Overcoming The Complications Of A Ground Lease

GlobeSt.com (July 31, 2018) Boston Properties’ $628 million acquisition of the 47-acre Santa Monica Business Park included a ground lease with an option to buy. The legal team at Allen Matkins walks us through the complexities of the deal. “A ground lease introduces an additional set of contractual rights and obligations to diligence and satisfy, both to consummate the transaction itself and thereafter following acquisition of the Leasehold interest,” Peter Roth, a partner at Allen Matkins who represented the joint venture in the acquisition of the property, tells GlobeSt.com. “Any ground lease will address the assignment or other transfer of the ground tenant’s position, and the buyer and seller parties both need to make sure the safe harbor or other conditions to an effective transfer are satisfied. In this case, where a combination of ground leasehold interests, improvements and separate fee interests were part of the transaction, the complexity added was not insignificant.”