Rio de Janeiro's Bursting Real-Estate Bubble
September 17, 2015 —
Juan Pablo Spinetto & Peter Millard – BloombergAt opposite ends of downtown Rio de Janeiro, projects tied to Donald Trump and Eike Batista-- one a billionaire-turned-politician, the other Brazil’s most famous ex-billionaire -- have come to represent the city’s real estate bust.
The 23-story Serrador building, a granite-and-glass art deco tower near Rio’s Santos Dumont airport, has sat empty since Batista’s failed empire of commodities companies abandoned it last year. Four miles away, in the city’s gritty port district, an ambitious office project that Trump lent his name to is still nothing more than a weed-filled lot about a year after construction was slated to begin.
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Juan Pablo Spinetto, Bloomberg and
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Real Estate & Construction News Roundup (06/28/23) – Combating Homelessness, U.S. Public Transportation Costs and the Future of Commercial Real Estate
August 07, 2023 —
Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law BlogIn our latest roundup, we examine the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding water supply responsibilities, the federal reserve chair’s reaction to possible banking losses, several analyses of the future of commercial real estate, and more!
- California Representative Maxine Waters has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at combating homelessness and fixing the increasingly tumultuous affordable housing situation. (Eliza Relman, Business Insider)
- The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the federal government in a case that decided responsibility over water supply as well as the overall dissemination of water usage for the Navajo Nation. (Ariane de Vogue, CNN)
- Unlike other nations with similar construction, the United States’ public transportation has extremely high costs. (Darian Woods, Corey Bridges, Viet Le, NPR)
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Pillsbury's Construction & Real Estate Law Team
UPDATE: Trade Secrets Pact Allows Resumed Work on $2.6B Ga. Battery Plant
April 19, 2021 —
Mary B. Powers - Engineering News-RecordConstruction on a $2.6-billion battery manufacturing plant near Atlanta can continue under an agreement reached April 11 between two rival South Korean auto battery makers—including SK Innovation, which is owner of the half-completed project.
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Mary B. Powers, Engineering News-Record
ENR may be contacted at ENR.com@bnpmedia.com
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Connecting IoT Data to BIM
September 04, 2018 —
Aarni Heiskanen - AEC BusinessInternet of Things sensors and IoT-capable devices provide a huge amount of data from buildings. To make this data useful and usable for research, Aalto University is developing and testing a service that links IoT with building information models, BIMs.
“The idea to start an experiment on linking IoT with BIM at the Otaniemi campus originated from discussions we had within professor Martti Mäntylä’s Aalto campus IoT group. We realized that several small research projects were simultaneously testing IoT here. So we decided to create a framework for sharing information between the projects,” says Seppo Törmä, CEO of VisuaLynk.
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Aarni Heiskanen, AEC BusinessMr. Heiskanen may be contacted at
aec-business@aepartners.fi
How Technology Reduces the Risk of Façade Defects
March 20, 2023 —
Ori Aphek - Construction ExecutiveThe shell of the building is an onlooker’s first impression and crafts the architectural aesthetic, but it also plays a crucial role in enabling energy efficiency and protecting against the elements. Because façades are in direct contact with the elements, issues with water intrusion are the most common problem and the costliest to remedy, with anywhere from 30% to 70% of lawsuits related to water intrusion, half of it through the façade. Additionally, improperly installed façades pose significant safety risks because unsecured parts can fall and hit people below.
All these factors contribute to the façade being one of the most complex and costly aspects of a building to construct and inspect, making up 205 of the total project cost. Installing these systems correctly the first time is the most effective way to mitigate these threats. Teams should utilize data-informed technology that ensures plan adherence, reducing risk and avoiding errors during installation.
The Challenges of Façade Installation
Façade installation and subsequent inspection are inherently challenging, particularly for high-rise buildings. When performing post-installation verification manually, inspectors must review every element, joint by joint, window by window, stone by stone and brick by brick, which can take months to complete. Inspections of the entire building system are limited by this process, as inspectors can only access one portion of the building façade at a time and often have to inspect from indoors, on balconies or at the ground level, which doesn’t paint a complete picture. As a result, teams typically only perform spot checks on the façade and are rarely inspected to their fullest. This leaves many installation errors and defects, which serve as ticking bombs for future water intrusion or safety hazards.
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Ori Aphek, Construction Executive, a publication of Associated Builders and Contractors. All rights reserved.
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Second Circuit Clarifies What Must Be Alleged to Establish “Joint Employer” Liability in the Context of Federal Employment Discrimination Claims
March 14, 2022 —
Kevin J. O’Connor, Aaron C. Schlesinger & Lauren Rayner Davis - Peckar & Abramson, P.C.The “joint employer” doctrine has been used with increasing frequency by the plaintiffs’ bar to broaden the scope of target defendants in discrimination cases beyond those who would be traditionally regarded as the employer. This is true even in the construction industry, which has seen a rise in cases where general contractors or construction managers are being targeted when discrimination is alleged on a construction project, even when the GC or CM is far removed from the underlying events and had no control over the employees in question.
Until now, the Courts in the federal circuit which includes New York City (the Second Circuit) have been left to decipher a patchwork of case law to ascertain the scope and extent of joint employer liability in discrimination cases. This week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Felder v. United States Tennis Association, et al., 19-1094, issued a comprehensive decision which provides a helpful summary of what must be pled and proven to broaden liability under the joint employer theory in discrimination cases.
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Kevin J. O’Connor, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.,
Aaron C. Schlesinger, Peckar & Abramson, P.C. and
Lauren Rayner Davis, Peckar & Abramson, P.C.
Mr. O'Connor may be contacted at koconnor@pecklaw.com
Mr. Schlesinger may be contacted at aschlesinger@pecklaw.com
Ms. Davis may be contacted at ldavis@pecklaw.com
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Utah Becomes First State to Enact the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act
March 29, 2017 —
David Leta - Snell & Wilmer Real Estate Litigation BlogOn March 25, Utah became the first state to enact the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act (“UCRERA”) which was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (the “Conference”) and adopted by the Conference at its annual meeting in July 2015. The Utah Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act, (the “Utah Act”) mirrors UCRERA and applies to all commercial real property receiverships that are filed in the Utah District Courts on and after May 9, 2017.
The Utah Act provides both substantive and procedural guidance in an area of law that historically has been marked by inconsistency and uncertainty. This new law not only will provide judges, lenders and other receivership constituents with much needed instruction about their respective rights and responsibilities in commercial receivership proceedings, but it also is likely to reduce the cost and increase the predictability of these receiverships in Utah.
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David Leta, Snell & WilmerMr. Leta may be contacted at
dleta@swlaw.com
Courthouse Reporter Series: Two Recent Cases Address Copyright Protection for Architectural Works
January 16, 2024 —
Stu Richeson - The Dispute ResolverRecent decisions by the Seventh Circuit and the Eight Circuit have addressed the scope of protection afforded to architectural works under copyright law. The Seventh Circuit case of Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc., 994 F.3d 879 (7th Cir. 2021), took a somewhat narrow view of the copyright protection afforded to the design of an “affordable, multipurpose, suburban, single-family home.” In Designworks Homes, Inc. v. Columbia House of Brokers Realty, Inc., 9 F.4th 803 (8th Cir. 2021), cert. denied, 142 S. Ct. 2888, 213 L. Ed. 2d 1103 (2022) the Eight Circuit held that the publication of floor plans of a house in a real estate listing was not protected from claims of copyright infringement.
Design Basics, LLC v. Signature Constr., Inc., involved a plaintiff that the court described as holding registered copyrights in thousands of floor plans for suburban, single-family homes that are basic schematic designs, largely conceptual in nature, and depict layouts for one- and two-story single-family homes that include the typical rooms: a kitchen, a dining area, a great room, a few bedrooms, bathrooms, a laundry area, a garage, stairs, assorted closets, etc. The court described the plaintiff as a “copyright troll” and noted that litigation proceeds had become the principal revenue stream for the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued a contractor and related businesses contending hat the defendants had infringed plaintiff’s copyrighted floor plans.
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Stu Richeson, PhelpsMr. Richeson may be contacted at
stuart.richeson@phelps.com