Many tenants face unprecedented challenges in meeting their lease obligations in light of the current economic dislocation, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the initial governmental response, including financial support and eviction moratoriums - combined with the unintended “benefit” of widespread court closures -provided some initial respite, both tenants and landlords now must face the prospect of renegotiating terms and enacting other resolutions. Leveraging Manatt’s decades of experience on behalf of some of the nation’s premier commercial landlords and tenants, Manatt is uniquely positioned to assist commercial tenants on creative and pragmatic solutions for any type of leasing opportunity, concern or dispute.
What we do
Manatt uses a strategic interdisciplinary approach, combining transactional, workout, bankruptcy, litigation and other relevant expertise to help our clients identify a range of alternate approaches to address their unique situation. We then work with our clients to weigh the risks and benefits of each potential approach, allowing them to identify the optimal strategy to achieve their goals and objectives with potential downside risks identified and assessed. We then employ our insight gained from our extensive landlord-side representation—we know what they want, what they need and what they will accept—as well as our specialized tenant-side experience, which we developed through our representation of some of the country’s most significant commercial real estate tenants. Our unique perspective, coupled with our deep bench, allows us to execute our client’s strategy as efficiently and successfully as possible.
Our team stands ready to handle any complex leasing strategy or remedy, especially those that are a result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impact. Select types of representations include:
- Lease workouts and renegotiations
- Remedies and strategies for disputes over tenant rental obligations (including forbearance or deferral)
- Early surrender or lease termination, with respect to mitigation of damages
- Complex tenant-landlord litigation and arbitration
- Counsel on government closure orders with respect to tenant obligations – including force majeure clauses, impossibility, impracticability and frustration of purpose
- Review of state and local restrictions, such as moratoria on evictions and prohibitions on proceeding with unlawful detainer actions
- Tenant insolvency, bankruptcy and restructuring impact on leasehold obligations
- Tenant rights and financial remedies in the event of bankruptcy
Who we work with
Our leasing clients include national grocery chains, leading national and regional developers and investors, major healthcare providers and large corporate/technology companies.
Select clients include:
- Bohannon Development
- Bristol Farms
- Dignity Health
- Facebook
- PK Retail Holdings
- Robertson Property Group
- Trader Joe’s
- Westfield (URW)