Jonathan August

My focus

Real Estate Acquisitions and Dispositions

I assist my clients with acquiring and selling commercial real estate, from office buildings and industrial warehouses to multifamily housing projects. My practice focuses on drafting and negotiating complex purchase agreements and development disposition agreements, along with the review and resolution of difficult survey and title matters. My constant aim is to understand the nuanced objectives of my clients in connection with how real estate is crucial to their businesses and how the current economic environment will shape their long-term strategies.

Real Estate Financing

A significant portion of my practice centers on representing financial institutions and borrowers drafting and negotiating both term and construction loan financing documentation. I am constantly focused on ensuring timely closings for my clients, whether for new credit facilities or complicated modifications to existing loans.

Leasing

I have extensive experience counseling landlords and tenants regarding commercial, retail, and industrial leases. Whether the lease is for a multi-floor office in a major metropolitan area with a complex buildout or the first brick-and-mortar location for a new business, I am passionate about efficiently matching the right type of space with the goals of each of my clients.

Corporate Transactions

I advise clients who have real property assets in connection with corporate transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions or the establishment of subsidiary holding companies. These services include summarizing existing and to-be-acquired assets, entity formation, corporate governance, and financing.

Looking ahead

The post-pandemic real estate landscape is an uncertain one, with developers, landowners, tenants, and financial institutions unsure as to the opportunities that will be available to them. In particular, the rise of remote work has made the need for office space in major metropolitan areas less desirable than at any time in recent memory, whereas industrial and logistics facilities are as necessary as ever. By being aware of the changing economic landscape and how it affects the breadth of the real estate industry, the right law firm can serve as a valuable asset, ensuring the long-term stability and growth of clients by providing them with timely advice and accurate analyses of market trends.

Insights

• “The Constitutionality of Rent Relief in the Age of COVID: Did the City of San Francisco Go Too Far?” California Real Property Journal eNews, February 2021
• “Excusing Contractual Performance in Real Estate Agreements in the Age of COVID,” Buchalter Client Alert, July 2020
• “How Have the FDIC’s Post-Crisis Lawsuits Against Directors of Failed Banks Changed Your Risks?” Directors Digest, October 2015
• “Collateral for a New Age: Intellectual Property Security Financing,” Quarterly Prophets and Law360.com, May 2014
• “Hello RULLCA, Goodbye Beverly-Killea: California’s LLC Statute Gets a Facelift,” Quarterly Prophets, January 2014
• “Modern Models of Organ Donation: Challenging Increases of Federal Power to Save Lives,” Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, Volume 40.2, Winter 2013
• “California Gives Borrowers an Alternative,” Quick Prophets, September 2012

Representative experience

• Represented foreign publicly traded company in acquiring multi-building campus via defeasance to serve as the company’s United States headquarters
• Managed leasing portfolio for iconic office building in a major California metropolitan center, including during highly publicized sale in 2020
• Represented developer in drafting a complex phased-development disposition agreement with a major California municipality