SMA, Ltd. – AGG Helps Real Estate Investor Solve Three Significant Challenges

Challenge

Real estate investor Samuel L. Rubin, principal of Santa Monica, Calif., based-SMA, Ltd., wanted to invest in commercial property in the Atlanta area. A broker friend of Mr. Rubin’s recommended he contact Arnall Golden Gregory to handle the legal aspects of Atlanta real estate transactions. Mr. Rubin focused on two retail parcels located at the Sterling Pointe development in Dunwoody, Ga., adjacent to Perimeter Mall on Atlanta’s north side. AGG’s expertise helped the client resolve three significant challenges.

Approach

The two retail parcels are units in a commercial condominium regime. AGG worked closely with the lender to explain how to fund the deal and draft documents in a condo setup. Any future plans the client might have for the two parcels have to be approved by the seller, Sterling Pointe’s master developer. The second challenge was helping the client utilize a tax incentive program offered by the City of Dunwoody Development Authority. AGG managed that process. The third challenge was that the transaction included a 1031 exchange, in which profit from the client’s earlier sale of property in another state had to be reinvested within 180 days to avoid paying capital gains taxes of nearly $2 million. As a result, the Georgia closing date was moved up by a month to take advantage of that program. AGG’s team worked diligently with the client to close the deal in time to meet the 1031 deadline, with literally minutes to spare. The lead AGG attorney in this deal happened to know the lawyer representing the seller’s lender, and that relationship helped expedite completion of the work.

Result

The client, who previously had invested only in the West and Midwest, now has a stake in rapidly growing north Metro Atlanta, where offices, stores, restaurants and hotels are clustered. More than 130,000 people work within a three-mile radius of Sterling Pointe.