The wave of foreclosures that swept across Florida is beginning to yield some deals in the battered commercial real estate sector.

Arnall Golden Gregory partner Scott A. Fisher knows that firsthand, because he just closed a $32.5 million deal representing Bay Isle Key LLC, which includes Atlanta-based real estate investor Pollack Partners among its backers, in the purchase of 510 foreclosed apartment and condominium units in St. Petersburg.

“My client said to me … 'You know, this is the first deal we've closed in 18 months,'” recalled Fisher, who has represented Pollack Partners for years. “I said, 'You don't need to tell me that.' The fact that [the client] could find an equity partner to do the deal with is indicative of a recovery in the market.”

Fisher said competition for good real estate deals is keen these days. His client was able to land this one in part because it is a so-called “fractured condo deal,” meaning some of the units are condominiums and others are apartments. That structure, Fisher said, tends to discourage buyers looking for a simple deal.

He said the Bay Isle Key community, which includes a lake, three swimming pools, tennis courts and other amenities, initially was designed as an apartment complex. Then an investor bought it and began converting it to condos. About 70 units had been sold when the market collapsed and lender GE Capital foreclosed. A GE affiliate, Echelon Acquisition Co. LLC, represented by lawyers from Greenberg Traurig's Fort Lauderdale office, sold the units to Fisher's client.

The foreclosed units, Fisher said, sold for an average of about $63,700 each. Atlanta developer McRae & Stolz paid $59.4 million for the property in 2006, or $150,000 per unit, and then added nearly 200 units, according to a report in the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

“My understanding is that the property had been under contract before, but it was Pollack's ability to close quickly that facilitated their ability to buy the property,” Fisher said. He added, “Hopefully, this is indicative of what we will see in 2010. I would call 2009 … the year of indecision, primarily by banks.”

This year, he said, if banks get more decisive, “You're going to see more transactions like this available where you have an opportunity to buy foreclosed property or to buy loans from banks that will generate more transactional business. But in the end, the volume is going to depend on what happens in the financing market.”

Two Atlanta lawyers recently helped their clients—one based in China and the other based here—ink a lease agreement on nearly 14,000 square feet of space in Atlantic Station.

Jones Day lawyer R. Mason Cargill assisted business incubator Chinamex in establishing a U.S. subsidiary and negotiating a 7-year, 10-month lease to house its new North American headquarters here. The lease was signed in mid-December, with Philip G. Skinner of Arnall Golden Gregory representing Atlantic Station.

Chinamex, a private Beijing-based company which helps other Chinese firms expand overseas, is the brainchild of parent company Chinamex Middle East Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, which already has established other business outposts in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Cargill said that Atlanta, thanks to good marketing and lots of personal attention from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, won out over San Francisco as the incubator's U.S. headquarters. Chinamex, he said, plans to exhibit products manufactured by companies in the Hubei Province and its capital city, Wuhan, which has a population of about 10 million and is about an hour by air from Shanghai. Chinamex also will offer consulting and temporary office space and will help Chinese companies that want to deal more directly with the U.S. market to set up operations here, primarily for marketing their products.

Cargill and Skinner both said that U.S. leases are longer and more complex than leases in China, which meant that Chinamex officials had a lot of questions about the provisions and that negotiations took a bit longer than they might have with a U.S. tenant. Also, Skinner said, leases for mixed-use projects like Atlantic Station are by nature more complex than for free-standing office buildings because they involve covenants governing how a project can be developed and used and who pays for services that are used by the whole project.

Although Atlanta has been courting Chinese business for some time—Cargill was part of a prospecting trip to China, along with then-Mayor Shirley Franklin and the Metro Chamber in 2006—East-West business hasn't yet taken off in a big way here. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that four much-promoted Chinese investment projects announced in the past three years have yet to come to fruition. These stalled projects include Kingwasong LLC's plans to produce soy sauce in Newnan and construction equipment manufacturer Sany Heavy Industry Co.'s plans for a $30 million investment in Peachtree City.

Still, Cargill—who spent several years in his firm's Shanghai office—said he thinks business relations will someday blossom between Atlanta and China. Developments are slow now because of the economy, he said, and because Chinese companies don't have the same incentives that Japanese companies had to set up operations here—namely, a cheaper work force than was available at home.

Still, he said, “I'm very optimistic. … I think it may be a slow process. A gradual process, but I think it'll happen.”

It’s not every day that lawyers get to pave the way for the phrase so beloved by racing enthusiasts: Gentlemen, start your engines.

Stites & Harbison partner and car buff Bill Mathieu, along with partner Allen Bradley and counsel Richard Flexner, are among the few. In September, Mathieu helped his client, Atlanta Motorsports Park, close a nearly $2 million deal to buy 153 acres near Dawsonville—land slated to become a new, members-only performance-vehicle driving club.

The land itself even has a racing pedigree: AMP, as Atlanta Motorsports Park is known, purchased the acreage from EHK Investments, a company affiliated with racecar driver Bill Elliott’s brother, engine-builder Ernie Elliott. Mathieu represented AMP in the closing, while Flexner and Bradley handled financing and organizational structuring issues. Dawsonville attorney Shelly Townlee Martin represented EHK.

Though the environment in which the deal closed was hardly conflict free—a suit in Dawson County Superior Court raises nuisance and zoning challenges—plans for the AMP are ambitious and moving forward quickly.

Mathieu said the park could open as soon as spring of 2010, and that it would be the first facility of its kind in this part of the country.

He analogized the AMP to a golf club for car lovers. “It’s not a racetrack. You won’t see competitive events like the Petit Le Mans,” he said, contrasting the planned park with Road Atlanta, which hosted the Petit Le Mans over the weekend. “Likely AMP will never have anything like that. If you have a high-performance vehicle and need a place to legally enjoy it at speed, this gives you an opportunity to drive your vehicle as it was meant to be driven.”

The park is slated to have a more than two-mile track with at least six course configurations designed by Formula 1 track designers, the German architectural and engineering firm Tilke GmbH; a .79 mile track for karts; facilities for motorcycles; garages; a restaurant; and a racing school with Skip Barber as its consultant.

And—in a twist that is hardly usual for a venue focused on gas-powered vehicles—the track and its amenities are slated to be environmentally friendly.

“The idea is to make the track as green as possible,” Mathieu said. “It may make up front costs higher, but it will make operating costs lower in the long run.”

He said other lawyers at his firm are gearing up to help AMP garner energy tax credits for a planned solar farm. Other plans include using reclaimed rainwater for irrigation and flush toilets; solar-powered fans for interior air movement; and LEED certification for some buildings.

Mathieu said the $1,939,772 purchase price of the land was paid for in part by track memberships—which in the pre-construction phase range from $8,000 to $40,000, not including monthly fees; investor funding and some seller financing.

He estimated that total land, track and immediate improvement costs will run between $6 million and $8 million.

Speaking in the context of the troubled economy, Mathieu said the land-purchase deal comes at an “almost unprecedented time in the history of the real estate business, especially here, with Atlanta being such a commercial real estate town. This is exciting and, I guess, fairly unusual.”

Similar parks do exist in other parts of the country, he said, citing the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Ill., and the VIRrginia International Raceway in Alton, Va., as examples.

He said the idea of a membership track “is one of the things whose time has come for a number of reasons. One of the big things is automobiles have gotten so good, with the quality of tires and brakes and stability systems. They’re quick, and they’re way too quick to drive anywhere near the limits on the street. Plus, it’s illegal.”

This track, with what Mathieu calls its impressive elevation changes—it will be built on land even hillier than the Road Atlanta course—will even have a curve designed to mimic the Eau Rouge on the Spa Francorchamps course in Belgium.

“The theme is very similar to a long, sweeping, gradual incline up a hill, you’re turning practically the entire time,” he said, his enthusiasm for the sport evident. “Plus the radius of your turn will change repeatedly. … Originally, the Eau Rouge was a huge, long straight. Lately they’ve added a kink, called a chicane, to slow people down. This will look more like the original than the original.”

Mathieu said he has yet to ink his own membership at AMP. But, he said, it’s only a matter of time: “Being a real estate attorney, I’ve got some real estate investments that are not doing so well, but if I can get out of them, I’ll join. I’m a car junkie.”

Morris, Manning & Martin lawyers recently helped Santa Ana, Calif.-based client Grubb & Ellis launch two real estate investment trusts valued at more than $4 billion.

Partners Lauren Burnham Prevost and Heath D. Linsky represented the company when the SEC in late August declared the registration statement effective for a $3.3 billion initial public offering by Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II. The REIT’s proceeds are slated for investment in, primarily, medical office buildings and other healthcare-related facilities.

In July, the Morris Manning lawyers helped Grubb & Ellis launch a $1 billion apartment REIT, according to information in the REIT’s registration statement.

A collection of apartment complexes carrying a total debt load of $130.5 million is slated for foreclosure and a trip to the auction block next month.

Most of the nine properties, owned by SE Portfolio Apartments LLC and GTS Property Portfolios B-2, are located in Gwinnett or DeKalb Counties, according to Alston & Bird lawyer Steven D. Collier. The properties include Sinclair Apartments on Park Colony Drive in Norcross and Somerset on Summer Walk Parkway in Tucker; some of the other properties, he said, are located out of state.

Collier represents Centerline Servicing Inc., a special servicer in charge of foreclosing on the properties on Oct. 6. They will be sold at auction the same day. The apartment complexes initially were financed by GE Capital Corp. in 2007, he said, but the loan was sold to a mortgage pool of which U.S. Bank is the holder and trustee.

This is a large commercial foreclosure for the Atlanta metro area, its dollar amount trumping the recent, highly publicized foreclosure of the Equitable Building in downtown Atlanta, which sold at auction to its lender on June 3 for $29.5 million. The outstanding principal balance on the Equitable’s loan was, at $43.2 million, considerably higher than its sales price.

Collier said he does not expect the suite of apartment complexes to sell for an amount equal to their $130.5 million debt, either. “It will be a much smaller number based on some allocation to each property, so if there are people out there who want to bid, they can bid something that corresponds more to the value of each property,” he said.

As with most commercial foreclosures, he said, it’s likely that the lender will be the only one to bid on the properties. But, he added, “We’d be happy to have other bidders.”

Two Atlanta-area attorneys and a Chicago lawyer were the primary legal advisers on last month’s multimillion-dollar sale of a Decatur megachurch. The sale came four months after the death of the church’s founder, Earl Paulk.

In the transaction, Chapel Hill Harvester Church Inc. sold its Cathedral at Chapel Hill building for $17.6 million to Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church Inc. The sale includes the church’s 300,000-square-foot, 6,000-seat auditorium and other facilities. The sale includes the 50 acres surrounding the cathedral. The church is located on Flat Shoals Parkway in south DeKalb County.

Burroughs Johnson Hopewell partner Robert Burroughs in Lithonia was outside counsel to Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church. Burroughs is a real estate attorney and has handled transactions involving residential, commercial and multifamily properties. Burroughs’ law partner, Mereda Davis Johnson, is married to U.S. Rep. Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr.

Matthew Wilkins of King & Yaklin in Marietta advised Chapel Hill Harvester Church, according to Brandi Paulk, executive administrator of the Cathedral at Chapel Hill. Wilkins, a litigator, serves as general counsel to Chapel Hill Harvester Church and the church did not hire an additional real estate attorney for work on the sale, Paulk said.

Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg partner Peter Barrow in Chicago advised the lead lender on the deal, Herring Bank of Amarillo, Texas.

Paulk, who died of cancer on Mar. 29 at the age of 81, founded Chapel Hill Harvester Church in 1972. The church experienced rapid growth and constructed its new building in 1991.

However, Paulk soon became ensnared in multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. In one case, Mona Brewer alleged that Paulk manipulated her into having an affair with him from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation and leading her to believe she was called to be in a sexual relationship with him in order to keep him and his ministry alive. Brewer sued Paulk, his brother, Don, and Chapel Hill Harvester Church.

In Feb. 2008, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott dismissed Brewer’s claims and ordered her to pay $1 million in attorney fees to the Paulks. But in February of this year, the state Court of Appeals reversed the lower court ruling.

A team of Sutherland lawyers is advising a Houston-based bank in what is reportedly the largest transaction of its kind in Texas this year.

The firm is helping Sterling Bank, a subsidiary of Houston-based Sterling Bancshares Inc., in its purchase and assumption agreement to acquire about $500 million in deposits and 19 Texas bank branches from First Bank, a Missouri state-chartered bank.

Though the deal team is led by Houston-based corporate and financial services partner Annette L. Tripp, two Atlanta lawyers also got in on the action: real estate partner Jennifer R. Van Ness and real estate associate Justin L. Earley. Van Ness could not be reached for comment.

First Bank is represented by Texas-based sole practitioner John S. Daniels.

The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, also will allow Sterling to purchase about $230 million in consumer and business loans from First Bank, according to information in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Continuing a trend among airlines and real estate investment trusts that began last fall, Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc., has just completed plans to raise up to $100 million over the next two years via an at-the-market stock offering.

At-the-market or ATM offerings, also known as continuous offerings, controlled equity or equity shelf programs, allow a company, via a specific type of registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, to make incremental stock offerings rather than launching a single large sale of shares.

The SEC filings allow the company to have necessary paperwork “on the shelf,” so to speak, which, if consistently updated, may be used repeatedly for each new incremental filing.

The primary advantages of this method, according to Eliot Robinson, the Bryan Cave Powell Goldstein partner who represented Omega, a Hunt Valley, Md.-based long-term care REIT, is that ATMs allow the company to make offerings when market conditions are most favorable. Also, unlike a single large offering, ATMs don’t flood the market and are less likely to push down share value.

“These deals have become a lot more prevalent since last fall, particularly in certain industries, and these include REITS,” said Robinson, who worked on the deal with Bryan Cave associates Terry Childers and Jody Arogeti. “It’s also been common with airlines—you saw this with Delta last winter.”

Omega entered into separate equity distribution agreements with three banks: UBS Securities LLC, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., each as sales agents or principals. The banks are represented by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom partner David J. Goldschmidt.

Robinson said his client has good relationships with all three banks. “The banks follow the trading and generally have a good idea when there are institutions that are looking to accumulate a block [of shares], and this provides an opportunity for the company to place the block directly with a buyer,” he said. “It … may be harder for the buyer to accumulate these shares in bits and pieces, and from the buyer’s perspective, these trades don’t move the market up.”

Robinson said that Omega, which, as of the close of the first quarter of 2009 owned or held mortgages on 255 skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in 28 states, planned to use the net proceeds of the sales for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Shortly before noon on Tuesday, the Equitable Building, one of the city's landmark office towers, was sold for $29.5 million at auction on the steps of the Fulton County Courthouse.

The building was purchased by 100 Peachtree Street Atlanta, a limited liability corporation formed by the building's lender, Capmark Bank, for the purpose of acquiring the building, according to Sutherland Asbill & Brennan partner William G. Rothschild, who represents Capmark. There were no competing bids.

Sutherland associate Jason C. Kirkham read the auction notice and placed the winning bid for the lender.

Capmark foreclosed on the building's borrower, Equastone LLC, in early April. According to Rothschild, the loan amount outstanding is about $43.2 million.

The Atlanta firm Slutzky Wolfe & Bailey is representing a developer whose retail and movie theater complex near Hilton Head Island has fallen into foreclosure. 

Sea Turtle Entertainment LLC this month defaulted on a $23.5 million loan for its Berkeley Place shopping center in Bluffton, S.C., according to the Island Packet newspaper. Wells Fargo Bank has begun foreclosure proceedings against Sea Turtle, the Island Packet said, citing records in Beaufort County Circuit Court.

Slutzky Wolfe & Bailey commercial real estate partner Brad Wolfe is representing Sea Turtle in the matter, the paper said. Kilpatrick Stockton partner James Pulliam in Charlotte is counsel to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo filed its complaint to initiate foreclosure on May 15.

Berkeley Place includes a movie theater and an Outback Steakhouse. The shopping center located in Bluffton, about 10 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island.