Our commercial real estate attorney team works with clients on complex real estate transactions as part of mergers, sales and business acquisitions involving major real estate holdings, venture capital and private equity financings tied to commercial real estate development, and commercial lease conflicts.

Duffy & Sweeney’s real estate attorneys and paralegals combine a sweeping knowledge of business law and real property law with hands-on financing insight and expert negotiation skills to achieve results for our real estate clients.

The firm’s litigators prosecute and defend a wide array of commercial real estate matters in court and arbitration, as well as before zoning and planning boards.

In 2021, Duffy & Sweeney attorneys Joelle Rocha and Nicole Martucci successfully represented Read’s Landscape Construction in the Rhode Island Supreme Court matter which affirmed the earlier court decision that a “deed clearly depicted the lane as right of way and any alleged alteration was immaterial to the land interest conveyed.” The case was covered by Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly. 

We have spearheaded several major construction-related deals and often advise clients on the purchase and sale of property. We represent leading real estate developers in their project development, private financing, permitting, borrowing and leasing transactions.

Our office is based on South Main Street in Providence, Rhode Island in the rapidly developing waterfront / I-195 region, connecting the East Side to Downtown and the Knowledge District. Contact us at 401.455.0700.

• Served as counsel to the completed financing and commenced construction of a new 80-unit apartment building adding to the mixed-use commercial and residential campus.
• Served as real estate, finance and tax credit counsel to an historic, renovated major mill complex in both the construction financing and equity investments for its adaptive reuse of 16 historic mill buildings to a mixed-use complex comprised of 50,000 square feet of office/retail space and 130 residential apartment units. The total budget for the project was $35,000,000 with financing in the amount of $23,000,000 and over $14,000,000 of federal and state historic and state rebuild tax credit incentives.
• Represented a real estate project development and management company in its acquisition of a Newport-based yachting and entertainment venue in 2014. The eight-figure transaction involved a private placement of equity under Rule 506 of Regulation D of the securities laws as well as traditional bank financing.
• Represented an insurer on behalf of a RI property owner in a case where the owner of an exclusive, high-income residential neighborhood on the waterfront prevailed on all accounts on summary judgment. The easement was brought by a trust seeking to prevent the property owner from using an express, recorded easement.
• Spearheaded a joint venture at a RI waterfront development in Mount Hope Bay to create additional units involving equity raising, financing and construction contracts. The project gained media attention over litigation in the construction process prior to the firm’s legal work to further development in the joint venture.
• Represented a hotel management company in three major transactions in New England that increased its hotel ownership and management properties and significantly grew its number of employees. The transactions involved acquisition of vacant property plus the development and permitting of a 100-room property in Maine, the acquisition of an existing property in New Hampshire, and the acquisition of a 130-room property in Massachusetts.
• Represented a lumber company in a “363 bankruptcy” prepackaged acquisition involving the purchase of a similar company in a pre-approved bankruptcy matter. The complex deal involved pension liability issues and created jobs in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. The transaction included the acquisition of five parcels in Connecticut, two of which involved environmental compliance with the CT Transfer Act.
• Represented a prominent RI real estate developer in the acquisition, construction, and financing of the redevelopment project  which included qualification for both federal and state historic tax credits and securing construction loan financing of $30 million.
• Coordinated a multi-faceted $19.5 million construction loan transaction, secured by real estate located within two separate municipalities and involving the qualification for both federal and state historic tax credits.
• Served as counsel for the acquisition, permitting and development of three significant condominium developments located in Rhode Island for a publicly traded, national developer as well as the acquisition of a 350,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in connection with a sale/leaseback transaction.
• In a dispute between a national health club chain and its landlord regarding the club’s long-term lease, D&S attorneys obtained a summary judgment ruling  from the federal court declaring the client’s right to terminate its lease and denying the landlord’s counterclaim for hundreds of thousands of dollars of rent.