Commercial Real Estate Transactions: A Project and Skills Oriented Approach is devoted to the complexities of the commercial development process. Breaking tradition of other real estate casebooks that focus primarily on residential transactions and financing, this book brings to life the business and legal issues underlying commercial real estate development and transactions by focusing on an actual commercial real estate project throughout the book. The materials focus on the legal work by the law firm of Kaplan & Miller that represents the developer of the actual real estate project, the Fox Valley Auto Care Center in Aurora, Illinois. The life cycle of this project gradually unfolds in each chapter through problems, questions, assignments, and drafting exercises. Students follow the course of a new associate called upon to review or draft the legal documents proposed for a transaction, and to research the thornier legal rules underlying some of the developer's business decisions. This unique project-oriented approach gives students a fun, challenging and engaging means to acquire and develop the fundamental transactional skills skills in communicating with clients, problem spotting, problem solving, negotiation, and drafting which they will need in practice.
