KH’s real estate lawyers represent sophisticated and well-financed clients in complicated, multi-state transactions with varying combinations of debt and equity financing.  We also represent start up entrepreneurs who assemble a mix of seller financing, investment money, different forms of debt, and perhaps government assistance.  We organize corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies.

Our business attorneys counsel and represent developers of regional and neighborhood shopping centers, residential subdivisions, office buildings, multi-family projects and manufactured home communities.  We assist clients in obtaining municipal and other development approvals.  We have worked with our clients on tax increment financing, I.R.C. 1031 tax deferred exchanges, brownfield reclamations, leasing, and build-to-suit projects.  We have established condominium regimes for both residential and commercial developments, and condominium conversions.  We have also negotiated and structured work-outs of troubled developments and investments.

Ed Kickham heads KH’s real estate and business transaction group.  He received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame in 1968 and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1973.  Ed joined the Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn law firm in Detroit, Michigan, upon graduating from law school and practiced with that firm as an associate and then partner until 1999.  He has devoted his practice to business transactions, primarily representing real estate developers, operators and professional investors.  He has closed acquisitions, sales, financings, and bad loan workouts in some twenty different states and in Canada.  He also counsels clients in connection with zoning, land use and eminent domain matters.  Ed is listed in “Best Lawyers in America.”

Our colleague, John Premo, received a B.S. from Michigan State University and a J.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. In addition to being a lawyer, he is certified mediator and a licensed real estate broker. He has extensive experience on the business side of various types of real estate transactions, which include hotels, shopping centers and industrial buildings.  He also is primarily responsible for our work for Faurecia Interior Systems, described below, and the leader of our real estate tax appeals practice.

Here are some brief descriptions of KH’s role in significant recent business or real estate transactions:

  • Faurecia Interior Systems:
  Fraser, Michigan – KH negotiated an agreement to purchase a 265,000 square foot manufacturing facility from a bankrupt estate and negotiated the construction contracts in conjunction with renovation of the facility, including a 45,000 square foot expansion.  KH also negotiated several leases for warehousing operations.

Northwood, Ohio – KH negotiated the lease terms for a 32,000 square foot light assembly facility, which included a tenant improvement allowance for renovations.

Sterling Heights, Michigan – KH negotiated the lease terms, which included an option to purchase an 80,000 square foot manufacturing facility, and a tenant improvement allowance to expand the existing building by 40,000 square feet.

Lansing, Michigan – KH negotiated the lease terms for a 25,000 square foot facility used for warehousing and light assembly.
  • Bloomfield Park – a $2 Billion multi-use project on North Telegraph Road.  KH represented the developer in connection with its site plan approvals, tax increment financing approvals (over $100,000,000 in tax capture), the establishment of an unusually complex condominium regime, several land carry and predevelopment loans, and the current construction loan, and major equity transactions.
  • Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Inc. – new national headquarters.  KH negotiated the construction contract, the sale of the vacant half of the land, site plan approvals, and the establishment of the land as a two-unit commercial condominium, one unit containing the 72,000 square foot headquarters building and another unit available for future construction.  This condominium structure was peculiarly complex.
  • Kmart – During and after Kmart’s reorganization, KH represented Kmart in more than ninety (90) property sales and acquisitions as part of Kmart’s recapitalization of its real estate holdings.
  • Northland Mall – KH represented the owner in the $30+ million sale of Northland Mall, a 1.5 million square foot facility in Southfield, Michigan that was the first regional mall constructed in the United States.  This transaction closed in December 2008.
  • Moceri – Le Bear – Construction, financing and condominium work for a luxury hotel resort property in Glen Arbor, Michigan.

KH is general counsel to The Boutrous Companies, a shopping center developer, and the Moceri Company, a residential, retail and office developer.