Real Estate Litigation

We are not transaction attorneys — we are real estate litigators. For example, we litigated land use, environmental, construction, and government contract issues — all successfully — on what is still the biggest lease in GSA history, the U.S. Patent and Trademark campus in Alexandria, Virginia. We have litigated virtually every form of dispute touching on real estate, from First Amendment challenges to the Clayton Act, and ranging from land use decisions to eminent domain to political corruption.

Kim Sperduto’s experience is extensive. While based in New York, he was on the team litigating the Times Square Redevelopment Project representing the New York State Urban Development Corporation. He represented American Express in challenges to construction of its 39-story office building in lower Manhattan. He represented JFKIAT and Terminal 4 at JFK International Airport involving construction, finance, and environmental challenges to that billion dollar project. He obtained a temporary restraining order on behalf of Citicorp Real Estate against a subordinated creditor’s imminent foreclosure of a debtor’s $65,000,000 interest in L’Enfant Plaza property. As noted above, he litigated on behalf of the developer a multitude of issues involving the biggest lease in GSA history. Part of that victory included his persuasive description to a federal judge of the impact and implications of defeasing $800,000,000 in bonds in the event of an adverse outcome. That oral argument was illustrative. Particularly in real estate, outcomes depend on rendering complex issues understandable.

Our real estate clients tell us that it is our unique combination of skills that sets Sperduto Thompson & Gassler apart: the intellectual ability and business acumen to understand the economic pressure points of a transaction, and the litigation skill and judgment to exploit that understanding to maximize client outcomes.