Parker Poe’s Resort, Hospitality and Planned Development Group represents developers, owners, operators, and lenders of hotel, golf, and resort properties.  Our team consists of banking & finance, corporate, real estate, tax, employment, immigration, securities, construction and environmental attorneys who understand the industry and work together to advise and protect the interests of our clients.

Experience Highlights

Joint Ventures, Restructurings, Workouts, and Repositionings – Parker Poe routinely works with developers, owners and operators, and lenders to put together joint venture arrangements and to restructure and reposition assets, including:

• Negotiating and putting together real estate joint venture arrangements between developers and capital providers
• Repositioning resorts by modifying covenants, condominium documentation, rental management documentation, and converting real estate product lines from whole ownership to fractional or timeshare
• Note sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosures taking into account tax consequences for our clients
• Golf and other club conversions from non-equity to equity clubs and otherwise repositioning the clubs to make them sustainable
• Creative structured finance transactions that provide strong security and credit enhancement for lenders and provide needed fresh capital to developers and resort and hotel owners

Master Planned Communities and Resorts – Parker Poe has significant experience structuring master planned communities with a particular focus on resort communities, including:

• Assistance with land planning and permitting
• Designing the master plan structure of the community, including the design of master and sub associations and the integration of hotel, commercial, retail and recreational amenities
• Drafting covenants, conditions and restrictions, reciprocal easements, amenity treaties and other legal documentation to support the master planned community
• Advice regarding planning, zoning and land use regulations
• Preparation of interstate land sales registration and state land sales registration filings
• Guiding developers through the homeowners’ association transition process

Golf and Recreation Clubs – Parker Poe attorneys have handled more than 60 golf transactions nationwide and have extensive experience in all aspects of golf and club law, including assisting clients in golf and club development and membership plans. Our capabilities include:

• Acquisitions, sales and leases of golf courses and resorts
• Golf course management agreements
• Developing golf course membership and amenity agreements, including equity and non-equity club membership programs and other types of related agreements
• Structuring use privileges, including golf memberships, social memberships or community memberships of golf and other private clubs
• Negotiating private agreements tying golf courses or other recreational club amenities to hotels and resorts and high-end residential real estate

Hotels – We represent clients in the financing, acquisition, disposition, planning, development and operation of hotels and resorts, including:

• Hotel acquisitions, dispositions and joint ventures
• Hotel management agreements
• Negotiating and documenting development and construction agreements for hotel and resort properties
• Advising owners and investors in hotels and resort properties in all aspects of ownership and operation

Condominiums & Condominium Hotels – We are experienced with condominium and condo-hotel development and condominium conversions, including:

• Designing the ground-up development of new condominiums
• Condominium conversions
• Condominium hotels, commercial condominiums and mixed-use propertie
• HOA transitions

Financing – Our attorneys regularly assist our resort, hospitality and planned development clients in structuring, negotiating and closing a wide range of loans and other financings, including:

• Acquisition & development loans
• Construction loan financing
• Permanent financing
• Refinancing, including loan assumptions and defeasance

Experience

• Represented a public golf REIT for over 10 years and other clients in more than 60 golf course transactions throughout the United States and the Caribbean
• Represents the developer at Kiawah Island, South Carolina in connection with the Kiawah Island, SC resort development, Doonbeg, Ireland lodge and golf course, and the 2,500 acre Christophe Harbour, St. Kitts, West Indies resort
• Represents a major commercial and residential real estate developer and land owner in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in all aspects of development, transactional, and financing work
• Routinely negotiates joint venture agreements between developers and equity providers
• Has extensive experience in guiding developers through the homeowners’ association transition process
• Represented numerous South Carolina developers of single-family and townhome projects, including the acquisition and financing and lot sales to builders, the creation of multiple-phased condominiums, and restrictive covenant and architectural control regimes for residential, commercial and mixed-use developments
• Routinely counsels developers in the structuring of transactions and drafting of documentation to qualify for registration exemptions under the Interstate Land Sales Act and preparing registrations for subdivisions which do not qualify for exemptions
• Acted as outside general counsel for a private equity real estate group that focuses on luxury hotels and vacation real estate product in the Caribbean and Latin America
• Represented the owner in the purchase of a beachfront hotel in Folly Beach, South Carolina
• Represents the developer of a new hotel in Cartagena, Colombia
• Represents a private real estate fund providing a large financing arrangement for a well-known hotel in Anguilla, West Indies
• Represented an investor and luxury hotel company pursuing the acquisition of the Temenos Resort & Golf Course in Anguilla, West Indies
• Represented a private equity fund in the acquisition of an iconic luxury hotel in the Bahamas
• Recently completed the sale of a note of one of the largest master planned resort communities in North and South Carolina
• Represents a European family-oriented hotel brand in the Caribbean
• Represents a joint venture developing an island in the Bahamas
• Represents a private equity fund and luxury hotel brand in the development of a large resort and master planned community in Barbuda, West Indies
• Conducts legal charettes for clients to assist them with project visioning, product and amenity programming, selecting the right project team members, and designing the proper legal framework for the community
• Assists clients with preparation of business plans in order to attract the right mix of project components and capitalization
• Works with developers to create charitable foundations that fund educational, cultural, environmental and recreational programs in a given project’s community

News

• Nancy Olah Elected Board Chair of USGBC Charlotte Region Chapter
  February 2, 2012
• Parker Poe Names Six New Partners
  January 3, 2012
• Parker Poe Attorney Elected to Second Term as Mayor
  November 10, 2011
• SC Economic Developer's Association Names Ray Jones to Board
  May 20, 2011
• Anguilla: Paradise for Lawyers
  Resort & Hospitality News
  May 17, 2011
• Colombia: Hedging Against Changing Laws with Legal Stability Contracts
  Resort & Hospitality News
  May 17, 2011
• Turks and Caicos: Paradise Suspended, But Not Lost
  Resort & Hospitality News
  May 17, 2011
• Cuba: Is the Train Leaving the Station?
  Resort & Hospitality News
  May 17, 2011
• Project Spotlight: Obra Pia Hotel Project - Cartagena, Colombia
  Resort & Hospitality News
  May 17, 2011
• Parker Poe Names Three New Partners in Charlotte and Charleston Offices
  January 20, 2011
• U.S.News & World Report Names Parker Poe as a Top-Tier Law Firm
  Firm Ranked #1 in 22 Legal Areas for 2010
  September 15, 2010
• 61 Parker Poe Attorneys Recognized as Best Lawyers® for 2011
  August 18, 2010
• Urban Land Institute Appoints Matt Norton to Recreational Development Council
  August 5, 2009
• Creating an Intranet Portal at Parker Poe
  December 18, 2008
• Parker Poe Attorney First to be LEED Accredited in South Carolina
  July 2, 2008
• Towns Go Green; Credit Tightens
  May 2, 2008
• Ellis Lesemann Named Chair of the Lowcountry Food Bank Board of Directors
  March 10, 2008
• Parker Poe Grows Resort, Hospitality and Planned Development Practice with the Addition of Richard M. Unger
  March 7, 2008
• Jay R. Hoodenpyl Joins the Parker Poe Real Estate Department
  December 13, 2007
• Parker Poe's Ellis R. Lesemann Named to Charleston Regional Business Journal's "Forty Under 40"
  May 1, 2006