Tourisme, Immobilier & Construction

Our firm's experience extends to treating the specific issues germane to each of the participants in the construction process, including the owner, the general contractor, the subcontractors, the architect and the quantity surveyor both in France and on the international level, in industrial and tourism projects, as well as representing the interests of relevant parties, such as buyers, sellers, creditors or heirs, in connection with real estate.

Examples of Matters Relating to Tourism, Real Estate and Construction :

• Sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration concerning a dispute between the architect and the owner of a construction project for a resort-hotel complex in the Caribbean, including analysis of extensive construction documentation, architect's blue prints and building specifications.
• Representation of a leading French hotel group in connection with its takeover bid for a European-based international hotel chain involving analysis of the ownership structure of each of more than thirty hotels and, depending upon whether each individual hotel was directly owned, analysis of related loan agreements - if owned by outside party, analysis of hotel management agreements.
• Negotiation and drafting, on behalf of a Western European client, of an equipment supply and installation in a government-owned hotel project in Tashkent.
• Negotiation and drafting, on behalf of a New York bank, of a "construction / lease" agreement for its office tower complex in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Representation of a Japanese multinational in connection with its investment in the construction and operation of an international luxury hotel, resulting from a finding by a construction expert that certain aspects of the structure under construction were not in conformity with contractual specifications set out in the hotel management agreement with a major international hotel chain, leading to a last-minute pre-opening refusal by the latter to accept that the hotel building be part of its chain, and participation in subsequent related settlement negotiations.
• Representation of a Hong Kong company in connection with a U.S.$ 80 million ICC arbitration regarding the expropriation of a high-visibility tourist-resort project in Africa, following the classification of the site as part of "world heritage" and strong and outspoken negative public opinion against the project; analysis of the various contracts with the African government regarding the construction and development of the project.
• Negotiation and drafting of first demand guarantees (bid bonds and performance bonds) in connection with construction contracts.
• Review and analysis of contracts and specifications governing the construction of a major university project in the Middle East subsequent to a reduction in the scale of the initial blueprints and a French subcontractor's cost overruns for the heating, plumbing and electrical installations. Representation of the French subcontractor in connection with multiple claims for unpaid additional works.
• Negotiation and drafting of agreements with a French consulting firm in architectural and engineering studies, for feasibility studies as well as preliminary design plans pursuant to initial studies, in view of its acting as Owner's project manager for purposes of reconstructing a manufacturing plant, after a fire on the premises, to be used as production facilities, related office space, workers' lounges and related storage areas, technical liaisons for linking different phases of the manufacturing process with adjacent plant areas. Negotiation and drafting of related contrat de promotion immobilière and first demand bank guarantee and insurance matters, including an agreement permitting partial occupation of the premises and allocation of insurance risks.