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Stephen G. Stwora-Hail

Partner
Sacramento

Contact Info:
Email: Send an email
Phone: (916) 444-1000
Fax: (916) 444-2100

Practice Areas:
Real Estate
Banking/Financial Institutions

Additional Areas of Expertise:
Real Estate Acquisition, Development, Leasing, Financing and Land Use; Financial Institutions

Bio

With over 25 years of experience in greater Sacramento's real estate community, Steve Stwora-Hail could be considered one of the region's deans of real estate law. He brings diverse knowledge of nearly every facet of real estate law to the negotiation table on behalf of clients. Steve has represented major commercial developers of retail, office, and warehousing projects with the acquisition, land use, development, and leasing of their properties. He has also represented sophisticated sellers and anchor and credit tenants, and knows the critical issues on both sides. Steve has worked for financial institutions and developers in negotiating real estate secured loans and workouts. A lawyer's lawyer, Steve has published numerous articles and is a frequent speaker on real property law for the American Bar Association, California's Continuing Education of the Bar or CEB, and the Real Property Section of the California State Bar. He has recently coauthored chapters in CEB's California Easements and Boundaries and CEB's California Real Property Sales Transactions. Steve is the former chair of the Real Property Section of the California State Bar and was a member of its Executive Committee for six years.

One of Steve's principal clients is the Teel Family Trust, which owns the Raley's/Bel Air Mart/Knob Hill Foods/Food Source chains of grocery stores. For these companies he has negotiated acquisition, development, and lease agreements for the construction of new stores, as well as the CC&Rs and Reciprocal Easement Agreements for the shopping centers in which they are located. He also assisted Raley's and the Trust in the acquisition of the Bel Air Mart and Knob Hill Foods chains, as well as developing and financing of Raley's $35,000,000 warehouse distribution site in North Natomas. Steve also represented the Trust and Raley's in development of the Raley's Landing Project, a 20 acre mixed-use project along the Sacramento River in West Sacramento. He worked on obtaining all entitlements for the site from the City of West Sacramento and its Redevelopment Agency through various Development Agreements and an Owner's Participation Agreement. He also negotiated sales of parcels within this project to The Money Store and, most recently, with Cal STRS, who acquired the land to build its corporate headquarters.

Steve has also assisted retail developers in development of strip centers, neighborhood centers, and regional centers, negotiating transactions on their behalf with national tenants such as Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Best Buy, PetsMart, Staples, Ross Dress for Less, TJ Maxx, ToysRUs, Sports Chalet, Sports Authority, JoAnn's, Pet Club, Office Max, Pier One, and Party America, as well as national pad users such as Carl's Jr., Panera Bread, Mimi's Café, Chili's, Kragen Auto Parts, In ‘n Out Burger, Panda Express, Chipotle, Quizno's, and Jamba Juice.

Steve has also represented agricultural clients. He assisted Horizon Dairy in its acquisition of a 600 acre farm in South Sacramento County where the acquisition costs were supplemented by negotiating conservation easements with the Nature Conservancy, and also assisted the Waegell Family in selling its thousand acre ranch to Lewis Investment Company pursuant to an Option Agreement that provides for the family to receive a purchase price based upon the current fair market value of the property at the time the option is exercised. Steve is also assisting the Bear River Hop Farm, Inc. in annexing its 550 acres into the City of Wheatland and obtaining entitlements for residential and commercial uses. Steve has been hired by Drexel University to assist it in accepting a donation of 1,100 acres in Placer County for a 600 acre campus and develop the remaining land for sale or lease to fund and build both the campus and the infrastructure for the entire project.

Steve has received the highest peer rating, “AV”, from Martindale Hubbell. He served for two years on the Governing Committee of CEB and currently sits on its Advisory Committee for Real Estate Law. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the California Business Properties Association. He previously served as Director on the Business Council, Inc., an organization of business community leaders of San Joaquin County. Steve currently sits on the Northern California Planning and Program Committee for the International Council of Shopping Centers. Steve is also a member of the Sacramento Chapter of Lambda Alpha International, an honorary land economics society.

Admitted to Practice in:
California

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