Law360 interviewed Manatt's Roger Moliere, a senior advisor in the firm's Real Estate and Land Use practice, for an article on the challenges that cities face when partnering with private companies for real estate projects, which has become a popular strategy.
Law360 reports that cities looking to develop properties have increasingly been leasing the property to a private developer, which in turn develops it and hands the property back to the city at the end of the lease. However, many taxpayers have been uncomfortable with their cities allowing private companies to develop city land and occupy it for a period of time.
"It's a way to leverage public funds. Your alternative is to build a mall with more tax money," said Moliere. "It's leveraging what you have—the land—and allowing financing. ... There's been a real explosion of it all across the country."
Read the article here.