For decades, it seems the Denver skyline has remain unchanged, until recently that is. With a torrent of people flocking to live in the Mile High City, Denver has seen an unprecedented building boom for residential and now high-rise commercial space. There have a been a handful of new additions to the Denver skyline, but none as significant as the 1,000-ft. tall, 90 story, $400 million skyscraper planned for 650 17th Street, which is also the building’s proposed name. If approved Six Fifty 17 will become the most visible crown jewel of Denver’s downtown skyline.
“Transforming a skyline — especially in a city with as much history and progressive spirit as Denver — takes powerful collaboration between global and local talent. I can confidently say that GRC has accomplished this with 650 17th Street,” said Mike Ursini, managing director of Greenwich Realty Capital (GRC), which is a New York-based real-estate developer.1
Plans and Details about Six Fifty 17
Will Six Fifty 17 Be Denver’s Newest Mixed-Use Crown Jewel? | Denver Property Tax Appeal Attorney
The following details and plans about Six Fifty 17 were gathered from news reports and the building’s website at sixfifty17.com:
GRC has been working with renowned Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott (known for designing Opera De La Bastille in Paris), of the New York firm Crown Architecture, to design the modern, mixed-use space tower.
At 1,000 feet tall, Six Fifty 17 would be the 19th tallest skyscraper in the U.S., and rise 286 feet taller than the Republic Plaza Building, which is currently Denver’s tallest building.
The tower would comprise 1,000,000 square feet of space for office and residential use.
Other amenities would include 248 luxury condos, a boutique hotel, 22,000 square feet of retail space, and accommodate over 500 parking spaces.
Condominium residents will enjoy sweeping views of the Front Range and the mountains, multiple terraces and pools, a spa with sauna and steam rooms, and a state-of-the-art fitness center.
The building will also feature a half-court basketball court, bowling alley, and a game room with billiards, foosball, and shuffleboard. There’s even a children’s playroom with a climbing wall.
Other amenities include day care, pet grooming, bicycle storage, in-house concierge, art consultation, and butler service.
The Six Fifty 17 project team hopes to break ground sometime in the summer of 2018.
Red Tape and Legal Hurdles Facing Six Fifty 17
The following are some of the municipal hurdles that Six Fifty must pass before it can become reality:
GRC has already submitted a preliminary project application, but no formal site plan has been submitted.
Denver’s Community Planning and Development Board has acknowledged that they have been in contact with the Six Fifty 17 project team, but has not received the tower’s plan for review, yet.
Although the plan hasn’t been approved by the city yet, the 25,000-square-foot site is currently occupied by a parking lot owned by Paradise Land Co., which has confirmed that the property is currently under contract to be sold to GRC.
Contact a Denver Real Estate Lawyer at Downey & Associates, PC
The last thing a developer wants to happen with a large construction project of this magnitude, is to have it scrutinized by planning boards and possibly even not approved for some type of unforeseen zoning or building code violation. The Denver Real Estate Lawyer at Downey & Associates, PC. has the experience to oversee many of the legal and transaction hurdles facing large development projects of this size and scope. Our Denver real estate lawyer can also oversee:
Acquisitions and purchase agreements
Sales, sale agreements and closing issues
Contract disputes and leases
Property management
Property valuation
Title assessments and title defects
Easements and more
To schedule a free, no-obligation initial consultation, call 303-647-9399, or contact us via email using the online message form available on this page.
1“Massive Proposed Skyscraper Would Change Denver Skyline” published in Our Community Now, Oct. 2017.
To answer that questions, one only needs to look at real-life examples of the business world. Right here in Denver parent company of the Denver Post, MediaNews Group, put its neck out there and voiced its outright opposition to Randstad North America Inc.’s $429 million purchase of Monster Worldwide Inc.
MediaNews’s Senior Vice President Joe Anto wrote a letter to Monster stating that Randstad’s $429 million offer for the company was too low. MediaNews owns approximately 11.6 percent of Monster’s stock. Additionally, Anto claimed Randstad’s “$3.40 per share deal would represent the textbook definition of selling at the bottom.”
Additional Transaction Details and Allegations of the Monster Acquisition
The following transaction details and allegations of the acquisition of Monster by Randstad were collected from media reports:1
MediaNews claimed Monster’s share price could go as high as $8 per share within 18 months following the sale.
“(Monster’s shares) woefully underperformed versus its peers and the market over any relevant period of time,” Anto stated in a letter to Monster’s board.
As a result of the undervalued purchase and to reduce expenses, MediaNews reported that Monster could cut anywhere from 1,600 to 3,700 jobs to try and recoup $136 million.
The letter to the board members also claims that Monster has too many layer of management and support, as well as too large of a sales force.
Anto alleged that Monster is in too many money-losing international operations
When is it Appropriate to Sue a Board of Directors?
Obviously, board of directors of any company wield quite a bit of authority over the company operations, and they are beholden to shareholders. Shareholders represent partial ownership stake in those companies, and when the board of directors makes poor business decisions the shareholders have every right to display their disdain and possibly even take legal action to correct any infraction.
Here is a list of fiduciary duties that boards of directors are typically subject to:
Board of directors have a duty of care they must exemplify when managing company or corporate affairs and assets.
Board of directors have a duty of loyalty to avert undisclosed conflict of interest.
Individual board members cannot undertake actions for self-profit on behalf of the company.
Board of directors should also never take advantage of business opportunities as a result of their relationship to the company/corporation.
Has your board of directors taken an action that either profited its members or unknowingly hurt the bottom line of your company or corporation? If so, you can count on a Denver Business Attorneywith Downey & Associates, PC. Since 1983, Thomas Downey and the legal team at Downey & Associates, PC, have been exhibited exceptional legal representation for their clients in all manner of business-related matters, including contract negotiations, workplace accidents, and corporate conflicts.
For a free, no-hassle consultation about our legal services, please call our Denver business attorney today at (303) 647-9399 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page.
From our law offices in Englewood, we serve clients throughout Colorado and the U.S.
1“Denver Post parent company vehemently opposes Randstad’s purchase of Monster” published in Denver Business Journal, Sept. 2016.
If you are a die-hard Denver Broncos fan, this one will be music to your ears. It seems a bankruptcy judge has granted a request from Sports Authority to transfer the naming rights of Mile High Stadium back over to the Denver NFL football team. Sports Authority Holdings, Inc. failed to make its last contract payment and then made the name grant request.
The Broncos were in a position to pay out $19.9 million to buy out the last five remaining years of the contract, which the judge would have had to sign off on.1 However, after Sports Authority defaulted on their contractual payment court records show that Sports Authority made the name transfer request in Delaware, which is where it filed for bankruptcy protection back in March of 2016.
What Will Happen to the Stadium Name Going Forward?
Obviously, most Denver Broncos fans would like the team and the Metropolitan Football Stadium District to keep the name “Mile High Stadium” as part of the namesake. Some Broncos fans have even proposed naming the stadium after its long-time, ailing owner, Pat Bowlen.
The Broncos plan to keep the Sports Authority name in place until they can work out a long-term deal with another sponsor to help generate stadium revenue. The stadium’s manager, the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, has indicated that they need a long-term, sponsored naming contract in place to help with facility improvements. The Broncos sold the naming rights to Invesco in 2001 for $120 million. Sports Authority acquired the naming rights in 2011, when it inked a 25-year contract deal for $6 million per year. Apex Marketing Group Inc., a St. Clair, Michigan-based sports marketing firm, puts the estimated value of Mile High’s naming rights at a little more than $15 million per year.2
Mile High Naming Rights Controversy
"What’s the big deal about naming or branding a stadium?" you may ask. Well, to the fans of their beloved Denver Broncos, who enjoy one of the most successful NFL franchises in the history of football, it's a very big deal. The original stadium name of Mile High is derived after the city itself, which also has the nickname of the “Mile High City,” and there's even has a plaque on the steps of the State Capitol building to prove it.
So, when the Broncos sold the naming rights to the newly constructed stadium many fans were less than pleased. In fact, the Denver Post and its columnists refused to utter the name “Invesco” in its news copy when referring to Mile High Stadium, and instead referred to it as its old name. It took several years before the Denver Post changed its policy and began referring to the stadium as Invesco Field at Mile High.
Here are some of the stadium’s previous names:
Bears Stadium (Previous stadium, 1948-1968)
Mile High Stadium (Previous stadium, 1968-2001)
Invesco Field at Mile High (New stadium, 2001-2011)
Sports Authority Field at Mile High (New stadium, 2011-2016)
Is your business in a contentious contract, sponsorship, or naming dispute? If so, call on the legal expertise of Denver Business Attorney Thomas E. Downey. Since 1983, Thomas Downey and his team of legal professional at Downey & Associates, PC have been providing legal representation to clients for all kinds of business-related matters.
Our Denver business attorney and legal team have extensive experience handling complex matters of corporate and real estate law. Our clients can also trust that we will aggressively protect their rights and help them achieve the best possible outcomes in their sensitive legal matters.
Call our Denver business attorney today at (303) 813-1111 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page. From our law offices in Englewood, we serve clients throughout Colorado and the U.S.
1“It's official: Broncos intercept naming rights at Sports Authority Field” published in Denver Business Journal, August 2016.
2“Stadium district in waiting game over disposition of Sports Authority’s Mile High Stadium naming rights” published in the Denver Post, June 2016.
Acquiring real estate is a lot like dating, and then getting married. You get the opportunity to check the place out and see if you like it, then you seal the deal. But, just like getting married, many investors tend to find out about some skeletons in the closet that can turn out to make your life difficult.
We’ve all heard stories about some of these ghosts and goblins hiding in the most unsuspecting places. For instance, one investor acquaintance of mine picked up a lot that was prime for development in the perfect location of a town, but the only problem was there was an old fuel tank buried underground on the back of the property. The cost to evaluate the environmental impact, and then remove the tank made the investment look pretty terrible, actually.
Mistakes to Avoid When Inking Commercial Real Estate Deals
In this blog, we’ll look at five of the most common mistakes made when making a real estate deal:
Environmental Clause – Inexperienced real estate developers tend to care only about the asking price and location of a parcel, and sometimes unfortunately leave environmental impact considerations off the table. If you don’t include an environmental impact clause in the contract, then you’ll have to settle for any unforeseen pitfalls. By not negotiating environmental terms and conditions, you might be waiving your right to any unforeseen consequences. By establishing environmental terms and conditions, you may be able to avoid any responsibility or liability for any unforeseen dangers hidden in a structure or buried beneath the ground. The seller and the buyer should both take an active role in getting an environmental assessment on the property done, and assign known and unknown environmental liabilities. Taking a proactive approach to environmental terms and conditions, will help the buyer from taking over another party’s miserable debacle.
No Environmental Assessment – Not getting a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment would obviously be another rookie mistake. A properly conducted Phase I ESA will help uncover any land uses of the property from the very beginning of recorded history to present. The Phase I ESA will also unveil any past environmental disasters or investigations on the property.
Failing to Retain a Reputable Environmental Consultant – Hiring a competent and professional environmental consultant is imperative in terms of doing environmental quality due diligence. Be sure you check out the reviews and qualifications of the consultant. Spending the right amount of money up front will ensure that you don’t have any unforeseen environmental liabilities later on. You can always hire a cheap consultant, but you get what you pay for.
Short-Changing Yourself on Due Diligence – If you rush the environmental due diligence portion of the buying process, then you might miss something in the process and make some hastily made decisions that will come back to bite you in the end. This will include everything from hiring a qualified consultant, conducting a Phase I ESA, pulling permits, getting city and/or county building approval, assessing any environmental liability, and a Phase II EAS for high-risk land use. On average, due diligence will take anywhere from 60 to 90 days. If the seller demands a quicker due diligence period, then that should raise a red flag and you might have to walk away, because the consequences may be more expensive than you imagined.
Poorly Arranged Framework for Post-Closing Obligations – The post-closing obligations should be handled properly before the closing date. Oversimplifying responsibilities and guarantees can very easily lead to unexpected fees, costs, and delays. Special attention should be paid to access, fees and costs, confidentiality, scheduling clean up, filing Record of Site Condition, indemnities, releases, and contingencies.
Real estate transactions and property disputes involve risks, which is why you need Denver Business Attorney Thomas E. Downey, who is trusted, knowledgeable, and experienced. Since 1983, Thomas Downey and the legal team at Downey & Associates, PC, have been providing attentive and knowledgeable legal counsel on how to handle your real estate matters.
Working with our team, located in Englewood, you’ll save money, time, and worry. Our aggressive professional advocacy team handles the following types of services: business and commercial disputes, antitrust litigation, real estate matters, personal injury (both plaintiff and defense), product liability, property tax, employment law, and OSHA/MSHA conflicts.
To schedule a free, no-obligation consultation, call (303) 813-1111 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page.
Buy-sell agreements are documents that can outline what should happen with a business in the event certain situations arise.
While there are a number of different reasons that business owners should develop buy-sell agreements, once they have these agreements in place, it will also be important to regularly review and update them to ensure that:
They are providing business owners with the necessary protections and guidance.
Below, we’ll reveal some of the most important times to review and consider updating these agreements.
Review Buy-Sell Agreements When…
1 – The value of the business has changed.
As businesses downsize or grow, their value will naturally change. Given that buy-sell agreements can specify the value of the business and that they may not have provisions regarding how to handle a changed value of that business, updating these agreements when the value of the business has substantially changed is important.
One reason for this is that, when businesses are overvalued, partners may end up paying way too much to a terminating partner, as his or her share will have been calculated based on the inflated business value that is no longer accurate.
2 – Owners’ spouses are not addressed in the agreement.
Marriage and divorce are two other reasons to review and update buy-sell agreements. In fact, with these agreements, it will be crucial for business owners to provide provisions regarding how a new marriage – or a divorce – will impact the business.
The goal here is to prevent these changes in owners’ romantic relationships from altering control over the entity (as divorce, for instance, can give a spouse claim to part of a business if a buy-sell agreement doesn’t specifically preclude this possibility).
3 – The agreement doesn’t address certain other key issues.
There are a number of other life events that should be covered in buy-sell agreements if business owners are really serious about maximizing the protections provided by these tools.
In fact, you will likely want to review and update your business’ buy-sell agreement if it doesn’t have provisions regarding the following:
The death of an owner
The impairment or disability of an owner
How an owner can depart from the business
What occurs in the event that the business is dissolved.
Denver Business Lawyer at Downey & Associates, PC
If you need help developing or updating a buy-sell agreement for your business – or you need assistance with any business legal matter, you can count on Denver Business Lawyer Thomas E. Downey. Since 1983, Thomas Downey and the other legal professionals at Downey & Associates, PC, have been providing individuals and businesses in the Denver Metro Area and throughout the U.S. with the highest level of legal service for their litigation, property tax and real estate legal issues.
To discuss your business legal needs and find out more about how we can help you, contact our firm today by calling us at (303) 813-1111 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page.
From our law offices in Centennial, we serve clients throughout Colorado and the U.S.
Buy-sell agreements are essentially types of contracts that detail how a business may be impacted by certain events that may affect its shareholders. Also referred to as buyout agreements, buy-sell agreements can offer business owners various protections in the future, potentially preventing them from having to go through costly litigation when changing circumstances affect business owners’ holdings in a given company.
Taking a closer look at buy-sell agreements, in this blog series, we will highlight some of the most important reasons that business owners should have these agreements in place.
When you are ready to develop buy-sell agreements – or when you need assistance with any business-related legal matter, you can turn to experienced Denver Business Attorney Thomas E. Downey for experienced help and the best possible representation.
Here’s How Buy-Sell Agreements Can Help Protect Your Business
Buy-sell agreements can be beneficial for your business by:
1 – Addressing valuation and succession issues
As businesses grow and their founders or owners look towards retirement, buy-sell agreements can provide provisions that detail how an individual’s shares in a business are to be evaluated and/or passed on to that person’s chosen successors. Depending on the needs of a given business, as well as the wishes of its owners, this element of buy-sell agreements can specifically require that shares in a business:
Be evaluated annually or at such times that succession issues arise
Be made available to certain family members first (such as to children before more distant relatives)
Will NOT specifically be transferred to certain people, which may be an important provision if there are multiple family members working for a business and these relatives all believe they are entitled to some shares in that business in the future.
2 – Specifying how certain family dynamics may impact a business/interest in the business
When families share ownership in businesses – or when one family member owns a business that other relatives work for, detailing just how the family dynamics can play out in the business and potentially impact the shares in the business can be another crucial reason to have buy-sell agreements for that company.
For instance, let’s say a business owner has an adult child who may be considering marriage. If the business owner specifically does NOT want his future in-law to have a share in the business through the marriage, then buy-sell agreements can specifically prevent this from occurring, and having such provisions in contract form can be essential to:
Clarifying relatives’ expectations regarding their interests in the business
Minimizing the possibility future family disputes over that business.
More Ways Buy-Sell Agreements Can Be Beneficial
3 – Detailing dispute resolution options for business owners
Ideally, business owners will have the same vision for their business throughout the life of that company, and they will agree on the major decisions that are necessary for growing that company.
In actuality, however, business disputes can arise for various reasons, with some of the more contentious disputes between business owners typically arising when issues related to ownership in the company arise.
With buy-sell agreements, however, the manner in which these disputes are to be resolved can be detailed, and this can be crucial to:
Minimizing the chances that expensive litigation will be necessary.
Keeping the nature of certain disputes confidential (which can occur, for instance, when business owners agree to mediate or arbitrate disputes, rather than resolve them in court).
Resolving business owners’ disputes as efficiently as possible so that the owners can get back to running their company.
4 – Stipulating how shares in a business can be sold/purchased in the future
When people start their businesses, they probably aren’t thinking about if or when they may want out of the business in the future. However, because things change and business owners may decide that they want to move on from a given business years down the line, having specific details for how this will happen can be critical to an efficient, smooth transition that, ideally, will not impact the operations or profits of a given business.
In fact, with this aspect of buy-sell agreements, business owners can outline:
When shares in the business can be sold
Who is eligible to purchase these available shares (such as whether business owners need to make the shares available to other owners before the shares are offered to outside buyers)
How these shares are to be purchased.
5 – Detailing how life-altering events for business owners will impact a business
The one constant in life is that things are always changing. In order to be prepared for such changes – particularly the ones that will alter people’s lives dramatically, savvy business owners can specify in their buy-sell agreements just how certain life events may impact a business and owners’ share in that business.
For instance, buy-sell agreements can specifically provide details about how events, such as the following, are to be handled when they impact any of the business owners:
Marriage and/or divorce
Personal bankruptcy
Significant disability or incapacitation
Death.
6 – Dealing with certain estate tax issues
Estate tax issues may come into play when a business owner passes away. In such cases, buy-sell agreements can provide detailed formulas for calculating the value of the decedent’s share in the business so that the estate tax obligations related to that share can be appropriately determined and met.
Here, it’s also crucial to note that:
Whether or not the other business owners are related to the decedent can impact how valuation and estate tax issues should be dealt with in buy-sell agreements.
Not fixing the valuation of a business may be more beneficial in certain circumstances.
An experienced attorney can help business owners work out this provision in order for surviving business owners and/or beneficiaries to realize the most estate tax benefits.
7 – Guiding future management choices
Buy-sell agreements can also be powerful ways for business founders to ensure that their founding vision for a business will continue to be upheld by future owners of that business. For instance, with this aspect of buy-sell agreements, business owners can provide some guiding principles for resolving business disputes, keeping the shares of the business in the family, etc.
So if you have some strong beliefs about how your business should operate now, as well as after you are no longer directly managing or involved with it, developing a buy-sell agreement can ensure that your wishes are carried out in the future (to the extent possible).
Denver Business Lawyer at Downey & Associates, PC
Are you ready to develop a buy-sell agreement for your business? Or do you need help resolving any business legal issue? If so, you can turn to Denver Business Lawyer Thomas E. Downey. He has the integrity, experience and resources necessary to ensure that you will receive the highest level of personal service, the highest quality legal services and, ultimately, the best possible outcomes to your important business legal matters.
To learn more about how Attorney Thomas E. Downey can help you, call us at (303) 813-1111 or email us using the contact form on this page. From our law offices in Centennial, we serve clients throughout Colorado and the U.S.
Downey & Associates PC represents clients in Denver and in the surrounding Colorado communities including Englewood, Littleton, Aurora, Greenwood Village, Broomfield, Boulder, Westminster, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Adams County, Denver County, Arapahoe County, Douglas County, Jefferson County, Boulder County, Larimer County and El Paso County.
