Overview
Real estate is a big business with its share of disputes. We have broad experience in commercial and residential real estate and land use litigation and work with the transactional lawyers in our real estate practice group in representing developers, lending institutions, builders, landlords, governmental agencies, investors and private landowners in disputes including:
- Breach of contracts to purchase, sell or lease real property
- Specific performance of such contracts and other claims for injunctive relief
- Eminent domain (condemnation and inverse condemnation)
- Redevelopment projects
- Governmental exactions and compulsory dedications
- Commercial landlord/tenant disputes
- Building and special use permits
- Zoning variances
- Easement
- Landmark preservation
- Municipal finance assistance such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
- Real estate tax appeals
- Environmental matters involving, for example, developments affecting floodplains, wetlands, or other protected areas
Our eminent domain work on behalf of cities or private redevelopers in condemnation actions has included representing the condemning authorities in the Meacham Park Redevelopment Project in Kirkwood and in the Cardinal Ritter College Prep Project in the Vandeventer-Spring Redevelopment Area in the city of St. Louis. Our work on behalf of private landowners includes representing the landowners whose property was taken for the Katy Trail in a successful claim against the federal government.
When a real estate dispute cannot be resolved between the parties, we aggressively fight for our clients’ interests and strive to provide creative and cost-effective solutions. Our experience gives us the technical and practical insight to swiftly identify and resolve those disputes susceptible to a business solution, and zealously litigate those that are not.