the Real Estate Committee.
Evan Miller served as Education Director and spearheaded a masterful program (along with the Unsecured Trade Creditors Committee) at the Winter Leadership Virtual Conference.
Charles Malloy served as Membership Relations Director.
Mark Sharf served as Newsletter Editor, with assistance from the rest of the committee.
Kevin Gray (Alabama Farmers Cooperative, Inc.) and Erin West (Godfrey & Kahn S.C.) served as Special Projects Leaders.
We are looking for MORE of everything in 2021: more thoughtful articles, more webinars, more togetherness and more in-person ABI conferences. Happy New Year, everybody!