Real Estate and Commercial Finance Services

Our Practice - What We Do
Snell & Wilmer's Real Estate and Commercial Finance Services practice provides a comprehensive approach to legal services for the real estate and commercial finance industries. As real estate and other transactions have grown increasingly complex, they commonly require guidance and legal advice on specific elements that are highly-focused and particularly challenging. Our commercial finance attorneys provide a full range of transaction and litigation services for large, national banks, regional banks, community banks, asset based lenders, factoring companies, and specialty lenders. Our real estate attorneys have extensive background in a wide-range of legal concentrations, which enables us to provide knowledgeable and high-quality counsel to clients, through practical and creative solutions. We strive to accomplish our clients' goals and to protect their business interests.

Our Attorneys - Who We Are
Our team of attorneys, paralegals and urban planners are well-versed at developing collaborative strategies for virtually every type of transaction. Having a large, comprehensive team allows each attorney to focus their work in specific areas, which include:

Brownfield Redevelopment

Educational Facilities

Energy and Utilities

Environmental Law Services

Financial Institution Regulation

Gaming Services

Hospitality Services

Indian Law

Lender Liability Defense

Loan Recovery, Workouts, Restructurings, and Foreclosures

Master-planned Communities and Subdivision Projects

Municipal, Sports and Entertainment Facilities

Office, Industrial and Medical Projects

Oil, Gas and Natural Resources

Power Generation Facilities

Ranch and Farm Transactions

Real Estate Lending

Retail and Franchise Services

Shopping Centers

Telecommunications

Water Law

Zoning and Land Use

Our Clients - Who We Represent
As one of the largest law firms in the Western United States, our real estate and commercial finance services legal team have been involved in many high-profile projects throughout the region, as well as representing clients in transactions nationally and internationally. We work with some of the preeminent leaders in real estate, hospitality, banking, telecommunications, construction and natural resources industries. These clients understand the value that our attorneys bring to each deal through professional experience, insightful collaborative strategies, technical skills and our complete dedication to quality legal work, and client service.

Our Experience - What We've Done
Our real estate projects range in size from single-tract transactions to multi-use developments and planned communities covering thousands of acres. Our commercial finance practice is recognized as one of the premiere lending practices in our region. These attorneys are relied on to handle some of the most important customers and transactions for many of the nation's leading institutional lenders. Having served as lead counsel through every stage of a transaction, we are able to anticipate and solve legal issues as they arise. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, we pride ourselves in delivering on time and on budget.Included is a select list of our team's representative transactions:

America West Arena - home of the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns, Phoenix, Arizona
American Express - prepaid telephone card service
Anthem - 5,800 acre master-planned community with office, retail, medical, multifamily and church sites and single-family subdivisions, located north of Phoenix
Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile, GTE (Contel) and TDS Telecom - securing waivers from regulations governing transactions with affiliates and corporate restructuring for Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile, GTE (Contel) and TDS Telecom
Civano Community - 800 acre master-planned community, meeting strict environmental and energy efficiency standards
Collier Center International - represented Bank of America in connection with $125,000,000 construction loan for Collier Center in Downtown Phoenix
Coral Canyon Resort in Hurricane - 2000+ acre master-planned community built on state owned land in Washington County, Utah, including public golf course and residential, commercial, and civic uses
Equestrian Development in Riverside County - 500 acre subdivision with unique attributes designed to accommodate equestrian use, covenants related to animals and keeping areas on each lot, plant restrictions due to proximity to a nature reserve, and drainage facilities and access easements
House of Blues Concerts Inc. - 20,000 seat outdoor amphitheater in Salt Lake City, Utah
International Telecommunications Companies - negotiations for telecommunications companies in acquisitions, mergers and joint ventures in Latin America
Jordan Village - acquisition and redevelopment of 260 acre Superfund site into residential mixed use community
La Paloma - numerous subdivisions within luxury golf and destination resort community, including Paloma del Sol, Blocks 1,2, 4 and 5
Large grocery/drug store chain - counsel in developing large-scale regional and small-scale neighborhood retail shopping centers in California, Arizona and Utah, including all aspects of acquisition, development, CC&Rs, common area agreements, and disposition and leasing of out parcels, multi-tenant retail spaces and stand-alone retail pads
Mayo Hospital - provided representation in acquisition of over 200 acres from State of Arizona and development and construction of Mayo Hospital
Mineral project financing - project for Phelps Dodge, Sanchez Copper Mine, ASARCO Silver Bell Mine, and BHPCopper, Inc., Peru Mine
Montecatini at Lake Las Vegas Resort - 275 exclusive luxury condominium units in buildings clustered over 42 acres in the Lake Las Vegas Resort hotel, retail, commercial, golf and residential resort community in the City of Henderson, Nevada
Powdr Corp. - general counsel in connection with Park City Mountain Ski Resort, Utah and other resort properties in Colorado, California, Nevada and Oregon; entitlements, water rights, community development, sponsorships; forest service leases
Salt Lake City Winter Olympic facilities - served as counsel to the lending group in the structured financing of several Salt Lake City Winter Olympic facilities
Sheraton Wildhorse Pass Spa and Resort, Chandler, Arizona - management agreement with Gila River Indian Community
The Nature Conservancy - sale of in excess of 25,000 acres of land to various buyers of cattle ranches
The Residences at MGM Grand - Tower B - a 577 unit condominium/hotel development located on the MGM Grand Hotel site on the Strip in Clark County
Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management - various land acquisition, leasing, development and real estate projects since the institution's conception
T-Mobile USA - wireless antenna site applications and ordinance revisions in local governments throughout Arizona, California, Colorado and Utah
Toyota Proving Grounds - site approval through rezoning of land for largest automobile proving grounds in the nation
Tucson Airport Authority - general counsel handling the complete spectrum of airport matters including airport policies, leasing, real estate, environmental, contracts, construction, employment and litigation services and regulatory matters
Turnberry Towers - Tower 4 of Turnberry Place, consisting of 231 luxury residential condominium units in a 38-story building in Clark County
Tustin Marine Base - lead counsel to the agent bank of a bank group, which provided $105,000,000 in acquisition and development financing for the Tustin Marine Base in Tustin, California
University of Phoenix (Apollo Group, Inc.) - representation in acquisition, leasing and development of college campus sites throughout the United States and worldwide

Tucson / Pima County

Sahuarita/Green Valley Master Planned Community—master planning, zoning and annexation of 950 acre project into Town of Sahuarita, with cooperation of State Land Department, with services including development agreements, analysis of groundwater issues, retirement of irrigation rights, and securing of related entitlements
Catalina Foothills Exclusive Homesite Communities —master planning of two major luxury home site subdivisions, one at the base of Pima Canyon, including development of governing documents, regulatory filings and sales materials, and another adjacent to Coronado National Forest Service land, including development of governing documents, regulatory filing and sales materials.
Green Valley Master Planned Communities—development of governing documents, easements and sales materials for two large master planned developments, one located in Town of Sahuarita near Green Valley, and another involving Green Valley adult communities with golf and other resort and recreational facilities, with work entailing membership agreements, corporate structure and related services, including land use and zoning.
Town of Marana Master Planned Community—master planning and development of governing documents for 750 acre housing development in Northewest metropolitan area, including special environmental and 404 federal permitting issues, natural area covenants and related issues.
City of Tucson Southeast Master Planned Community—preparation of governing documents for 750 acre housing development in Southeast valley, including special recreational and open space issues, and natural area and drainage covenants.
Master Planned Commercial Complex on Pima County's North Side--planned development of commerical and professional offices along Rillito River, with services including planning and development of governing structure and legal documents for expandable project with restrictive covenants, reciprocal easements and related use restrictions.
Commercial Village Center in Catalina Foothills--mixed use development of professional offices, hotel facility and retail business in exclusive Catalina Foothills, with services extending from zoning and land use to development agreement with Pima County and creation of governing documents with restrictive covenants, reciprocal easements and use restrictions benefiting neighborhoods.

External Links
Brownfield Redevelopment

Related Information

Related Services

Financial Recovery Team