Clients with commercial real estate interests benefit from Trish's extensive track record supporting clients in mergers and acquisitions both as sellers and acquirers, as developers of commercial sites and larger mixed-use projects, representing both landlords and tenants in commercial leasing, and assisting with commercial property financing and local counsel opinions. Trish draws from her involvement with real estate issues, practices and trends in many sectors: hospitality, medical, restaurant, office, industrial, manufacturing, retail, agricultural, and recreational. She also supports clients in matters involving a wide range of project real estate documents, plus complementary law practice areas, including: oil and gas, environmental, construction, eviction, creditors’ rights, bankruptcy, statutory liens, water law, health care, like-kind and tax-deferred exchanges, zoning and land use, eminent domain, property tax exemption, and corporate/entity agricultural land ownership restrictions. Additionally, Trish's wind energy practice spans work as developer's counsel, and other times as landowner's counsel, so that her work for clients is built on the experience of issues from both angles. Wind energy projects are large-scale, sophisticated real estate developments, involving many project real estate documents, plus permitting, regulatory, tax, power transmission, power sale, and financing aspects.
Mergers and Acquisitions - Real Estate
- Purchaser's counsel to acquire 34 operating hotels in multiple transactions. Representation spanned negotiating asset acquisition agreements, conducting diligence and risk assessment, and operations turnover.
- Real estate member of firm’s transaction team representing a dairy operation in the asset purchase of large feedlot and agriculture enterprise in western Kansas. The firm’s role included negotiation and preparation of letters of intent, asset purchase and related transaction documents, ERISA and employee benefit matters, business and tax issues, review and negotiation of land title and permitting issues, water rights and environmental issues, and a broad range of general corporate matters.
- Real estate member of firm’s transaction team representing heavy equipment dealer’s two separate successful acquisitions of other large franchise equipment dealer’s operations and territory. The first acquisition doubled its territory from 49 to 99 Kansas counties; the second added 45 more counties in Kansas and Missouri. The real estate portion of the transactions included 16 new operations sites, the real estate diligence and related financing and third-party agreements for each, and negotiation of the real-estate-related portions of the acquisition agreements.
- Real estate member of firm’s transaction team that successfully represented the seller of a 20-hotel portfolio of assets located in 11 states to Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Legal real estate work included negotiation of real estate terms of sale agreement, responding to real estate diligence inquiries and issues, and obtaining lessor, owners associations, governmental, and other third-party required consents.
- Represented seller in successful sale of multi-state, multi-location convenience store operator for 50 business sites. Real estate issues included negotiation of real estate terms of sale agreement, creatively addressing and solving title objections, leasing, estoppels, third party consents, licenses, lot-splits, new easements, and zoning and code compliance.
- Real estate member of firm’s transaction team that successfully represented the seller of a 99-bed hospital operation to an HCA subsidiary, including negotiating real estate terms of sale agreement, a long-term lease, related re-financing terms and documentation for the site, shared building use and services terms with other occupant, and assisting with real estate diligence items.
Wind and Solar Energy
- Represented project developers, project managers, county regulators, or land owners in more than 30 wind and solar energy projects.
- Real estate local counsel for party acquiring interests in and developing wind energy projects of approximately 419 megawatts spread over 66,000 acres, and an additional approximately 240 megawatts over additional acreage.
- Local counsel for national renewable project developer regarding approximately 200 megawatt wind energy project.
- Local counsel for an international renewable project development and management company regarding wind energy projects and potential development, including three projects totaling approximately 650 megawatts and approximately 180,000 acres.
- Representation of project development and management company regarding approximately 74-megawatt wind energy project.
- Local counsel in $150,000,000 financing of electric transmission assets across 14 counties.
- Advising on alternatives and negotiating and drafting documents to facilitate transfer of renewable project income stream separate from project lease.
- Represented national leader in sales and installation of distributed wind energy projects, including Vestas, Gamesa, Northern Power, and Endurance turbines.
Real Estate Development
- Hotel developer’s outside counsel, including leading real estate legal team handling all aspects of new site acquisition negotiation, diligence, and entitlement, to acquire, construct and operate or franchise more than 180 sites throughout the United States.
- Counsel for hotel developer obtaining industrial revenue bonds.
- Site acquisition and diligence counsel to regional shopping center developer.
- Represent acquirer of 15-acre industrial site, including pre-acquisition diligence, and post-acquisition complex re-development leasing and diligence.
- Local Kansas counsel for significant casino company, assisting with a range of site acquisition, development, and permitting issues, including laws and use concerns unique to a casino operation, for a proposed $260 million, 275-acre development.
- Represented developer of approximately 29-acre urban mixed-use multi-building public-private downtown revitalization development in all aspects: development agreements, land contracts, multiple ground leases to support national retailer, offices, national hotel chain and condominiums, subleases, owners associations, financing, platting, permitting, restrictive covenants, easements, parking agreements, and use limitations.
- Counsel to land seller of largest and still-expanding recent commercial development corridor in Garden City, Kansas, including Walmart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Applebee’s, Menard’s and hotel sites. Representation included involvement in development, tax, government incentives, platting, zoning, utilities, easement, and restrictive covenant issues.
- Exclusive representation of developer of approximately 700-acre mixed-use development. Handled all development aspects, including land contracts, leasing, owners' associations, financing, platting, permitting, restrictive covenants, easements, parking agreements, and use limitations.
Real Estate Leasing
- Representation of landlord of 131,000 sqare-feet multi-story office building with national and regional tenants, negotiation of tenant leasing documents and related documents and issues, including tenant leasing 81,000 square-feet.
- Assisted with more than 85 transactions – a mix of leasing (single-site, pad site, and in-line) and site sale/purchases of fee title – across five states for franchisees of several national restaurant chains.
- Represented landlord in complex industrial leasing transaction involving more than 1,200,000 square feet.
- Negotiated tenant’s three industrial leases covering over 1,000,000 square feet.