Christopher D. Richardson

Christopher’s practice includes a broad range of commercial real estate and banking/finance transactions. His experience includes the representation of lessees, buyers, sellers and developers of commercial real estate as well as lenders and borrowers in lending transactions.

• Represented an affiliate of Landry’s Inc./Fertitta Entertainment Inc. in the acquisition of a mixed-use luxury shopping and dining complex in Houston, Texas commonly known as River Oaks District.  River Oaks District encompasses nearly 14 acres and contains a number of upscale restaurants, a 279-unit apartment complex, 67,000 square feet of office space and more than 300,000 square feet of retail, including luxury stores such as Hermes, Dior, Cartier, Rolex and Van Cleef & Arpels.
• Represented Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC and its affiliate in the acquisition of 150 acres for an 800,000 square feet automated distribution and sales center and future corporate campus through use of a membership interest purchase agreement. The transaction involved both state and federal environmental issues, development concerns and tenant removal. Subsequently, representation included a hybrid ground lease structure and creation of a master covenant regime to govern the future development of the remainder of the property, including security check-in facilities, parking facilities, access roads, detention facilities, and future commercial and industrial uses.
• Represented a private international school in the $23.1 million acquisition of two commercial buildings in Austin, Texas and assisted in the simultaneous $45 million bond financing to be used for redevelopment of the property. The transaction included creation of a condominium regime with adjacent owners and post-closing market-based purchase price adjustments.
• Represented a multi-family investment firm in the acquisition of a $43.3 million multi-family property in Richmond, Texas. Representation included negotiation of the purchase and sale agreement, performance of due diligence, coordination with an owner’s association and the negotiation of loan documents.
• Represented a major beverage bottler with the acquisition of a 37-acre industrial property in Lakeland, Florida for a purchase price of $20.76 million. This transaction included negotiating municipal incentive packages, wetland development concerns and various architectural consents.
• Represented an equipment dealership with the $81 million acquisition of 21 heavy equipment dealerships, as well as the acquisition of 8 tracts of real property for $17.7 million. The transaction included asset purchase agreements, real estate purchase agreements, leases, COVID considerations, environmental liabilities and representation and warranty insurance.
• Represented an equipment dealership for the lease of Class “A” office space in the Houston Energy Corridor. Representation included the negotiation of landlord improvements, right-of-first refusal and security issues.
• Represented a pharmaceutical research company with the lease of office space in preparation of opening a research center.
• Represented Duke Energy Corporation in the approximately $675 million sale-leaseback and construction of the Charlotte Metro Tower in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 40-story tower is under construction and this is the largest real estate transaction of a single building ever made in Charlotte.
• Represented a boutique real estate firm with a CMBS loan secured by various properties in Houston, Texas including bars, office-space, parking lots and a warehouse of collector cars. Representation included entity formation and related organizational matters, negotiation of loan documentation and related legal opinion preparation.
• Represented charter schools with property acquisitions located in various Texas markets for the development of charter school campuses. These transactions involved donation agreements, lease-backs, boundary disputes, land swaps, restrictive covenant de-annexations, re-annexations and development agreements.
• Represented a commercial real estate developer in multiple joint ventures to acquire and develop mixed-use office and retail properties in the greater Houston area, including financings associated therewith.
• Represented a major global energy company in an extensive internal review and summary of all project documents and commercial agreements relating to the company’s entire wind energy project portfolio in the United States, including wind energy projects in Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas.
• Represented an exploration & production company in the $215 million purchase of oil and gas interests.
• Represented a redevelopment authority with the acquisition of parking lots in a mall complex involving disputes amongst various owners.
• Represented a debtor to obtain $20 million debtor-in-possession credit agreement that provides a multiple delayed draw term loan facility.

• Recognized as an ABA Free Legal Answers 2023 Pro Bono Leader