Real Estate Law

Acquisitions & Sales

Whether buying or selling, clients generally want the same things from their attorneys. They want issues spotted and resolved, promptly and effectively.

Prospective purchasers routinely turn to Hemenway & Barnes to determine and conduct extensive due diligence activities. Our attorneys review due diligence materials, analyze the potential impact of any issues raised, and then ensure that these issues are properly addressed in the purchase and sale documents.

When our clients are selling real estate, we work to complete the transaction in a timely and efficient manner as well as to manage risk. Clients depend on the members of the firm's Real Estate Group to appropriately resolve any problems that may be identified in the course of the buyer's due diligence. Our experience includes:

• Advising clients throughout the life cycle of a purchase or sale
• Negotiating listing agreements, offers and purchase and sale agreements
• Working with lenders to negotiate financing documents
• Conducting zoning, environmental and land-use analysis
• Negotiating construction loans and contracts
• Negotiating and preparing lease documents
• Advising on forms of ownership and tax matters

Representative Experience

• A state college planned to acquire a former industrial site and convert it to additional campus property. Hemenway & Barnes drafted legislation that created a nonprofit support organization. We then went on to represent the newly formed entity in acquiring the property.
• An American division of an international company hired us to represent them in the sale of surplus industrial property, including a former quarry located in Quincy, Massachusetts.
• A successful real estate investor hired us to help with the purchase and sale of real estate structured as IRC Section 1031 exchanges to take advantage of favorable tax deferral treatment.
• A family planned to purchase a farm on the West Coast. They engaged us to negotiate and draft an agreement between the seller and buyer that imposed restrictions on future development of the purchased property and the seller’s remaining property. We went on to represent the family in the purchase transaction with assistance from local counsel.
• A religious organization sought our assistance in the sale of church property, including notification to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office pursuant to Chapter 180, Section 8A.
• A national clothing retailer engaged Hemenway & Barnes to represent it in the sale of its regional properties following a corporate merger.
• A leading private university hired us to represent it in the purchase of a $16 million off-campus retreat center.
• A developer of low-income housing sought to acquire an abandoned mill complex. Hemenway & Barnes structured a joint venture arrangement with the seller in order to facilitate the transaction.
• To expand its operations, a Massachusetts nonprofit corporation hired us to represent it in acquiring a neighboring condominium unit in a renovated historic building in Boston and in obtaining financing to close on the purchase.
• We assisted a charitable trust in acquiring a portion of conservation farmland for a nonprofit educational farm on the South Coast of Massachusetts.
• We represented a Boston-based real estate investment company in acquiring a former industrial building to renovate for a youth center.