Negotiating and Drafting Commercial Leases

John B. Wood. (Planner, Editor and Treatise Author.) Mr. Wood is a partner in the commercial real estate group at the law firm Akerman LLP, and advises public and private companies on real estate acquisitions and sales, facilities management, zoning, land use, construction and development, brokerage law, commercial space, retail and ground leasing, commercial property management and litigation. With more than forty years of experience in the design and negotiation of significant commercial leases covering in excess of 100 million square feet of space, John B. Wood has been referred to by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as “the father of the modern killer lease.” His substantial leasing experience combined with extensive national experience in developable land and improved property acquisitions and joint venturing, master leasing and national portfolio sale leasebacks, have made him a noted authority on fair market appraisals, determinations and valuations, as well as rentals, escalations, expense and CAM billing, allocation, auditing and litigation/ dispute resolution. Among his noteworthy projects, Mr. Wood directed the legal team in a national portfolio acquisition program with a value in excess of $2 billion; he participated in the development and leasing of over 8 million square feet of regional shopping malls nationwide, and, in 1998, negotiated the largest ground/space lease transaction in the history of New York City—covering more than 2 million square feet. In addition, Mr. Wood has advised and directed teams on construction issues relating to a complete fast track rehabilitation in New York City of over 4 million square feet, with a value in excess of $2 billion. Mr. Wood has also directed large-scale leasing programs and the negotiation of building and professional team contracts for “fasttrack” multiple project design and construction of major New York City office towers and regional shopping centers. He regularly directs litigation teams in landlord-tenant disputes, construction disputes and retail lease closeouts. His financing, auditing and computer expertise contributed to his uncovering the largest computer-leasing fraud in the United States, the O.P.M. Leasing fraud and bankruptcy. Mr. Wood is a licensed real estate broker (New York and Florida), a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.B.A. (Accounting and Economics), an M.B.A. (Accounting and Finance) and a J.D. degree. Mr. Wood is currently a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York State Bar Association, American Bar Association (ABA), (Former Vice-Chair of the Commercial Leasing Committee and former Chair of the Office Leasing Subcommittee), and the Board of Legal Advisors to the Practicing Law Institute (PLI). He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives (N.Y. Chapter), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and American Association of Attorney-CPAs. Mr. Wood served, from 1982 through 1991, as a member of the Associated Builders and Owners of New York, the New York Building Congress and its Board of Legal Advisors, and the Real Estate Board of the City of New York (REBNY). He frequently lectures on property acquisition and management, commercial leasing and construction contract techniques, transaction structuring and brokerage law and practice at major real estate brokerage firms in New York City, REBNY, ISDE – Columbia Joint Graduate Program for Master of Laws and International Economics, Columbia Graduate School of Real Estate and at the New York University Graduate School Real Estate Shack Institute. He also lectures at PLI, where he is the New York and national Chairman of the National Commercial Leasing Seminars, and at the executive and annual meetings of the ABA and AICPA. Mr. Wood is an American Arbitration Association National Neutral Commercial Panelist and has served as a federal arbitrator specializing in fair market rent valuation and rental disputes and audits. He has also served as an Assistant Attorney General (Kansas), and as special counsel to the Bronxville Board of Zoning Appeals, Planning Board and Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Westchester-Putnam Boy Scouts of America Council and the National Eagle Scout Association. Mr. Wood has presented papers concerning “Equity Leases” to the Commercial Leasing Committee of the ABA and on “Accounting and Tax Issues for Work Letters and Allowances” to the AICPA. His article “Trump [Tower] Tenant Finds Turnkey [Construction Agreement] Saves the Day” appeared in the Legal Times of Washington and New York, October 21, 1985. Mr. Wood has authored numerous articles for various publications and is the author of the book Navigating The Dangerous Shoals of a Commercial Lease, which is used by the New York University Graduate School, 1992-2015. Mr. Wood is listed in Who’s Who in Real Estate, Who’s Who in American Law (2d and 4th Eds.), and Who’s Who Registry of Global Business Leaders (1993-1994 Ed.) Mr. Wood is AV Preeminent, peer rated by Martindale-Hubbell and was peer nominated and elected an American Bar Foundation Fellow. He has been named to the New York Super Lawyers® list annually. Mr. Wood has also been Senior Editor of “Real Estate Corner,” a monthly article on commercial real estate for corporate professionals published by The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Inc. Mr. Wood has appeared on national television including the Wall Street Journal Report speaking on current trends in national real estate.

Alan M. Di Sciullo. (Planner, Editor and Treatise Author.) Alan M. Di Sciullo is the retired Director of Global Real Estate at Shearman & Sterling LLP. He was formerly a Senior Vice Present at a global bank and Of Counsel to a major New York area law firm. He was a First Vice President and Senior Attorney at Morgan Stanley, where he was the legal officer responsible for the firm’s commercial real estate transactions, contracts and related litigation. Mr. Di Sciullo has written many articles and has spoken extensively on commercial real estate issues around the country. He is a regular panelist of the Practising Law Institute’s (PLI) “Negotiating Commercial Leasing” program. He is also on PLI’s Real Estate Advisory Board. Alan has been co-editor of the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel’s Real Estate Corner column and was a member of the Corporate Counsel Advisory Committee of that publication. He is a Professor at New York University’s Shack Master’s Degree Program in Real Estate where he has been teaching since 1991. He has received Outstanding Teaching and Service Awards for graduate faculty from that institution. He has also been a faculty member at the International Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives’ (NACORE) Institute for Corporate Real Estate from which obtained the Institute’s MCR designation with honors and its successor organization CoreNet Global. He was recognized as one of the Institute’s Outstanding Faculty in 2001 and 2003. Author Biographies lxxvii Throughout his career, Mr. Di Sciullo has been active in civic and professional affairs. He was a member of President Reagan’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (Grace Commission), where he wrote the Real Property Task Force’s reports on leasing and government financing. From 1993-1997, he was chairman of the West Windsor (N.J.) Planning Board and has also served on that community’s zoning, site plan and growth management committees. In 1996, the New Jersey Planning Officials (N.J.P.O.) awarded him an Individual Achievement in Planning award and elected him that same year as a director of that organization. He was a member of the Land Use Advisory Committee for the 12th Congressional District in New Jersey. Mr. Di Sciullo has been an executive member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Real Property and Probate Section (RPTE) where he served on its Section Council and Planning committees and co-chaired its Groups and Substantive committee and has chaired a number of substantive committees, including a number of Leasing groups. He is a life Fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation and was elected in 2003 as a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), which is the association of the country’s top real estate attorneys. Mr. Di Sciullo has chaired the New York County Lawyer’s Association’s Committee on Corporate Law Departments. He served a two-year term as President of NACORE’s New York City chapter and was a director of NACORE’s International board and President-elect of its Institute until NACORE’s merger into CoreNet Global. He has been a member of the CoreNet Learning advisory board and has also served as an executive editor on CoreNet’s Journal of Corporate Real Estate Management. Mr. Di Sciullo has also been named to the New York Super Lawyers® list. Alan Di Sciullo received both his undergraduate degree in Government and Economics, cum laude, and law degree from Georgetown University. He also received an M.B.A in finance from New York University. Mr. Di Sciullo clerked for the Hon. John H. Sachs on the U. S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C. before joining Shanley & Fisher, Esqs., Newark, NJ as a litigator. He then joined Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis in New York City as a real estate attorney and corporate officer and had been with Morgan Stanley from 1985 until 2005. Mr. Di Sciullo has an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell and is listed in Who’s Who in America and the World, Who’s Who in American Law and Who’s Who in Emerging Leaders.

Table of Contents – Negotiating and Drafting Commercial Leases