Robert T. Koger of Molinaro Koger is arrested and put behind bars. A shocking...
Hotel Lawyer with the latest on the arrest and jailing of Rob Koger, formerly of Molinaro Koger. There are some significant new developments in the saga of Robert T. ("Rob") Koger and the high profile...
View ArticleNOW is the best time to buy or sell a hotel in many years
The number of hotel transactions is up by more than 50% for the first 6 months of 2013 over the comparable period last year, and is expected to top $18 billion for 2013, according to Jones Lang...
View ArticleRobert T. Koger -- Hotel Lawyer with the FBI affidavit that helped put Koger...
The hotel world has been fascinated by the civil litigation and criminal actions swirling around the former President and owner of Molinaro Koger, Robert T. Koger....By: Jim Butler
View ArticleADA Defense lawyer: Pool lift litigation proliferates. Why enterprise-wide...
It has been almost a year since the Department of Justice's ADA requirement for fixed or permanent pool lifts in "places of public accommodation" has been in effect. Now a fact (and cost) of doing...
View ArticleWarning for hotel investors considering golf courses: Golf courses are...
Hotel investors suddenly seem to be buying or building more golf courses. With the right expectations and circumstances, golf courses can make sense -- particularly as an amenity for hotels,...
View ArticleEB-5 Alert: U.S. House of Representatives Approves Three-Year Extension of...
EB-5 Program Regional Centers Have Been Re-authorized until 2015. EB-5 Regional Centers play an important role in raising EB-5 financing for new business development, and there has been some concern...
View ArticleJMBM's Hotel Developer Forum: LA wants 4,000 new hotel rooms stat!
Hotel Developer Forum in Los Angeles With hotel development beginning to blossom in many national markets where the cost to buy a hotel substantially exceeds the cost to build one, JMBM's hotel lawyers...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer in Los Angeles: Why does it seem like everyone wants to build or...
The coolest new downtown in America - If you haven’t been to what the cognoscenti now call “DTLA” (downtown Los Angeles) for a while, you might not recognize it. Gone are the days the sidewalks were...
View ArticleBuying bad loans and distressed debt in Europe (and Italy)
Some are calling it the “distressed real estate gold rush in Europe.” Others who have been expecting 1990s-style opportunistic investment opportunities for several years, now are seeing a change in...
View ArticleLodging Industry Investment Council’s Top 15 Member Quotes
The Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC) is the hotel industry “think tank” whose membership includes the hospitality industry’s most influential investors, lenders, corporate real estate...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer in New York: Mood of the New York hotel conference
2014 NYU Hotel Investment Conference - Last night (Sunday, June 1, 2014), the NYU hotel conference kicked off with its gala grand opening party. With about 2,300 people attending this year, the energy...
View ArticleChina and JMBM’s Chinese Investment Group™ are in the news again!
As the significance of Chinese investment in the US continues its rapid growth, news articles regularly document new details of this major trend. And in today’s Los Angeles Times, Tiffany Hsu provided...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer: Growing Together — China and Los Angeles County
The growth of outbound Chinese investment - Earlier this month we posted an article about the surge in Chinese investment as reported by Tiffany Hsu in the Los Angeles Times. See, “China and JMBM’s...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer: What is happening with Chinese real estate companies investing...
Concerns over a real estate bubble in China - For decades, China was referred to as the “sleeping giant.” This reference is to the great potential impact of the country, its vast population, and its...
View ArticleThe 5 questions every hotel developer is asking about EB-5 financing
In seeking to access EB-5 financing, our developer clients have asked a lot of questions, but most of them can really be summed up in the following 5 questions: 1. Will EB-5 work for me on my project?...
View ArticleHow to win the race for EB-5 capital: Obtaining “preferred” status for...
What does it mean to establish “preferred” status? What does it take? The preferred status of a developer and project with respect to EB-5 financing has certain elements are more or less inherent in...
View ArticleHotel development & EB-5 financing: Why you don’t want to form your own...
How should hotel developers go after EB-5 financing? Although the EB-5 immigrant visa program has been around since 1990, the current trend of using this as a source of financing for hotel development...
View ArticleFrequently Asked Questions about EB-5 project financing for new hotel...
Why is there so much buzz about EB-5 financing? In the last five years, EB-5 financing has become extremely popular in development circles and is being widely used by mainstream, institutional players...
View ArticleAsians want to live, buy homes and invest in Orange County
Asians love California, particularly Southern California! They love it as a place to live, buy homes, invest, go to school, and run their businesses. In June, we talked about the close affinity between...
View ArticleEB-5 Visas and China “Retrogression”– What’s it all about?
In the past, when China exceeded its 7% allocation of US Immigrant Investor Visas (EB-5 visas), Chinese applicants were permitted to take advantage of unused EB-5 visas allotted to other countries. But...
View ArticleFAQs about the ADA’s legal requirements for service animals
Here are some of the most Frequently Asked Questions on service animal issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA. What qualifies as a “service animal?”......By: Jim Butler
View ArticleLos Angeles is the New Magnet for Real Estate Investment
After so many years of being off everyone’s screen, Los Angeles has suddenly become one of the hottest markets for real estate investment. Roger Vincent’s article of October 4, 2014, in the Los Angeles...
View ArticleMarriott signs FCC Consent Decree and agrees to pay $600,000 civil penalty...
Have you ever wondered why your cell phone or personal Wi-Fi hot spot does not seem to work in some hotels? As more business and leisure travelers equip themselves to stay in constant communication...
View ArticleCondo hotel revolution and resurgence: Why developers are using “new breed”...
We are now at a pivotal point for condo hotels. We are witnessing the complete turnaround in the way developers will structure condo hotel deals — particularly for high-end and luxury properties. This...
View ArticleUsing condo hotels for financing new hotel development: The traditional condo...
A properly structured deal is critical to success - Perhaps the greatest satisfaction of working in the real estate industry is that a single transaction can produce so many winners. Properly...
View ArticlePrediction 2015: Chinese investment wave will create many opportunities in...
As the Chinese economy continues to become more important globally, we are seeing a shift in Asian investment in the United States, particularly in California. Chinese investors will become even more...
View ArticleCondo hotels: Don’t forget the secret sauce!
Condo hotels are back in vogue as “securities” - Developers particularly like the “new model” where condo hotel investments are offered as a “securities” using the new SEC Rule 506(c) for private...
View ArticleThe shrinking terms of hotel management agreements - Better bargaining...
The relationship between hotel owners and managers continues to evolve. Hotel management agreements historically were long-term. Fifty to sixty year terms were common. However, in the last few years,...
View ArticleADA Defense Lawyer: New ADA standards for website accessibility
Since at least 2000, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been advocating standardized website development and content to promote access to blind and low vision internet users. In 2013, the DOJ...
View ArticlePolis Bill Reform EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
With the regional center program set to expire in September 2015, the EB-5 industry has been given new life in the form of the American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2015. The Act was...
View ArticleSuccession planning for the family-owned hospitality business
Succession planning for the family-owned hospitality business: protecting your family and your business - The hospitality industry has been kind to families over the centuries, providing a good living...
View ArticleCity of Los Angeles v. Patel — US Supreme Court voids LA ordinance requiring...
US Supreme Court voids Los Angeles ordinance requiring hotel operators to turn over guest records on demand. In a 5-4 opinion rendered on June 22, 2015, the United States Supreme Court held that a Los...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer on EB-5 developments? What’s happening with EB-5 renewal...
EB-5 is at a critical renewal point. The next 3 weeks are going to be crucial for the EB-5 industry as the current legislation sunsets on September 30, 2015. While the consensus is that this important...
View ArticleFCC says blocking FCC-approved Wi-Fi hotspots is “patently illegal” and...
Blocking Wi-Fi connections is “patently unlawful”. On August 18, 2015, the FCC announced a $750,000 civil penalty and formal Consent Decree with Smart City Holdings for blocking consumers’ personal...
View ArticleEB-5 legislative update: EB-5 Regional Center Program is extended, Senate...
We are pleased that the Continuing Resolution passed by Congress yesterday includes a temporary extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program. This extension allows the program to continue generating...
View ArticleWi-Fi blocking is illegal. FCC fines Hilton Hotels and M.C. Dean over Wi-Fi...
FCC takes two enforcement actions on Wi-Fi - On November 2, 2015, the FCC issued two separate news releases on Wi-Fi blocking. In one action, the FCC announced a $718,000 fine against M.C. Dean, one of...
View ArticleOutlook 2016: The new rules for developers raising inexpensive capital with...
Hotel Lawyer preview of the new EB-5 financing rules. Although minor tweaks and adjustments continue to be made to legislation in the final hours before Congress votes, it looks like we have a pretty...
View ArticleEB-5 Immigrant Visa program extension signed into law — without any changes....
Hotel lawyer with great news for developers: the EB-5 immigrant visa financing program has been renewed — approved by Congress and signed by the President. It is being continued without change through...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer at the ALIS hotel conference in Los Angeles — A turnaround in...
Hotel Lawyers with first signs of a sea change in investor sentiment about the hotel sector - As our team of hotel lawyers returns from the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (or ALIS) in Los Angeles,...
View ArticleEB-5 financing accelerates in 2016 and favors (1) Hotels, (2) Mixed-Use and...
Hotel Lawyer in Los Angeles at the latest EB-5 Summit - If you have been thinking about tapping into EB-5 financing for your development project, this is the time to make your decision and act quickly....
View ArticleFederal Judge Takes Decisive Action to Protect Hotels from ADA Abuse by a...
In a rare and decisive action, a Central District Court Judge dismissed an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit filed by an Arizona disabled plaintiff who has recently filed a wave of over 70...
View ArticleThe 2016 LIIC Top Ten: The annual survey of lodging investment trends and...
(Denver, CO) For well over a decade, the members of the hotel industry’s preeminent think tank, “LIIC – The Lodging Industry Investment Council,” are annually surveyed to develop a list of the major...
View ArticleIndustry fundamentals are good now and will continue to improve
Hotel industry fundamentals are good, and will continue to improve. But the hotel industry is being punished by the disconnect between the investment community of Wall Street and actual performance of...
View ArticleWhy NOW may be the best time for developers to start EB-5 financing
Is there a serious risk that EB-5 will expire September 30, 2016? Anything is possible when Congress is in session, but none of the experts we talk to believe that the EB-5 program will be allowed to...
View ArticleA Primer on EB-5 and Key Issues in its Renewal
What is the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program? The EB-5 immigrant investment visa program provides a “fast track” to obtain permanent U.S. residency (a “green card”) to qualified foreign investors...
View ArticleHow the Marriott-Starwood merger will affect you. . .
Global Hospitality Group® survey results: What does all the recent consolidation in the hotel industry mean to different stakeholders? Marriott closed its acquisition of Starwood on September 23, 2016,...
View ArticleEB-5 financing for developers extended. Obama signs “Continuing Resolution”
On December 9, 2016, President Obama signed the “Continuing Resolution” passed by Congress to extend funding of the federal government until April 28, 2017, by which time it is expected that Congress...
View ArticleHotel Lawyer: Where is the hospitality industry headed in 2017?
The Lodging Industry Investment Council (LIIC) met in Los Angeles during the American Lodging Investment Summit 2017 and our friends from Hotel News Now (HNN) were on the scene. Some of us were asked...
View ArticleWhat’s happening with EB-5 financing for new development projects? Is it...
Unless Congress acts in time, a critical part of EB-5 financing will lapse on April 28, 2017 - The Regional Center program was enacted in 1992 as a “pilot project.” Since then, it has been renewed or...
View ArticleThe Lodging Industry Investment Council’s Top Ten: investment trends and...
For well over a decade, the members of the hotel industry’s preeminent think tank, “LIIC – The Lodging Industry Investment Council,” are annually surveyed to develop a list of the major hotel...
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